A KENDAL-born author has been inspired by the latest craze for cosy, traditional detective fiction to write a series of short stories starring the family’s ex-racehorse as an equine sleuth.

Jenny Loweth, a former journalist at The Westmorland Gazette who is court reporter at the Bradford Telegraph & Argus, dreamed up the Alexander Horse Detective Mysteries after reading that whodunnits featuring animals had become very popular both here and in the United States.

“The successful authors I read about had cats and dogs solving crimes and I thought, why not a horse?" Jenny said. “My partner, Steven Wright, is crime reporter on the T&A so I included him in the tales, working with Alexander to crack the mysteries.

“The stories are set at the fictional Greenfield Farm livery yard in the Yorkshire Dales, but Alexander, his Miss Marple, little bay mare Sprite, and many of the other horses are real characters.”

Jenny, who lives near Skipton, published the first story, Pin The Blame, on Amazon Kindle in October and enjoyed writing it so much that the second ebook in the series, Christmas Spirit, is now available.

Jenny, whose parents, Alan and Margaret Ruston live at Underwood in Kendal, said: “I love old-fashioned detective stories by Agatha Christie and other renowned thriller authors of her generation. I see enough real-life horrors in my job without wanting to read violent and upsetting books in my spare time. Alexander Horse Detective is light-hearted fun and I hope readers will find it entertaining.”

In September, Jenny drew on her years of experience at the crown courts to publish Crook Who’s Talking, a series of ten fictional short stories featuring criminals talking from prison about their crimes.

“The Alexander Horse Detective Mysteries were a pleasant change after immersing myself for months in the criminal world and getting into the characters of murderers, drug dealers and housebreakers,” Jenny explained.

“I was able to combine my knowledge of lawbreakers and my love of horses to create something very different. I get totally absorbed in writing the stories and can’t wait to start the next one.”

Steven has written a trilogy of books about his relationship with Alexander, who was bred in Kendal and was briefly at Martin Todhunter’s professional jumps yard near Carlisle. Steven bought the steeplechaser soon after his racing career ended and had many ups and downs with the chestnut thoroughbred before they built up a successful competing partnership together. His first book, Run With Your Heart, is published by Racing Post Books and is available on Amazon.

Steven said: “Life with Alexander has been a thrill, but I never imagined he would end up as a detective!”

The Alexander Horse Detective Mysteries are available on Amazon Kindle Books.