Dude on Arrival - Hardcover

J.S. Borthwick lives with her family on the Maine coast, where many of her mysteries are set.

Nefarious doings at a swank new Arizona dude ranch mix with the presidential aspirations of a corrupt politician for a fine and lively return appearance of amateur sleuths Sarah Deane, teaching fellow, and Alex McKenzie, internist, last encountered in Bodies of Water . When Sarah's wealthy, equestrienne aunt, Julia Clancy, goes to Rancho Del Gato Blanco to escape her arthritis, she becomes concerned over a series of suspicious accidents plaguing the gaudy, pretentious establishment. Inviting Sarah and Alex to spend the holidays with her, she embroils them and movie star Maria Cornish, a fellow guest, in a scheme to save some aging ranch horses from the pet food factory. On Christmas Day, the body of Leo J. Hapgood, a senator of dubious ethics and morals with his eye on the White House, is found in the bottom of Santa Claus's bag. As the FBI and various local police swarm, Julia and her cohorts have difficulty accounting for their whereabouts the previous evening--they had been out "rescuing" (read: stealing) the doomed horses. Along with the reluctant Alex, Sarah begins an investigation, developing a friendship with the senator's widow, who turns out to be a dark horse indeed, and finding two more bodies, in a literate and witty mystery with a dollop of social conscience.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.