Death of a Friend (West Country Mysteries, 3)

Nina Cattermole had an unusual death: head-butted by a horse as she protested against the local hunt. The official verdict is that it was a freak accident. But when another protestor friend is expertly trampled to death by horse, and detective Den Cooper is sent to investigate, he faces a divided community.

For the Cattermoles, it is merely the start of their troubles. On the day of the funeral a family friend, himself a hunt saboteur, is found dead in a ditch.

Den Cooper, a local CID detective, is sent to investigate. It soon becomes clear that this is not another accident. Charlie Gratton has been trampled to death by a horse, the blows struck with such precision that they could only have been delivered by an animal under the control of an experienced rider. As Den tries to solve the case he finds himself drawn in to an insular community and a village divided by loyalties and past misdeeds...