Chasing Cans
By Laura Crum
Perseverance Press, $14.95
ISBN: 978-1-880284-94-0

In the tenth book in her Gail McCarthy series [only the second which I have read], Laura Crum's protagonist has, at least for the moment and with only a bit of ambivalence, left her profession as a horse vet to be a full-time mom. Now at the age of forty and married for two years, Gail has found domestic life with her husband and year-old little boy to be more fulfilling than she could have guessed. As to the ambivalence, "I struggled once again with the inevitable conflict between this overwhelming drive to mother versus my own wish, neglected but not forgotten, to continue being the assertive, professional woman I was used to being. Gail McCarthy the horse vet, that was me. Independent, strong-minded, competent, in charge — these were the words that came to mind. Not tranquil, maternal, nurturing, patient — the virtues that went with mamahood. And yet, here I was."

As the book opens, Gail is confronted by her querulous neighbor, a horse trainer, and strong feelings, all of them negative, abound. When shortly thereafter the woman dies in what seems to be a freak accident while training a horse — termed a "horse wreck" — Gail cannot ignore the feeling that something about the incident seemed wrong. The woman's enemies abound. Gail herself can be considered one of them, for that matter. But when another woman dies soon after in another horse wreck, under different but similarly "off" circumstances, Gail cannot ignore the fact that someone may have caused these events. The second woman is left in a coma, the question of her ultimate recovery unknown. When her friend Jeri, the detective assigned to the case, asks for Gail's help, since Gail knows all of the people involved and who could be considered suspects, Gail feels duty bound to help her — to her own peril it would seem.

The dead woman, Lindee Stone, was a well-known trainer of barrel racing horses, a sport of which I must admit I'd never heard. The horse doesn't actually race or chase the barrels. As it is explained, "three barrels, essentially oil drums, are set up in a measured triangle It is a timed event wherein the horse runs a pattern that involves making a specific, ordered U-turn around each barrel and then racing back to the line where he started. The loops around each barrel look a bit like the three lobes of a cloverleaf. The horse's time starts when he crosses the line, then he runs what they call the cloverleaf pattern around the barrels and when he crosses the line again, his time stops." This timed event is apparently very demanding, both of the animal and the trainer. Lindee had been one of the best, apparently earning medals as well as enemies with equal ease along the way. To me, the more interesting aspect of this is its reference to the sport as "Chasing Cans." As Gail says, "I guess it struck me as some sort of metaphor for the meaninglessness of life. We chase and chase after whatever it is we think we want — money, power, status — and then, in the end, it doesn't seem to mean very much. Not while you're lying in your grave."

The aforementioned work/amateur sleuth/full-time mother conflict is portrayed very realistically by the author, as Gail alternately pursues the investigation and then returns home to the magnetic pull of the incredible joys of bonding with her baby. But as she ponders, "Was pursuing the truth for its own sake enough?" ultimately the answer has to be "yes." The gorgeous descriptions of California's Monterey Bay area and the equine and other assorted animal population that abound there are wonderfully evocative of the place. The author is a fourth-generation Santa Cruz County resident who has owned and trained horses for over thirty years, and that knowledge is made evident in her writing. An enjoyable read.

Review by GLORIA FEIT

©2008 Lorie Ham. All rights reserved.