Devil dancer

the long version

"In late August of 1972, when the prize stallion Devil Dancer is shot, Wendell Clay, a war veteran recently turned detective, volunteers to solve the case. His investigation becomes a three-day ordeal that teaches him more than he ever wanted to know about the dark places of the heart. Distinguished by its precise evocation of the Kentucky Bluegrass region, as well as its range of authentic voices--from pickpockets, black hipsters, and Mafia thugs to the elite of the horse farm world--the novel deftly dramatizes a grim yet compassionate view of existence. As the action moves from the lush opulence of Sycamore Springs Farm to the sleazy underside of Lexington and the mobbed-up dives of Newport, Kentucky, Wendell interrogates a set of memorable characters whose tales lure him into a labyrinth where mazes devised by others merge with his own twisted desires. The novel combines poetic texture and mythic resonance with a mastery of character, voice, scene, and plot. While contemporary in its sensibility, Devil Dancer draws upon some of the oldest literary traditions of all: people swapping stories to sustain each other and a mortal man's confrontation with the mystery of life."--Page 4 of cover.