Inured while on a tour of duty in Afghanistan, Tom Forsyth returns, reluctantly, to his mother's home to recuperate. His mother is a well-known and highly-respected horse trainer - but not the best of mothers. When her prized horse finishes a disappointing last in a race he should have won, Tom discovers that all is not well in his mother's life. In order to survive and rescue his mother at the same time, Tom must rely on the skills he learned to use while on the battlefield.
I first read a Dick Francis mystery on a long road trip to a convention in 1984 and have been a fan ever since. It was with a lot of sadness that I heard of his death earlier this year at the age of 89. This last mystery was bittersweet for me to read - but I breezed through it none-the-less.
All of Dick Francis' mysteries focus on horse racing in one way or another. Sometimes the connection is thin but it is always there. Male characters predominate, female characters are not so important. The tricks and turns in this mystery were sometimes difficult for me to follow (not so unusual for me - I usually just "go with it" when I read mysteries) but the pace was quick, the main character worth rooting for and I finished it much more quickly than I wanted to.
His last several novels have been co-authored with his son. I know it's probably too soon but I find myself wishing that his son might carry on the writing tradition...
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