Meg has finally found time to get some blacksmithing done when a call from her dad interrupts her--can she come out to Ragnar’s right away to help with the horses? Their friend Ragnar Ragnarsen, who is gradually turning the enormous house on his nearby estate into an authentic moated castle, has agreed to shelter nearly fifty horses for Hoof and Hearth, an equine rescue organization that has lost access to the farm where the horses have been living. The owner of the farm recently died without leaving a will, and while his older son Abel would be happy to let the horses stay, younger brother George wants to sell to a developer . . . and is suspected of sending a thug to harm the horses as part of his efforts to evict Hoof and Hearth.
That night, while Meg and her family are camping at one of Ragnar’s barns, to keep an eye on the horses, they discover that the thug has been murdered. Unfortunately George is alibied . . . but his horse-loving brother Abel is not. Neither are the hot-tempered founder of Hoof and Hearth or the passionately protective ex-jockey who serves as its stablemaster. Meg juggles helping keep the horses safe and doing what she can to help the chief solve the thug’s murder . . . all the while hoping that the killer won’t turn out to be one of the dedicated horse rescuers she has come to like and respect.