Dick Francis

Al Kinloch, a young painter who lives in seclusion on a Scottish mountain is called to London to save his family from financial ruin. It happens after the director of the family brewery embezzles the funds. Far from being a babe in the woods, the painter does an excellent job.

With five ex-wives and nine children, it's no surprise that wealthy gold trader Malcolm Pembroke should preside over a motley clan in constant conflict with one another. 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. Ian's task: to protect his father from their nearest, if not always dearest, relatives, and to delve for the final,...