Pony Confidential

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. Agent: Claudia Cross, Folio Literary. (Nov.)