Friday, May 4, 2012

Kentucky Derby Crime Fiction & More

The 138th Kentucky Derby will take place tomorrow, and in anticipation I've dusted off last year's list of Kentucky Derby mysteries and added more titles and a few more categories. Read several horse-racing mysteries to set the mood so you can enjoy the day or watch the movie The Kentucky Derby(1922) that's full of grit and crime. Have a piece of Derby Pie (recipes on DyingforChocolate.com), filled with chocolate, bourbon and pecans or read Sasscer Hill's post on last year's Kentucky Derby. Planning on attending the Kentucky Derby this year? Don't forget your hat: "Crowning Glory: The art of Kentucky Derby Hats"

Kentucky Derby Mysteries
Triple Crown by Jon Breen 
Triple Cross by Kit Ehrman
Intercept by Mary Jane Forbes
Silent Partner by Karen Jones
Snip by Doc Macomber
Murder at the Kentucky Derby by Charles Parmer
Dark Horse by Bill Shoemaker (Triple Crown)
The Accurst Tower by John Winslow

Kentucky Derby Short Stories
"The Gift" by Dick Francis is set at the Kentucky Derby. It is in the collection Field of Thirteen. "The Gift" first appeared as "A Day of Wine and Roses" in Sports Illustrated, 1973.
Derby Rotten Scoundrels: A Silver Dagger Anthology, edited by Jeffrey Marks
Low Down and Derby, a collection of fast paced mystery stories set around the Kentucky Derby, by fifteen authors from the Ohio River Valley Chapter of Sisters in Crime.
Murder at the Races, a collection of Short Stories including "A Derby Horse", edited by Peter Haining.

Children's Mysteries
The Mystery at the Kentucky Derby by Carole Marsh

Non-Fiction
Great Horse Racing Mysteries: Tales from the Track by John McEvoy
Dancer's Image: The Forgotten Story of the 1968 Kentucky Derby (and 5 other non-fiction books about Thoroughbread racing and equine law) by Milton Toby
 And there once was a thorough-bred named Mystery Novel. He did not win the Kentucky Derby.

Movies
The Kentucky Derby (1922)

Authors who Write Horse Mysteries (not necesssarily about the Kentucky Derby)

Gabriella Herkert, Sasscer Hill, Jody Jaffe, Carolyn Banks, Michelle Scott, Laura Crum, Mary Monica Pulver, Rita Mae Brown, Janet Dawson, Maggie Estep, Dick Francis, John Francome, Alyson Hagy, Michael Kilian, Lynda La Plante, John McEvoy, Bill Shoemaker, Laura Young, Lyndon Stacey, JD Carpenter

3 comments:

Dick Lochte said...

Janet, the late Bill Shoemaker's Dark Horse had his series hero, Coley KIllebrew, involved in a Triple Crown caper.

Marjie said...

I've read some of Dick Francis' works. One had a title that related to a penalty weight; it might have been Eight Pounds or something like that. I love a good mystery, too. I'm glad you introduced yourself to me!

Kent Morgan said...

Robert B. Parker's Hugger Mugger is a Spenser mystery about horse racing. He and his wife Joan also wrote a non-fiction book titled A Year at the Races. Canadian Brad Smith's All Hat also involves horse racing.