From a New York Times bestseller , "action, character, and color ride in perfect balance" in a thriller about a horse portraitist turned amateur sleuth ( Kirkus Reviews) . Dick Francis, Edgar Award–winning master of mystery and suspense, takes you into the thrilling world of horse racing. Charles Todd, a renowned painter of horses, is shocked when he turns up at his cousin Donald's house for a weekend visit to find his cousin's young wife dead on the floor and Donald the police's prime suspect. Determined to prove Donald's innocence, Todd trails a series of clues from England to Australia to New Zealand, only to realise someone is trailing him. Someone with every intention of taking him out of the picture for good . . . Praise for the writing of Dick Francis: "Dick Francis is a wonder." — The Plain Dealer "Few things are more convincing than Dick Francis at a full gallop." — Chicago Tribune "Few match Francis for dangerous flights of fancy and pure inventive menace." — Boston Herald "[The] master of crime fiction and equine thrills." — Newsday "[Francis] has the uncanny ability to turn out simply plotted yet charmingly addictive mysteries." — The Wall Street Journal "Francis is a genius." — Los Angeles Times "Nobody executes the whodunit formula better." — Chicago Sun-Times "A rare and magical talent . . . who never writes the same story twice." — The San Diego Union-Tribune