Time to Pay

I just picked up this book at the Salvation Army thrift store yesterday. The dust jacket blurb had something about "Dick Francis" so I thought it was by him, and was hoping it wasn't one I had read. Opened it, started reading, thought "No, I haven't read this one" and it wasn't for a few chapters that I realized this wasn't a Dick Francis novel at all! That's intended as a high compliment to the author, by the way. It was easy to get confused because the nice pace, strong characters, easy dialogue and horsey background are all very Francis-esque. I'm not going to get into the plot because that would possibly spoil things...I did have one quibble/question about the plot which I sent to the author on her web site, so I'll leave it there, as it's a spoiler. Just to say, the protagonist, Gideon, is a thoroughly likeable man with all the qualities you look for in a "hero" - goodlooking, resourceful, brave, and a dogged detective. The threads of the story are laid out plausibly and it's a real pleasure to watch Gideon follow where they lead.

Lyndon Stacey's books are just wonderful. You can't put them down, trite, but true.