Pony Confidential
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4.3 • 42 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
An NPR "Book of the Day"
In this one-of-a-kind mystery with heart and humor, a hilariously grumpy pony must save the only human he’s ever loved after discovering she stands accused of a murder he knows she didn’t commit.
Pony has been passed from owner to owner for longer than he can remember. Fed up, he busts out and goes on a cross-country mission to reunite with Penny, the little girl whom he was separated from and hasn’t seen in years.
Penny, now an adult, is living an ordinary life when she gets a knock on her door and finds herself in handcuffs, accused of murder and whisked back to the place she grew up. Her only comfort when the past comes back to haunt her is the memory of her precious, rebellious pony.
Hearing of Penny’s fate, Pony knows that Penny is no murderer. So, as smart and devious as he is cute, the pony must use his hard-won knowledge of human weakness and cruelty to try to clear Penny’s name and find the real killer.
This acutely observant, feel-good mystery reveals the humanity of animals and beastliness of humans in a rollicking escapade of epic proportions.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
The private investigator in this mystery is a hardboiled cynic who’s seen enough over the years to turn him against humanity altogether. But he’s also got a strong moral code, and when he sees injustice, he fights it. Oh, and also, he’s a pony. Hear us out. When 12-year-old Penny suddenly sold her beloved pony 25 years ago, it turned the once-loving animal into a bitter creature bent on revenge. But when Penny is arrested for a murder she didn’t commit, Pony becomes her only hope. Author Christina Lynch has plenty of fun with her outlandish premise—Pony’s tough-guy narration of his story is often hilarious—but as the story goes on, we got genuinely invested in Pony’s quest to clear his former owner’s name. A fun cozy mystery for the horsey set, Pony Confidential is an absolute charmer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lynch's rollicking latest (after Sally Brady's Italian Adventure) rests on a unique question: can a pony be a character witness in a murder case? When Penny Marcus, a third-grade teacher in a small California town, is arrested for a decades-old murder that took place in her East Coast hometown when she was 12 years old, her former pony (named Pony) is thousands of miles away, still smarting from the pain of being sold by Penny's family. A casual conversation with some of Pony's animal confidants reveals that Penny did not, in fact, abandon him, and he sets out to find her. Along the way, he learns of her murder accusation and refashions himself as an equine gumshoe. What follows is a cross-country investigation in which Pony chats with horses, owls, dogs, and an ill-tempered goat, who help point him toward the killer. Meanwhile, Penny sits in an Ithaca, N.Y., jail, her fate in the hands of a novice public defender. Lynch takes the ludicrous premise surprisingly seriously, giving weight and complexity to Pony's feelings without teetering into absurdity. Toss in a memorable supporting cast and a healthy dash of humor, and Lynch has a potential series on her hands. Cozy fans looking for something out of the ordinary should saddle up.
Customer Reviews
Horse crazy
I rode as a child but we moved all the time so couldn’t own. But when I had a daughter, I leased her a pony before she graduated to a horse, but as stated in the book, she went away to college and there were no more horses in our lives. I still think about those horses and wonder what happened to them. This story is a delightful look into animals minds, often humorous like the talking rat and the stubborn goat but in spite of the humor and the tension of a murder mystery, it isn’t all sweetness and light. The pony’s journey digs deep into how horses are treated as disposable so that part is heartbreaking. Anyone who loves animals will find this story enthralling.