Hot Money - Dick Francis

I can’t remember the last time I read a who-dun-it. It probably must have been another of Dick Francis’s book, Longshot. And that, while it had a murder to be solved, and definitely had some parallels with Hot Money, did not have as much a detective-novel flavor as this book did.

Hot Money begins with a family tree; nothing as complicated as Bagginses or Took family tree from LOTR, but quite a long list for your usual family. At the head sits Malcolm Pembroke, the affable, lucky, brilliant and spectacularly rich gold-trading man, who has a strange disposition to get married all the time. He has five wives. Not simultaneously, but one-after-another, and each of them have kids and some of the kids have kids. The last two wives, Coochie, the best of the lot it seems, and Moira, the last one, are dead. And Moira has been murdered. And then, someone tries to kill Malcolm. Hot Money, especially in the volumes that Malcolm owns, is a much desirable target. And everyone in the family stood to gain from Moira’s and then, Malcolm’s death.

Malcolm approaches his estranged son, Ian, to be his bodyguard. And the relationship with Ian and Malcolm really lights up the book. The protagonists are the highlight of any Dick Francis book. And this one has two of them, and in a father-son pair, and their banter and arguments and just about any interchange, makes the book quite delightful.

Ian is an assistant horse trainer and an amateur jockey. And Malcolm seems to have discovered a passion for horses, and goes about spending millions of pounds on colts, much to the anguish of his family, most of them who badly need the cash. With such hostilities brewing for his father, Ian knows that the only way his father, and himself, can be truly safe is buy nabbing the killer.

The plot of the book is quite tight. And the chemistry between various characters extremely well written. Even though every individual family member doesn’t get too much page-time, so to speak, their characters are handled quite well, considering the number of characters and overall book-volume.

Hot Money was the second book of the omnibus containing Flying Finish. And Hot Money has as well and truly wrapped a conclusion as Flying Finish’s is incomplete. The mystery is solved eventually (obviously) and there are no over-dramatic twists, and it’s pleasing to read a very well balanced and a real detective story. Not that Agatha Christie style of detective fiction where every page and paragraph is about that body that was discovered is not fun. But in the real world, where solving murders is the responsibility of the police really, real people do not quit their jobs and stop racing horses trying to come up with schemes to arrest murderers. And the worldly treatment of a murder story makes the book a very interesting read.

Longshot - Dick Francis

An omnibus of Dick Francis Novels at a book store made quite a deal. A 2-book omnibus at Rs.199. What a steal! Not that I would have bought any other author just because he was cheap. Dick Francis happened to be one of the favorite authors of my best friend, who himself is a book enthusiast like I never could be. Plus, horse racing is actually quite a fascinating topic and even a mediocre plot around that is interesting because of the so many new things you learn about a very glamorous sport. So I picked up Longshot, and got down to reading it.

The plot of Longshot… well, is a bit weak in the sense of your regular crime novel. It involves the death of a nobody, an investigation that would never have a global repercussion, and even the most radical conspiracy theorist would fail to link up the crime in the book to “higher powers”. But such is the story. Dick Francis himself takes a jab at this fact in the book, when his Police Detective sighs with resignation that the dead body they found turns out to be an ordinary stable girl.

Enough of the spoilers already!

The climax, while it is fitting to the story, is not quite that nail-biting a finish as you would’ve liked. And the end, though logical and humane, with no ridiculous dues-ex-machina coming into play (ok, maybe a slight one), does not give that satisfaction of triumph of good over evil.
But despite the novel being only a regular story, I enjoyed every bit of it because of the protagonist. He is a writer… Ok, I hear you say, one more author chooses to have a writer protagonist. Isn’t that the easiest, you ask. Well, perhaps. But the protagonist here is an adventurer, and has written a series of books on surviving in hostile environs. And a lot of tips that he shares through the book keep you hooked, while the story progresses around that. So maybe I would not rate the plot too highly, but when I combine that with the protagonist and his livelihood, Longshot gets a “Thumbs Up”. So if you are the kinds who want some wholesome reading and are not overly concerned about the adrenalin factor of a story as long as the book keeps you entertained, you will like Longshot. To end with a corny line… do give Longshot a shot, it might just hit the bull’s eye.