Story of a multi-millionaire patriarch who's four ex-wives and children want their inheritance now so much so there are three attempts on his life. One son is trusted To help protect the father and works on n trying to discover who is attempting the murders.

My absolute favorite Dick Francis novel. As with most of his protagonists, the main character was exceptionally practical and charming. Francis delved deep into the drama and intrigue that can arise in a family, particularly where money is involved. I always learn something new when reading his novels. In this case, the business of trading gold was an interesting angle. The plot kept me guessing right up to the end. This is an old favorite I will continue to revisit.

Hot to Trot

Of all the Dick Francis’s books, this is my favourite.

The story is simple enough, there’s a murder amongst the members of a big disorganised and disfunctional family. One son is tasked by an immensely wealthy father in working out who it is...is money the root of all evil...or is it something else propelling the murderer?

I like the analysis of a family and how they interact with each other...and of course this is set amid Horses and the racing world. Unlike his other books the jockey’s story is almost a second string in the weaving of this tale.

Malcolm Pembroke had 9 children with 4 different wives. His fifth wife, Moira, was murdered childless. Ian Pembroke, 4th of the 9 children, amateur jockey and narrator, has been estranged from Malcolm and Moira for the past three years. Malcolm asks Ian to be his full-time companion and protector because he thinks someone is trying to kill him. Who of his extended family is trying to kill him? Or is it someone outside his family?

Another enjoyable mystery from Dick Francis with a few exciting horse races thrown in.

Another favourite Dick Francis novel, primarily for the character’s involved and the interplay of their mixed up relations. Also, one of his few books that is actually a who done it, where finding the culprit is as much the focus of the story as foiling their dastardly schemes. Particularly satisfying conclusion.

A clever enough plot that entwines itself around a highly disfunctional and greedy family, all of which are blindly intent on maximising their inheritance. At 432 pages, the story was padded in parts, and maybe the editor's red ink could have deleted a couple of the race meetings (even a trip to Australia for the Melbourne Cup), that I felt were superfluous in the grand scheme of things.
4 stars ****

This was exactly what I wanted it to be. A Dick Francis "summer read" with a big cast of characters, twisty enough plot, some horse-racing/jockeying, and no actual anxiety. The writing stays on the surface, so I don't feel too personally invested. Soapy fun!

This was the first Dick Francis novel I ever read and luckily for me it is one of his best. It's the sort of book you will come back to many times over the years and it inspired me to go out and read just about every other novel he's written. (I haven't gotten to his non-fiction yet, but I will.)

This novel is enjoyable on multiple levels. There is a great mystery here. Malcolm Pembroke is the mega wealthy patriarch of a disfunctional family that includes the children from five marriages, three ex-wives and a bunch of grandchildren. Wife number five was murdered in the middle of divorce proceedings. The police suspect Malcolm, but now that someone is trying to kill him, they will have to reconsider.

The hero of the story is Malcolm's son, Ian, an amateur jockey and the product of his second marriage. Ian is about the only family member not-obsessed with getting his hands on his father's fortune. At the start of the story he is estranged from his father because of his opposition to Malcolm's fifth marriage. Strangely enough, Ian's willingness to stay away and "risk" his inheritance makes him the only person Malcolm feels he can trust when it appears someone is trying to send him to an early grave.

This brings us to the second thoroughly enjoyable aspect of the story--Malcolm's children are all a bit crazy and it is tremendous fun, and ultimately quite heart warming, to follow Ian as he attempts to get to know them well enough to figure out who is trying to murder Malcolm. He gets to know their troubles and their strengths and makes it possible for the reader to really value them.

Finally, it wouldn't be a Dick Francis novel if we didn't learn more about the world of racing. I find this utterly fascinating. If you stick with Francis through his other novels, you will find yourself with a fairly complete grasp of the racing scene picked up painlessly by exploring his mysteries.

If you haven't tried Dick Francis before, Hot Money is the book to start with. If you've read the author and are wondering which book to read next, this one is it. And if you read it years ago, isn't it time you picked up and enjoyed it again? Five Stars only because they won't let me give it more.

I never read murder mysteries. I think this was my first one. I had to read it because it was about 9 kids who all wanted their inheritance now. Which one of his kids was trying to kill him?

I read this back when it first came out, but all I remembered was whodunit and bits of the end. Once again Francis plays out his daddy issues: Our Hero's father is a much married, adultered, and divorced millionaire who has spent his life dealing in gold and spreading his jeans to spread his genes far and wide, whether married to the baby momma or not. Daddy is sitting on quite a heap of cash and securities, but "doesn't believe" in helping his many children economically, not even to help them get started in business. He got his, surely they can get theirs? Such, however, is the force of Our Hero's character that when someone kills wife number--six, was it? Five?--and then tries to kill Big Daddy (not once, but twice!) Daddy immediately buries a three-year old hatchet and asks Sonny Boy to come and act as body guard. And that's just in the first few pages!

Our Hero is an aspiring trainer and amateur jockey (of course), but he has no problem ditching whip and helmet for a deerstalker and a psychoanalyst's chair. The killer must be one of the family, so in between bouts of staying at the Ritz and consuming champagne and paté de foie gras (the jockey's slimming diet of choice?) he does the rounds of the many exes and steps, and figures them all out at a glance or two just by remembering what they were like as children. Ho-hum. This book is full of bathtub psychology of that sort (like bathtub gin, it is home made and of dubious quality). All of the women in this book are depicted as horrible and grasping, while Big Daddy's philandering is apparently acceptable because he's loaded. Our Hero doesn't seem to recognise that he himself is following in Daddy's footsteps in an adulterous no-strings-attached relationship of his own. But of course that's different! We are even treated to the tired old movie trope of a sudden moment of revelation caused by a brain-damaged child seeing a certain object.

The writing itself was good, but I did get tired of Our Hero being quite so bloody perfect this time round, and of the underlying message: true to the 1980s ethos, money cures all of the family's problems once they manage to pry Daddy's pockets open.

A good plot.

"I intensely disliked my father's fifth wife, but not to the point of murder." I read those fourteen words, and I was hooked! That is the compelling first sentence in this standalone novel by the master storyteller, Dick Francis. This book has convinced me that I want read all of his work, which is a massive collection of horsey based writing! Francis uses a brilliant concept for the structure or plot, if you want to call it that, of this mystery. Narrated by Ian Pembroke, an amateur jockey, Francis weaves a complicated story about Ian's father Malcolm, an incredibly rich gentleman who makes his money by buying and selling gold. Before Ian will help his father, they must try to mend a three year-long rift in their relationship, tied to Malcolm's decision to marry wife number five, despite Ian's pleas to drop her. Someone has tried to kill Malcolm, shortly after his fifth wife, Moira, has been found murdered at their large country home. Who suspects him of this crime, you say? The police, and most of his family, numbering in the twenties, if you count stepchildren, daughters/sons-in-law, and ex-wives. There are so many members of this family that Francis kindly provides a list of them, at the front of the book! To cope with the threat to his freedom and his life, Malcolm, as he is called by all of his children rather than Dad or Father, decides to spend huge chunks of money on a variety of causes and items. This flagrant spending causes the family members to come running to Malcolm, suggesting that he has gone mad after murdering Moira, and he intends to throw away their inheritance on anything or anyone but them! In desperation, Malcolm turns to his son Ian, afraid for his life and needing help to get out from under his family's verbal and physical attacks. Who among this large group is capable of murdering Moira, and/or Malcolm? Francis masterfully creates detailed personalities for all of the twenty plus members of Malcolm's extended family. The interaction between the ex-wives and their children, step-children and each other, bring to mind a very large knot found within a ball of wool when I am knitting. Unravelling this ball takes patience as I well know, and Francis leads us through this unravelling with elegant detail, vivid characterizations, and considerable suspense. All is revealed, and by book' s end, he leaves you marvelling at his plotting and characterization. A gem of a book! I count myself officially a member of the Dick Francis fan club.