Book Review: Commander Speaks
Jody Jaffe’s latest mystery, Commander Speaks, is a compelling, twisty page-turner that keeps readers hooked and wanting to know what happens next!
While Jaffe is best-known for her Natalie Gold mystery series, Commander Speaks features a different cast of characters. Commander Speaks isn’t a light, fluffy horse-themed mystery, either. There’s grit and the tale touches on real issues in equestrian sports, most notably predatory behavior from trainers and drugging. In the author’s note at the end of the book, Jaffe explains she wrote this book because she believes, and as a former journalist herself, was taught early, that sunlight, exposing wrongdoing, is the best disinfectant. Jaffe also had a personal reason behind this book, per her author’s note – a close friend reported a well-known trainer to SafeSport and experienced significant fallout to the point they gave up showing. Jaffe reveals in the author’s note that two equine presses, one which, she notes, wanted to publish her previous works, turned down Commander Speaks due to what an editor described as “the current situation in horse sports and social license to operate” making the storyline “not in the industry’s best interest at this moment in time.”
Without giving away too much – the book sees a motley cast of protagonists working to solve the murder of notable trainer, Ronnie Mancuse. Mancuse had a history of molesting underage students – something discovered by one of the horses and disclosed to an animal communicator. Beyond Mancuse’s murder, “Commander Speaks” sees its protagonists working to save a Latino groom, Miguel, from serious drug charges after cocaine is discovered, planted so the groom takes the fall for horse doping, in a horse’s stall and helping a young woman, Annabelle, daughter of stable owner Serena Turrell, reunite with her aunt.
When I say “motley cast of protagonists,” readers meet Commander, who prefers the nickname Dante, a stunningly gorgeous liver chestnut Hanoverian gelding imported from Germany by his owner, Mrs. Abernethy, better known as Mrs. A. Mrs. A is a mystery author, formerly a journalist, who self-describes as having come up in journalism in the days when everyone wanted to be the next Woodward and Bernstein. Mrs. A enlisted the help of animal communicator Isadora “Izzie” Isaac to find out why Commander/Dante keeps biting – that mystery is easily solved and proves to be homesickness and Mrs. A’s apparent onion breath. However, Dante, in the midst of telling Izzie how much he misses his native Germany, reveals that Mancuse has been molesting a student. Izzie shares this with Mrs. A, who like any good human being, feels obligated to share this with the appropriate authorities – but how? Her source is literally a horse, and, of course, no one would believe her when the time came to reveal her source is Dante. Mrs. A herself was skeptical of animal communicators and hired Izzie on the off chance it worked. So she sets about trying to gather information to be able to take this to the authorities and gets pulled into the mystery with each twist and turn.
I’ll be honest – I started reading this book not really expecting to like the protagonists. Mrs. A comes across as a curmudgeon at first glance, I was expecting Izzie to be more crunchy-granola-woo than she turns out to be, and Dante started off seeming egotistical and prone to complaining about everything. Mrs. A – well, she is something of a curmudgeon, but I’m also a sucker for stories involving journalists, or in this case, a former journalist, kicking butt and taking names, so her character won me over with grit and journalism references. Izzie is more grounded than she seems and Dante’s actually a very cool horse.
I think one of the highlights showing just how well Jaffe brings these characters to life is in Chapter 39. Mrs. A has fallen off of Dante at the show, after he uncharacteristically comes unglued in the ring. It’s discovered that Dante was purposely drugged so he’d act up and potentially throw Mrs. A when she spots her tack trunk’s lid on backwards checking on Dante after getting out of the hospital. She takes the lid off to put it on correctly and finds a note which says:
“Stop asking questions. Stop the emails. Stop the phone calls. Or next time – it will be a fatal dose for both of you.”
Izzie, who accompanied Mrs. A to the barn, since Mrs. A was going to stay with her due to a concussion and Izzie’s place being closer to the show grounds than Mrs. A’s home, is shocked by Mrs. A not being concerned about the note. Mrs. A declares that she has more than 30 years on Izzie’s age, has been through worse than some coward leaving a note, and if Dante is harmed or threatened one more time, she will personally strangle whoever wrote that. Izzie, under her breath, calls Mrs. A “badass.” In my notes for the review, I wrote about that moment: yes, sure – but also, that’s a journalist, even if fictional. That’s just going to make Mrs. A more curious and want the truth.
As serious as the subject matter of Commander Speaks is, the book is also humorous at times, particularly Dante, who decides he wants to master snark and has a tendency to butt into Izzie’s mind with something to say at some awkward moments. Then there’s the tale of how sheriff deputy J.D. Coffey is able to so readily believe in animal communicators – let’s just leave that at “he did some serious recreational drugs one time in college and ended up talking to a tree” because I don’t want to give it all away.
If you’re looking for what might be one of the best equine-themed mysteries written by someone not named Dick Francis, a mystery that touches on very real issues in equestrian sports, you’ll want to read this. I’ve never read Jaffe’s “Natalie Gold” series to compare, and it’s my understanding those are out of print, but this makes me want to read those, too. Beyond writing mysteries, Jaffe once worked as a features writer for the Charlotte Observer where she was on a team that won a Pulitzer for public service. Jaffe indicated that she plans to donate the proceeds from sales of “Commander Speaks” to Type 1 Diabetes research — in the story, Mrs. A’s daughter is a Type 1 Diabetic – Jaffe has family who are Type 1 Diabetic.
