Hotwalker
Publish Date: October 01, 2021
When police fail to solve the murder of a Guatemalan groom on the backside of Churchill Downs during the Kentucky Derby festival, the victim’s hotwalker son hires local private investigator Jim Guthrie to bring the killer to justice. In doing so, Guthrie uncovers other crimes including blackmail, extortion, and illegal drug use but still finds time to romance a seductive veterinarian. Several violent encounters occur during the investigation as the private eye uses a racetrack tip sheet to provoke the killer into making a mistake. Guthrie’s debut in Hotwalker is a fast-paced classic private detective mystery featuring a complex storyline, surprising twists, quirky characters, off-beat humor, and a vivid sense of place. The book is extremely topical, as well. Many characters are Central American immigrants who must live in fear of being deported by ICE. The plot also mirrors real-life crimes for which two top trainers were recently charged by prosecutors in New York.
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An excerpt from Hotwalker
I was having a drink on my dock on the Ohio River when the radio announcer’s voice was suddenly drowned out by an earsplitting noise.
I was thrilled that the Kentucky Derby was once again alive and well post-pandemic, but still hoped to avoid the hoopla surrounding it. While every TV and radio station in town blared about Derby Week events, from the hot air balloons to the Pegasus parade and the Great Steamboat Race, everything else got put on hold. It was unlikely that I would have any new clients. Every phone call or piece of mail addressed to Jim Guthrie, Private Investigator, was a past-due request.
“The twin spires rise from Churchill Downs like church steeples, fitting since thoroughbred horse racing is a religion here this time of year, with worshippers substituting bourbon for the sacramental wine and betting windows for collection baskets. Some 160,000 spectators are expected to line the fences at the racetrack to witness the most exciting two minutes in sports.”
That’s when—startled by the whine of high-powered engines—I glanced upriver to find a red speed boat with a white fiberglass hull hurtling my way. It was bouncing high and slapping the waves hard while throwing up a ten-foot rooster tail. Six miles upriver from the city of Louisville where sailboats and fishermen dotted the channel was no place for a muscle craft like this to zoom close to shore at sixty knots, especially not while recklessly shifting directions and jumping its own wake. Only a grandstander would do that. This one must’ve been showing off for the woman standing beside him in a two-piece swimsuit.
When I waved him off, he veered to the right. But then he veered back while letting go of the wheel, like a kid on a bicycle riding with no hands. He must not have expected the torque that forced the boat to swerve, pitching him out across the waves. Seconds later, he popped up unhurt and swam for shore. But his passenger was not so lucky. As she flipped overboard, she banged her head on the stern and became entangled with the tow rope. Now she was being dragged feet-first underwater.
With no time to think, instinct took over. The driver-less boat was going around in circles, with each pass coming closer. When it seemed within reach, I sprinted the length of the dock and leaped, barely hurdled the watery gap, and landed on the foredeck with enough force to carry me over the other side. Instead, I grabbed a railing and, almost dislocating my shoulder, pulled myself up.
Once in the cockpit, I throttled back, bringing the boat to a lurching halt amid a welter of white water. I went aft and pulled in the rope towing the woman. When I got her into the boat, she wasn’t breathing. I laid her out on the deck and tilted her head back, blowing harsh rhythmic breaths into her mouth until she gagged and began spewing up copper-colored water.
“You okay?” I said, realizing at once what a stupid question that was.
Review
“A delightful whodunit with a remarkable hero and sublime Southern setting.”
In this mystery, a private eye braves Kentucky’s hectic Derby week to investigate a murder at Churchill Downs.
Sleuth Jim Guthrie anticipates his business will take a hit with the Derby festivities starting. But he finds a client in Guatemalan immigrant Carlos Rojas, a Churchill Downs “hotwalker” who cools down horses with quiet strolls following a workout or race. At last year’s Derby, someone fatally bludgeoned Carlos’ father, Felipe, who worked as a groom. Since then, the police investigation has turned up nothing, so Jim looks into the homicide on his own. Sadly, he quickly realizes that questioning employees at the Churchill Downs backside is a largely fruitless endeavor. As many are immigrants like Carlos, they stay tight-lipped, understandably wary of recent United States laws. But there is a bevy of suspects that Jim can whittle down. Robbery may have been a motive, as Felipe, who won at poker on the night of his murder, had no money on him. He also got in a fight with a man claiming Felipe cheated at that poker game. In the course of his investigation, Jim forms an unexpected alliance with Wyatt Whitlow, who publishes The Late Mail, a tip newsletter. Whitlow’s exposés may help draw out the killer; he’s already incensed people with accusations of cheating via buzzers (devices that electrically shock horses during races) or performance-enhancing drugs. When Jim learns some of those accusations have merit, he connects Felipe’s death with other Churchill Downs crimes, which soon include a second murder.
Neumayer delivers an often lighthearted mystery. For example, scenes unfold at the backside like a soap opera; there’s the perpetually drunk groom, the horse trainer who scuffles with Whitlow over cheating allegations, and infidelity among married folks. Even Jim has a part in all this, having provoked a wealthy thoroughbred owner whose foolish son the private investigator humiliated (with good reason). The story likewise treats the detective genre playfully. In one of his articles, Whitlow mocks Jim for not donning a fedora or trench coat, and the PI later initiates a pursuit on a bicycle at moderate speed. The protagonist is good-natured and sympathetic; he takes Carlos’ case pro bono, despite a pile of bills, and suffers the authorities’ ire as they despise Jim, a former cop–turned–private eye. At the same time, he’s caught up in an effectively understated romance with veterinarian Dr. Freya Hall. She’s one of the cast’s myriad characters, many of whom make viable murder suspects and bolster the ongoing mystery. The author aptly develops each one against a vibrant Churchill Downs backdrop. Along with that comes abundant racing lingo, like the titular job, that the author subtly defines for novices without boring readers already familiar with it. Descriptions of Derby races, though disappointingly brief, are animated and memorable: “Right out of the gate, it was a mad scramble with five mounts no more than two lengths apart….All other sounds were quickly muffled by crowd noise. Manes and tails streamed behind like battle flags as the horses charged into the backstretch.”