Alexander has to deal with this while fending off a hostile step sister and violent thugs.

The brewery’s head of finance recently embezzled millions, leaving the business in dire straits. When his stepfather falls ill, his mother summons him to London to help take care of her husband’s business, a brewery. He’s considered to be the eccentric member of the family, but it turns out he also has a strong sense of duty and a pretty practical head on his shoulders. The protagonist is Alexander Kinloch, son of aristocracy who chooses to live off the grid in Scotland so he can paint. While it didn’t contain a clever, twisty whodunit plot, To the Hilt was enjoyable reading. Recently, my brother-in-law gifted me with To the Hilt (thanks, Stephen!), and it was fun rediscovering Dick Francis. At the time, I loved mysteries and horses, so his novels hit a sweet spot for me. He died in February 2010, at age eighty-nine, and remains among the greatest thriller writers of all time.I haven’t read any Dick Francis since I was a teenager. After his retirement from the saddle in 1957, he published an autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write more than forty acclaimed books, including the New York Times bestsellers Even Money and Silks.Ī three-time Edgar Award winner, he also received the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger, was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2000.

He became one of the most successful postwar steeplechase jockeys, winning more than 350 races and riding for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. At the outbreak of World War II he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot, flying fighter and bomber aircraft including the Spitfire and Lancaster. He was a young rider of distinction winning awards and trophies at horse shows throughout the United Kingdom. Reissue.īook Synopsis From the acclaimed master of mystery and suspense comes the story of a self-imposed outcast who must refresh his detection skills in order to save himself and his family.Ībout the Author Dick Francis (pictured with his son Felix Francis) was born in South Wales in 1920. About the Book From the acclaimed master of mystery and suspense comes the story of a self-imposed outcast who must refresh his detection skills in order to save himself and his family.

To the Hilt by Dick Francis