Third Race at the LT Racetrack: Book 4, Hot Money

Dick Francis Shared Read 2021 – July - August

Hot Money, published in 1987



Synopsis: Wealthy gold trader Malcolm Pembroke has five ex-wives and nine chidren between them, all fighting among themselves. But when violent death strikes the least likable of his former spouses, Malcolm himself feels threatened, and he calls on his most capable son, Ian, the family jockey, to protect him from his nearest and dearest. While he's at it, Ian is also commissioned to delve for the final, critical clue in the darkly buried Pembroke past, simmering with the greed, hate, and vengefulness that could motivate blood to strike against blood. (Amazon)
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Any and all comments, questions, or quotes that come to mind as you read are welcome. Please use spoiler tags for anything that might be a spoiler.

I have my copy ready, it is now on the "to read in July" stack :-)

Hi Anita, and good news. My copy is upstairs, so will need to bring it back downstairs soon.

I have my copy ready to go, but I probably won't get to it until August. I have a lot of books I want to squeeze into July.

My old hardcover copy has the middle (red) cover. It's been quite a while since I read this one, but I remember really liking it. I'm looking forward to reading it again and discussing it with you all.

>4 cbl_tn: Hi Carrie! I absolutely love that Julia set a one-book-every-two-months pace for our first SHARED read in 2019. August is perfectly fine. And I only read the May-June book in late June.

>5 rosalita: Hi Julia! Welcome aboard.

So ready to read more Francis! Waiting for tennis to end and heading to the pool for a long leisurely Saturday read.

Hi Karen! I must admit that my interest in tennis died when Roger lost. I seem to need someone to follow, both men and women. I have no idea if Roger will ever play again, and right now there's no woman who inspires me enough to follow. Yay for heading to the pool and leisurely reading.

Anyone else read it yet? I loved all the family relationships. I think some of my favorites have been the ones where the horses take a second seat to the relationships.

The previous one, Bonecrack also had interesting relationships.

I've not read it yet, even though I should have. I must admit that it hasn't even made its way downstairs yet. I'll try to remember to bring it down tomorrow morning.

I haven't started my re-read yet but I've read it a couple of times before. The complicated family relationships are a definite highlight for me as well. And maybe I'm reading too much into it but I recall this one having a bit more humor to it that kept the tone a little lighter than some of the more grim entries we've read previously.

I didn't get to Bloedgeld in July, so now I planned it for this month. I hope to get to it next week.

>11 rosalita: Hi Julia. I've just started Hot Money and keep having to refer back to the page that lists the wives and children. I was immediately captivated and am looking forward to another 370 pages of good reading.

>12 FAMeulstee: Looks like we're both going to come in just under the wire, eh, Anita?

This is my 76th book of the year. It was a quick and exciting read.
**spoiler free review**

Hot Money by Dick Francis
8/17/21 to 8/18/21





From Amazon:

Wealthy gold trader Malcolm Pembroke has five ex-wives and nine chidren between them, all fighting among themselves. But when violent death strikes the least likable of his former spouses, Malcolm himself feels threatened, and he calls on his most capable son, Ian, the family jockey, to protect him from his nearest and dearest. While he's at it, Ian is also commissioned to delve for the final, critical clue in the darkly buried Pembroke past, simmering with the greed, hate, and vengefulness that could motivate blood to strike against blood.

Why I wanted to read it: Fourth of six books in this year's Dick Francis SHARED Read.

Oh my, I’d forgotten what a marvelous book this is. It’s full of nasty sibling rivalry, nasty ex-wives rivalry, jealousy, envy, long-held resentments, tragedy, and an amazing denouement.

Ian and his father haven’t spoken in three years, but Malcolm asks Ian to save him after a murder attempt. There are more murder attempts. Ian keeps Malcolm hidden from the family, much to their consternation and upset. Slowly Ian figures out who might want to kill Malcolm and why and the trap is set. Who will drive back to Quantum, the family house, to make sure the secret’s kept?

Thank goodness for the page listing Malcolm’s wives and each of their children. I kept referring to it throughout the book. Four ex-wives and one murdered, nine children, seven of them living, 5 spouses, unnamed and for purposes of this book, unimportant, grandchildren.

The fun parts are Malcolm and Ian’s horse and racing adventures, their casual use of power and money to keep Malcolm hidden. In today’s world of social media and cell phones this story would be quite different, but I like it just the way it is.

Six word review: Family dynamics gone horribly, dreadfully awry.

Looking forward to read Hot Money, will start after finishing my next book :-)

For anyone in TIOLI, I have listed it under challenge #2

>14 karenmarie: Great review of Hot Money! Much better than mine!

>14 karenmarie: Excellent review, Karen!

>15 FAMeulstee: Hi Anita! I really think you'll like it.

>16 streamsong: Thanks, Janet. We all see different things in books. Or, we see the same things but put them differently. I love this from your review: The horses are almost a secondary story in this novel. The complicated family relationships are what make this story shine – and moves it into the pole position as one of my favorite Dick Francis reads.

>17 rosalita: Thanks, Julia!

...
The thread for book 5, Decider, is up: Third Race at the LT Racetrack: Book 5, Decider

>18 karenmarie: Yesterday I started reading Hot Money, I am about 1/3 in, and like what I read :-)

>18 karenmarie: Thanks, Karen. And thanks for hosting the reads!

>19 FAMeulstee: Go, Anita! It only gets better!

>20 streamsong: You were right, Janet, it got even better.
I really liked this one, and it had enough racing and horses in the story