Hmm, well, here goes …
“Having a ball with ballroom dancing”
No.
“It’s ballroom dancing, baby!”
Delete.
“Getting it on in the ballroom”
DELETE.
Okay, well at least I can get this part right: By Fanta Delaney
That’s me, and I’m here at my desk at the North City Newser trying to write a headline for my latest feature article on, you guessed it, ballroom dancing.
What do I know about ballroom dancing? Not much, seems a bit dainty to me. I’m more into horses — my horse Des in particular. He’s my best friend. He lives at Bay Ridge Farms, not far from my apartment in North City. We ride the trails together, practise in the outdoor ring, and compete in the show hunters (I’ll explain that another time but it’s kinda like show jumping, if you’ve seen that).
I’m going to visit Des later this afternoon, take him some carrots and tell him he’s a good boy. First I have to survive the day in the newsroom, where everyone thinks I’m the newbie idiot. But I’m going to show them. Because here’s the thing: did I mention Greg Grenier, the professional show jumping rider? Well, he’s insanely hot. I’ve been crushing on him for years, since pony club days. But now — disaster! — he’s been murdered! Can you believe it? That’s why I’m on the case. I can ask questions, I know about horses. I’m totally going to find out what happened.
I already have some suspects. There’s the girlfriend, she thinks that Greg was fooling around (as if! okay, maybe). There’s the business partner, he thinks Greg was double-dealing (what’s wrong with a little ambition?). There’s also one of Greg’s riding students, who thought he wasn’t getting enough “attention” (that was a non-starter, at least, I think so).
Lemme look through my notes. Okay, there’s also a bunch of old and not-so-old girlfriends, a lot of wanna-be’s, and who knows how many other people Greg ignored, tossed aside, or left broken-hearted. My coach at Bay Ridge thinks Greg was a nice rider, but maybe not a nice person.
Sigh. Was he the golden boy I thought he was, the guy I mooned over all this time? Maybe not, but he deserves justice. And I’m going to find it, even if it kills me. (I mean, that’s just an expression, right?)
Jumping To Conclusions – A Fanta Delaney Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Release: July 2025
Format: Print, Digital
Pre-order link to come
Hunky horseman Greg Grenier is hot, hot, hot! Boyish good looks, devilish charm, he has it all. Until he’s found murdered in his hotel room not far from the big horse show. Who would do such a thing?
Young Fanta Delaney loves horses. Ever since pony club days, she’s crushed on handsome Greg and followed his show jumping career from afar. Now, she’s a junior writer at the local paper north of Toronto, desperate to prove herself. Can she combine her skills as a reporter with her knowledge of the horse world to find out who killed her lustrous hero?
As Fanta digs in, she quickly discovers that Greg was not the golden boy she envisaged. A jealous girlfriend, angry business partner, frustrated client — who didn’t have a grudge against Greg Grenier? So when Fanta gets the opportunity to observe her prime suspects up close at a horseback riding clinic, she jumps at the chance.
Just as the clues start to come together, the killer makes an unexpected move and Fanta learns that jumping to conclusions can be a deadly mistake.
Meet the author
A.V. Howland is an award-winning feature writer and newspaper editor who continues to work in daily journalism, now with a hint of mystery and mayhem on the side. She grew up riding horses and now lives in Ottawa, Canada with two rescue dogs. Of course, she’s always looking for ways to get back in the saddle.