First published 2006
Denver bookman Cliff Janeway travels to Idaho to appraise the estate of H. R. Geiger, whose late wife Candice assembled one of the finest collections of first-edition children's books he has ever seen. But when Janeway examines the volumes, something is terribly wrong. Valuable titles have vanished, replaced by worthless reprints, while other equally precious books remain untouched. The pattern makes no sense for an ordinary theft. Janeway digs into Candice's past and discovers she was the daughter of a wealthy industrialist who married into the horse racing world. In old winner's circle photographs, she appears as a mysterious figure always dressed in white. Her daughter Sharon now runs a horse rescue ranch and possesses the other half of her mother's collection, potentially making her a target. Following leads to California's Golden Gate and Santa Anita racetracks, Janeway takes a job as a hot walker to investigate undercover. The conversations he overhears among the track hands disturb him. When he visits the house where Candice died twenty years earlier, he uncovers more than he expected in this mystery that may involve murder.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-sleuth, investigation
Setting: Denver, Idaho, California, Golden Gate, Santa Anita
Period: 20th-century
337 pages · Hardcover · Scribner Book Company