 |
"Death Rides a Pale Horse"
|
About the Author... Kathryn Kuhlen
Kathryn Kuhlen is a produced screenwriter and has received several screenwriting awards. Her first sold script, Soldier of God, an historical drama, was produced by Anabasis Group, Inc. and premiered in Los Angeles in November of 2006. It won the award for best feature film at the 2005 Stratford-Upon-Avon International Film Festival, the grand festival special recognition award at the 2005 Berkeley Video & Film Festival, and best high definition feature film at the 2005 Deep Ellum Film Festival. Kathryn has sold a second script, Of She-Wolves, Bunnies and the Axis of Evil, a satirical farce, which is currently in production.
Kathryn has won recognition in multiple screenwriting contests, including winning the 20/20 Screenwriting Contest and the thriller/horror category of the American Accolades Screenwriting Contest. She was a finalist in the UCLA Diane Thomas Screenwriting Contest and the Virginia Governor’s Screenwriting Competition, and a semi-finalist in the prestigious Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Contest.
Kathryn is a lawyer who started her legal career as a public defender. She now practices energy law with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. At various points in her life she has worked as a reporter with the Chicago City News Bureau, as a public relations director and as the owner and manager of a small business. She has a certificate in Screenwriting from UCLA and teaches screenwriting part-time in Alexandria, Virginia.
She is a graduate of Augustana College and received an M.A. from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from John Marshall Law School.
Death Rides a Pale Horse is her first novel.
A description of Death Rides a Pale Horse
During the selection trials for the U.S. Olympic equestrian team, top rider Alan Weber is discovered lying dead in a water jump at the Middleburg, Virginia competition site. No one is more horrified than the farm’s owner, Gretchen Fowler, who faces negligence charges and professional ruin. Part-time horse trainer Emma Harris, a paralegal at the law firm Gretchen hires, plunges into the investigation.
Emma’s familiarity with cross-country jumping leads her to believe Weber’s death was not an accident, but murder -- a fact later confirmed by the official autopsy. Her efforts to save Gretchen’s reputation soon force her to consider whether the killer might be a member of her own close-knit equestrian community.
Emma follows the trail of suspects, and along the way the reader gets an insider’s view into the world of high-stakes equestrian competition. Emma’s persistence earns the grudging admiration of the sheriff’s detective but stirs up the town’s resentments, forcing the firm’s managing partner to call off Emma’s investigations. But when the sheriff arrests Emma’s riding coach for the murder, Emma is faced with a stark choice: defy her boss, or abandon a woman she believes to be innocent.
Emma’s decision not only burns her bridges at the law firm, it places her life in jeopardy. For the real killer has learned Emma is zeroing in on the truth, and it becomes a race in time to see whether Emma can gather the evidence she needs to free her friend before the killer chalks up another victim – Emma herself.
Ms. Kuhlen formerly stabled her own competition horses in the Middleburg area where the novel is set, and has drawn on her disparate experiences as a lawyer and rider to weave a work rich in local color, horse lore and the politics of a small town law practice.
Return to Authors' Showcase
Home