Pony Confidential

Starred review from August 1, 2024

Twenty-five years ago, Pony loved Penny, his 12-year-old owner, and thought she loved him, too. Then, one day, the horse was sold. Ever since, Pony makes every human pay for Penny's callousness. It turns out that Penny was at the scene of a murder in the woods, which caused her parents to quickly move her away from Ithaca, NY. Now Penny is married and has a troubled daughter. Just when Pony decides to find her and make her pay, Penny is arrested for the murder that occurred when she was 12 and brought back to Ithaca. In alternating chapters, Pony narrates his journey and Penny narrates from jail, reminiscing about the horse she loved. The quirky pony's adventures are funny at times as he encounters charming, helpful animals who encourage him on his quest to find Penny and prove she isn't a killer. He also copes with the harsh realities of human treatment of animals. VERDICT Lynch's (Sally Brady's Italian Adventure) story of an odyssey is one of love and determination. Pony devotes his life to finding Penny in an account that will be appreciated by horse lovers, especially women who were horse-loving young girls.--Lesa Holstine

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2024

Lynch, a former editor at the Harvard Lampoon and the author of several historicals and thrillers, pens a cozy in which a pony serves as both narrator and detective when his former owner is accused of murder. The horse uses his smart and devious mind (and his cuteness) to identify the real killer. Prepub Alert.

Copyright 2024 Library Journal

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2024
The author says it all in the closing acknowledgments: this is "a book about a pony who solves a murder." Twenty-five years after 12-year-old Penelope Marcus rode into the woods with Frank Ross, the owner of High Rise Farms, newly revealed evidence suggests that she bashed him to death. She's arrested, extradited from California to New York, and uprooted from both Laus, her estranged husband, and Tella, the daughter who struggles with mental health issues. After her arrest, we meet the beloved pony she had been riding on that fatal day, who's gone by so many names over the years--Houdini, Sequoia, O--that the chapters presented from his point of view are wisely labeled "The Pony." Whatever his name is, he's resented Penny since the day in the past when, "out of the blue," he believes, "she up and sold me." He determines to seek Penny out. Conferring with a wide variety of animal companions from Circe the goat and Caya the hound dog to Fifi the sparrow and Cassandra the barn cat, the pony dodges the humans who block his path by treating him as property to be used and sold. He is finally reunited with Penny and solves the long-ago mystery--which, to be fair, isn't that hard even for a pony. The story is consistently more absorbing when it focuses on the animal characters, perhaps because so many of its humans treat each other so inhumanely. The parallels it traces between the imprisonments of Penny and the pony are especially eye-opening. Ever wished for "Black Beauty, Private Eye"? Wish no longer.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

November 1, 2024
Third-grade teacher Penny Marcus is grading papers one afternoon when the local sheriff's deputy knocks on her door and arrests her for murder. She's stunned to learn she is charged with killing a man 25 years ago, when she was only 12, in her hometown across the country. Penny recalls that as the time when her parents abruptly uprooted her, moving her far away from her home and beloved pony. Meanwhile, Pony has led a bitter life, despising humans because he once loved Penny but was betrayed by her sudden departure. He sets out to find Penny and exact revenge for this treatment, until an owl scolds him for leaving Penny when she needed him one awful night, ruining her life. Convinced he must rescue her, curmudgeonly Pony embarks on an improbable quest to save his person, recruiting a motley assortment of helpers. Can the magical connection between Pony and Penny save the day? Refreshingly offbeat, Lynch's latest (Sally Brady's Italian Adventure, 2023) is the heartwarming comic mystery you didn't know you needed.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 2, 2024
Lynch’s rollicking latest (after Sally Brady’s Italian Adventure) rests on a unique question: can a pony be a character witness in a murder case? When Penny Marcus, a third-grade teacher in a small California town, is arrested for a decades-old murder that took place in her East Coast hometown when she was 12 years old, her former pony (named Pony) is thousands of miles away, still smarting from the pain of being sold by Penny’s family. A casual conversation with some of Pony’s animal confidants reveals that Penny did not, in fact, abandon him, and he sets out to find her. Along the way, he learns of her murder accusation and refashions himself as an equine gumshoe. What follows is a cross-country investigation in which Pony chats with horses, owls, dogs, and an ill-tempered goat, who help point him toward the killer. Meanwhile, Penny sits in an Ithaca, N.Y., jail, her fate in the hands of a novice public defender. Lynch takes the ludicrous premise surprisingly seriously, giving weight and complexity to Pony’s feelings without teetering into absurdity. Toss in a memorable supporting cast and a healthy dash of humor, and Lynch has a potential series on her hands. Cozy fans looking for something out of the ordinary should saddle up. Agent: Claudia Cross, Folio Literary.