Ned Talbot is a bookie at British racetracks.  His late grandfather Teddy Talbot first started the business.  Ned still operates literally under the same umbrella: “Trust Teddy Talbot.”  It’s a tough business for small independent bookies; the big operations are increasingly getting a larger share of the business and are buying out the independents.  Ned has resisted the pressure; he has only a single assistant, Luca Mandini, who sometimes brings his girlfriend along. 

Ned is married, but his wife Sophie suffers from mental illness and is presently institutionalized.  His grandmother, his sole surviving relative, has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home.  His life is lonely and a little sad. 

Ned is at work at the track placing bets.  He notices a man staring at him.  When the man finally approaches, he tells Ned he’s his father.  Ned refuses to believe him.  He had been told that his parents died in an accident when he was one year old; he was raised by his grandparents.  Ned finally agrees to meet the man after the races are over. 

They meet up, and his father tells him he’s been in Australia.  Within moments, they are attacked.  Ned thinks it's a robbery, but the assailant ignores the money Ned offers him.  He goes after Ned’s father, demanding, “Where’s the money?” When others start to come to their aid, the assailant runs away.  Ned realizes his father has not been punched in the stomach; he’s been stabbed. 

Ned’s father dies on the way to the hospital.  Ned gives an account of the attack to the police and identifies his father as Peter James Talbot.  The police ask if that’s the case, why was he carrying identification in the name of Alan Charles Grady?  Further investigation confirms that the victim was indeed Ned’s father and moreover that he was wanted for murder of his wife and Ned’s mother. Ned resolves to learn more about the father he’d known so briefly.  What he discovers will involve large scale racing fraud and uncover old family secrets. 

Dick Francis wrote his first mystery Dead Cert in 1962.  For the next 38 years he published a novel a year with the exception of 1998 when he published a collection of short stories.  All his novels, usually written in the first person, in some way involve horseracing.  His heroes are in a variety of occupations including jockey.  Francis himself was a steeplechase jockey for a decade before he began his writing career. 

It’s been a great ride for mystery fans.  But all good things must come to an end.  Francis died on February 14, 2010.  Even Money, published in 2009, is his last entry.  He’ll be greatly missed. 

--Lesley Dunlap