Walter Satterthwait: Dead Horse (USA 2020)

From the Publisher:
DEAD HORSE
From The New York Herald, European Edition, May 26, 1935:
OBITUARIES
"WHITFIELD, Emily Davies Vanderbilt Thayer
"... On July 19, 1933, in New York City, she married Mr. Raoul Whitfield, the popular American mystery novelist. Together, they moved to the American southwest, where they constructed a luxurious ranch near the town of Las Vegas, New Mexico. They hosted elaborate parties, their guests arriving from New York, Los Angeles, and various European capitals. In February of 1935, to the surprise of their friends, they separated. Mr. Whitfield moved to Los Angeles and Mrs. Whitfield filed for divorce, which had not become final at the time of her death.

"On the morning of May 24, Mrs. Whitfield was found dead on her bed, her outstretched right hand holding a Colt .45 revolver. She had been shot in her left side. A coroner's jury brought in a verdict of suicide..."

Or was it? Sheriff Tom Delgado thinks otherwise. Now he's got to prove it.

Walter Satterthwait: Dead Horse. A Novel. Introduction by Rick Ollerman. Stark House Press, ISBN: 9781944520854 (February, 2020), 182 p., $15.95.

Walter Satterthwait: Dead Horse (USA 2006)

From the Publisher:
LasVegas, New Mexico. After a tempestuous separation in 1935, Emily died, apparently a suicide, though many thought she was murdered. Whitfield, who quit writing after the marriage, never escaped the cloud of suspicion surrounding his wife's death. Genre veteran Satterthwait offers his version of what might have happened, jumping back and forth in time to tell the story of the couple's storybook romance and its tragic denouement. The alternate history is completely credible, and the portrayal of a genre star brought down by the high life is addictively readable (especially for its links to Dashiell Hammett, who may have based Nick in The Thin Man on Whitfield). Great fun, particularly for pulp fans.

Dustjacket design and interior artwork by Michael Kellner.

Walter Satterthwait: Dead Horse. A Novel. Dennis McMillan, ISBN: 0939767554 (November, 2006), 182 p., $30.00.