A murder mystery about horses?! Count me in! I was initially very excited about this book, but I just found my mind wandering other places multiple times while reading. Even though there were a few action scenes which I did find entertaining, overall it just felt the plot was a bit confusing and a lot happened towards the end, which didn’t make the story particularly more believable and/or realistic. However, I did enjoy the horsey aspects.

I really love an equestrian novel especially if there is some mystery thrown in too. This was such a great story to read. I have purchased Lisa’s books in the past so I knew what to expect in terms of writing style. I am going to purchase this book too, to add to my collection of equestrian novels. Very well written, interesting and kept me engaged. I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend this author. A big fat 5 stars!

The Rein Equation is a horse-themed southern (USA) cozy mystery featuring trainer Cat Enright, written by Lisa Wysocky. Released in 2020, this reformat and re-release is 296 pages and is available in paperback and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a "horsy" mystery, based around and with lots of inside info about the equestrian world and the characters who ride, and who train others. The author draws the curtain back, and writes engagingly and accessibly about a world that few people inhabit.

This is the fifth book in a loosely connected series. The plot in this installment works well as a standalone, with the codicil that some of the characters are returning from earlier stories and readers who are reading them out of order should expect some minor spoilers.

There's a large cast of characters, but the author/publisher have included an abbreviated dramatis personae at the beginning of the book to keep them straight. The plot and mystery are fairly well constructed. There are some hiccups with the dialogue and much of it read more like a young adult/high school novel with cliques and snarky comments from the main character toward other characters which were jarring and odd.

The author is clearly very knowledgeable about horses and the horse-culture world.

Three and a half stars. It would've benefited from a more thorough editing process and tightening the dialogue throughout. The plot, mystery, and denouement are satisfying and complete.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.