Spirit Ranch

SPIRIT RANCH is the story of Nicholas Morgan, a one-time cowboy, former black ops veteran, and moderately successful writer who moves to the desert out beyond Palm Springs to create a peaceful oasis for himself and his horses, and indulge his passion for polo. Expecting a place where he can write and ride in peace and eventually bring the love of his life, what he finds instead is the ghost of a woman murdered in the 1930's who becomes a presence that will not be ignored. Morgan's obsession to always right a wrong motivates him to try to bring peace to the restless souls that surround him at the ranch. To do so he must use his Mexican connections from the polo world to help him descend into the dark underbelly of the desert, a world driven by drugs, the Mexican Mafia, gambling, hate, and death. The often-quirky cast of characters including a private detective from Malibu and Morgan's long-time girlfriend, a major fashion buyer, lead him from stylish Beverly Hills to the seedy noir-ish world of old time Hollywood, from the exotic pursuit of the world's oldest sport to the back roads of Mexican life and its arcane rituals. Before he can build the life he craves, Morgan is forced to re-evaluate his carefully held notions of reality, solve the mysteries that haunt his ranch, and rely once again on the violence he thought he had left behind. At once a compelling quest, a love story, and a love affair with the baroque desert, SPIRIT RANCH weaves poetic descriptions of the still relatively unknown land and its myriad of characters into a mysterious and riveting tapestry.

Richard Foxx has at various times been a successful ocean-racing navigator, a rated polo player, a trainer of winning field-trial retrievers, a sometime trainer of polo ponies, a physician, and a US Army surgeon. He has written for numerous equestrian magazines and yachting publications. Now Medical Director for the aesthetic medical spa he founded in 2003, Foxx has authored many articles on aesthetic and spa medicine and is considered an authority in that field. A full-time desert resident, Foxx lives at the east end of the Coachella Valley with JoAnn, his wife and companion of 25 years, and Sammy, a black Lab, close by the horses that remain from his polo playing days.