11-year-old ace detective Laura Marlin finds herself deep in the murky world of race-fixing in her third mystery adventure, following the BLUE PETER AWARD-winning first book DEAD MAN'S COVE.

... a well told story full of excitement and adventure. There is plenty of information about farms and racing to please animal lovers, and a plot which is sufficiently realistic for readers to dream of solving similar mysteries themselves. Fans new and old of Laura Marlin will thoroughly enjoy it, and will be keeping their fingers crossed that Laura will soon be back to beat the bad guys and solve further crimes. THE BOOK BAG 20120514

Lauren St John was born in Gatooma, Rhodesia, now Kadoma, Zimbabwe. At 11, she and her family moved to Rainbow's End farm and game reserve, the subject of her memoir, also published by Orion, and she grew up surrounded by animals, including eight horses, two warthogs and a pet giraffe. After nearly a decade as golf correspondent to The Sunday Times, followed by a sojourn in the US, riding the tour buses of alt. country stars like Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle and the Dixie Chicks, she wrote the bestselling 'White Giraffe' series. 'Dead Man's Cove', the first in her new mystery series about 11-year-old detective, Laura Marlin, won the 2011 Blue Peter Favourite Story and Book of the Year Awards.