Here are 58 books that The Dark Horse fans have personally recommended if you like
The Dark Horse.
Shepherd is a community of 12,000+ authors and super readers sharing their favorite books with the world.
My favorite mode of transport is being on the back of a good horse. I have enjoyed horse treks in Ecuador on the Inca Trail, in the backcountry of British Columbia, the High Sierras, and on the Wild West coast of Ireland, as well as numerous stays at guest’s ranches in the U.S. My equestrian articles have appeared in Equus, Horse Illustrated, and California Riding Magazine, to name a few. A back injury forced me to give up my mare and the riding world I loved. Writing The Cowgirl Jumped over the Moon was my way of letting go and moving forward in life.
I am far from being a young adult, but I still found this charming book enlightening. The protagonist is a young woman who disguises herself as a man so she may join the equestrian military force patrolling the West Coast to spot submarines offshore.
The story also touches on the very sad fact that Japanese people were rounded up, deprived of their property, and confined in camps in California during WWII.
The world is at war. A teenage equestrian takes on a man's world to make a difference...and finds love along the way.
Fearing an invasion by German and Japanese forces during World War II, the U.S. Coast Guard enlisted horsemen to patrol the beaches along the east and west coasts. The unit was called “The Sand Pounders” and they rode their horses up and down the beaches from 1942 to 1944.
In Tillamook, Oregon, a young equestrian decided to join them. There was only one problem…they were only accepting men. That didn’t slow her down.
It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.
The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…
I’m an animal person. A lot of my writing, for readers ages 10 and up, features animals. I am intrigued by the intersection of research-based reality and fiction. When I speak at schools, I love sharing ways students can make their voices and actions count. They can make the world better. I believe some of our best human traits are brought out when we interact with animals. They connect us to the natural world while sharing so many human qualities. Between the lines in these books about animals, we can discover strength and the inspiration to be the best humans we can be.
How often do I get to learn about preparing skeletons for museum displays, Civil War history, one of the greatest racehorses ever, and the legacy of racism in the U.S.? I love this novel because Brooks intertwines modern and historic times, horse racing, art, and science in the story of a majestic horse and the people who dedicated their lives to him.
I loved learning more about the legendary Thoroughbred, Lexington. I admire the way this book echoes and reflects how racism is still embedded in our culture. It entertained me but also left me with a lot to think about. A great read.
"Brooks' chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling." -The New York Times Book Review
"Horse isn't just an animal story-it's a moving narrative about race and art." -TIME
A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids a sweeping story of spirit, obsession, and injustice across American history
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war, an…
I have been horse-obsessed since before I can remember. I begged my parents for lessons and read every horse book I could, starting with Misty of Chincoteague and the Black Stallion series. I let life lead me away from horses, but I came back after almost two decades away. Now, I write about horses for a living and work with them daily–the main theme of my life in both books and business is connection. I write nonfiction and fiction books and have a hilariously honest and fun podcast called Adulting with Horses, where we talk about our favorite topic. Want to guess what it is?
This is one of my favorite books, and anyone who loves horses should read it.
I love a good slow-burn romance, which occurs throughout this book and the next, but ultimately, it is how relatable a character the FMC is and how much I felt like the author was describing me.
The relationship between Devon and her Paint mare is incredibly vivid and realistic, and there is a lot of tension with the MMC!
McKennon Kelly is a handsome horse trainer who knows the cure for wannabe cowgirl Devon Brooke's horse troubles. Can he train her without revealing his secret? He's not so sure ...
Devon Brooke is a city girl gone country who desperately needs a certain Romeo in Wranglers' help with her new horse. People say she's a cowboy crazy cowgirl with horse problems. They may be right ...
Meet McKennon and Devon in the In the Reins series. A city-girl-gone-country, a handsome cowboy and a horse meet by fate on a southern farm. She's looking for a fresh start and unexpectedly…
A Duke with rigid opinions, a Lady whose beliefs conflict with his, a long disputed parcel of land, a conniving neighbour, a desperate collaboration, a failure of trust, a love found despite it all.
Alexander Cavendish, Duke of Ravensworth, returned from war to find that his father and brother had…
My favorite mode of transport is being on the back of a good horse. I have enjoyed horse treks in Ecuador on the Inca Trail, in the backcountry of British Columbia, the High Sierras, and on the Wild West coast of Ireland, as well as numerous stays at guest’s ranches in the U.S. My equestrian articles have appeared in Equus, Horse Illustrated, and California Riding Magazine, to name a few. A back injury forced me to give up my mare and the riding world I loved. Writing The Cowgirl Jumped over the Moon was my way of letting go and moving forward in life.
I enjoyed this story, even though it was more about the rivalry between mother and daughter striving for Olympic Gold than it was about horses.
The horse jumping world is filled with backstabbing competitors, abuse of gorgeous animals, and risk of serious injury. Patterson dwells more on this than the very real connection riders have with their mounts. Still, it is a fun, engaging read.
'A great read for horse lovers and fans of show jumping' Jilly Cooper 'This is a hugely entertaining, riveting, page-turner of a book' Louise Penny 'An eye-opening ride through the high-stakes world of equestrian show-jumping . . . Three fearless women connected by blood, competition, and a passion for fast horses.' Carl Hiaasen _____________________________
Maggie Atwood and Becky McCabe - mother and daughter, both champion riders - vowed to never, ever, compete against one another.
But a dramatic turn of events ahead of the Paris Olympics changes everything.
Mother and daughter share a dream: to be the best in the…
I've been a lawyer for 30 years, 20 of them as an elected district attorney, and writing relieves stress for me. Real crime is messy and irrational; crime fiction restores order. But literary fiction is too slow—a novel must compel the reader to turn the page. Good thrillers tackle major issues, revealing themes that deepen our understanding of humanity. I've witnessed courage during grief and stress, but I'd never betray that trust by writing nonfiction accounts. I deliberately jumbled character traits and real events and combined them with my understanding of modern police techniques like geofencing and DNA.
The king of the cowboy detectives, Walt Longmire, must choose a course for his life after Vietnam. We know our hero devoted his life to serving his neighbors, yet here we confront the moment of stark paths before him. The choice not only represents a personal sacrifice but requires those he loves to sacrifice. The calling to seek justice demands a constant commitment.
Johnson presents a villain who has surrendered to his baser nature. A trope of mystery fiction contrasting with a hero capable of overcoming such self-destructiveness. I listened to the audiobook.
The thirteenth novel in Craig Johnson's beloved New York Times bestselling Longmire series, the basis for the hit Netflix series Longmire
Sheriff Walt Longmire is enjoying a celebratory beer after a weapons certification at the Wyoming Law Enforcement Academy when a younger sheriff confronts him with a photograph of twenty-five armed men standing in front of a Challenger steam locomotive. It takes him back to when, fresh from the battlefields of Vietnam, then-deputy Walt accompanied his mentor Lucian to the annual Wyoming Sheriff's Association junket held on the excursion train known as the Western Star, which ran the length of…
There's something about broken people trying to do good that has always resonated with me. In basic training, a drill sergeant with debilitating PTSD told us what combat would be like through a storm of choking sobs and a haze of tears. He needed us to know. Even if it broke him. Working as an investigator in Denver and Washington, I watched people with complicated pasts and uncertain futures fight tooth and nail (sometimes literally) to put human traffickers behind bars. Literature has always been a bridle for that wildness I saw in the world. A tool for taking the ghashing, stomping, unruliness of the human experience and making it rideable, relatable, survivable.
This one is a standout of the Longmire series. A bus full of serial killers mashes its potatoes into the side of a mountain during a whiteout and it’s up to Absaroka County Sheriff Walt Longmire to get rounded them up. There’s an epicness about this story that leaves you feeling like you’re riding a literary wave into the pilings and Craig Johnson paints the whole debacle with a Hillerman-esque mysticism and his own singular brand of stoic humor.
The seventh book in the New York Times bestselling Longmire series, featuring Sheriff Walt Longmire.
Raynaud Shade, an adopted Crow Indian and one of the country's most dangerous sociopaths, has just confessed to murdering a boy twenty years ago and burying him deep within the Bighorn Mountains. Absaroka County Sherriff Walt Longmire must escort Shade through a snowstorm to the site, but the mission turns personal when Walt learns whom the dead boy's family is.
Guided only by Indian mysticism and a battered paperback of Dante's Inferno, Walt braves the icy hell of the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, cheating death…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I believe many writers suspect they are Strangers in a Strange Land. How ironic that I, a confirmed atheist, should use a biblical quote to describe the mindset of authors. Some discover where they belong through their writing. My book recommendations have a strong sense of place, whether it be the Old West, wartime Berlin, or modern-day Scotland. I was born into a 300-year-old N. Ireland Protestant Plantation family, yet many people saw us as interlopers: we weren’t quite Irish, and we weren’t quite British, yet we held dual passports. It was not until I left Ireland that I realized my Irish Heritage exerted a stronger pull than my British.
In contrast to Lonesome Dove,I’ve included this book by Craig Johnston, partly because of my anthropology training. Johnston relates the modern life of a Wyoming sheriff interacting with the culture of the Sioux and Cheyenne.
I particularly admire the way Johnston handles the spiritual aspect of the native people. His depiction of Wyoming's emptiness or mountainous areas kept me turning pages all night long. His protagonist knows only too well that law and order is not a black-and-white matter and is prepared to dispense justice as he seems fit.
I have watched the TV series of the books but found it underwhelming. The printed word can often outdo the constraints of a TV producer.
Walt Longmire unravels a mystery that connects two murders across forty years
When the body of a young Vietnamese woman is found alongside the interstate in Absaroka County, Wyoming, Sherriff Walt Longmire is determined to discover the identity of the victim and is forced to confront the horrible similarities of this murder to that of his first homicide investigation as a marine in Vietnam.
To complicate matters, Virgil White Buffalo, a homeless Crow Indian, is found living in a nearby culvert and in possession of the young woman?s purse. There are only two problems with what appears to be an…
When I was a boy, my father filled our house with books. From an early age, I immersed myself in whatever he was reading, especially spy thrillers (John LeCarre was his favorite) and crime fiction (the first I recall reading was Joseph Wambaugh’s The Onion Field). I loved those books. What captivated me most were stories that provided clues but made me piece them together to draw my own conclusions. I strive to deliver this same experience to the readers of my novels by providing entertaining tales with unexpected, yet plausible endings.
I love Western movies and TV shows. I don’t read as much in the genre unless we’re talking about modern Westerns. Craig Johnson’s Longmire series ranks among the best. As strong a protagonist as Sheriff Walt Longmire is, I find his sidekick Henry Standing Bear to be the real star.
The Cheyenne Nation, as Walt likes to call him, is as indispensable to the stories as Watson is to Sherlock Holmes. And the setting of the Wyoming Rockies makes me long for a road trip. With its strong characters and satisfying plot twists, this book drew me into the Longmire series from the first page.
Introducing Wyoming's Sheriff Walt Longmire in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author, the first in the Longmire mystery series
Craig Johnson's new novel, LAND OF WOLVES, is forthcoming from Viking
Fans of Ace Atkins, Nevada Barr and Robert B. Parker will love this outstanding first novel, in which New York Times bestselling author Craig Johnson introduces Sheriff Walt Longmire of Wyoming's Absaroka County. Johnson draws on his deep attachment to the American West to produce a literary mystery of stunning authenticity, and full of memorable characters. After twenty-five years as sheriff of Absaroka County, Walt Longmire's…
My novels range from coming-of-age to suspense. I was an award-winning crime and investigative reporter for the Columbus Dispatchfor 11 years. That background helps me with the investigative aspects of my books. I enjoy exploring the moral dilemmas often presented in real life. My characters all have morals, but I like putting them in compromising situations. It’s easy to sit back and judge others, but how far would you go to keep your own son out of jail? Would the love of your son get in the way of your morals? It’s never black or white. Most of life is spent dancing in and out of the vast gray area in the middle.
Walt Longmire is the sheriff of fictional Absaroka County, Wyoming. Longmire is a decorated Marine and played offensive line at the University of Southern California. He’s big, and he can brawl. He can be the cerebral Sherlock Holmes or Rambo, depending on the situation. In most of his books, Longmire teams up with Henry Standing Bear, but inDepth of Winter, Longmire is largely on his own as he sneaks into Mexico in search of his only child, Cady, who has been kidnapped by the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. Longmire is a bulldozer in his quest to rescue his daughter.
"It's the scenery-and the big guy standing in front of the scenery-that keeps us coming back to Craig Johnson's lean and leathery mysteries." -The New York Times Book Review
Walt journeys into the northern Mexican desert alone to save his daughter Cady, who has been kidnapped by the cartel
Welcome to Walt Longmire's worst nightmare. Winter is creeping closer, but for Sheriff Longmire this one is looking to be harsh in a way to which he is wholly unaccustomed. He has found himself in the remotest parts of the northern Mexican desert, a lawless place where no horse or car…
This book follows the journey of a writer in search of wisdom as he narrates encounters with 12 distinguished American men over 80, including Paul Volcker, the former head of the Federal Reserve, and Denton Cooley, the world’s most famous heart surgeon.
In these and other intimate conversations, the book…
When our two sons were younger, I ran a book club for moms. We met at the local library branch once a month—an excuse to get out of the house for some adult conversation. I frequently offer book suggestions to friends and family because I keep my finger on the pulse of what books moms want to read, especially in the summertime at the beach. Typically, I read three to four beach reads on vacation, and I like a variety of genres. I gravitate towards stories with some element of romance, fitting since I’m a sweet romance writer who loves a good book.
This book is an irresistible thriller about Grace Evans, an overworked New Yorker who rents an Airbnb on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming for some rest and relaxation and stumbles upon an intriguing rancher and townsfolk with secrets to keep.
The sexual attraction between Grace and Calvin Wells, the handsome rancher, kept me turning the pages. I never saw the shocking twist coming at the end. It made me think twice about booking a vacation rental in a remote area without cell service!
I devoured this novel in a few days, making it a good choice for a quick beach read.
