The house was stripped bare of all its treasures. Gone was the furniture, the family silver, the paintings and the antique china. And if that was a shock for Charles Todd, painter of horses, how...

On the first day of Royal Ascot, the crowd rejoices in a string of winning favourites. Ned Talbot has worked all his life as a bookmaker - taking over the family business from his grandfather - so...

The night before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour...

Computer whizz kid Peter Keithley, asked to transfer a betting system onto computer tape, dies shortly afterwards. An old friend of his, Jonathan Derry, finds himself in possession of the tapes...

Alexander Kinloch, artist, has worked out a good pattern for his life. His home is a small bothy on a remote mountain in Scotland; he paints on commission, from which he derives both pleasure and...

For millionaire jockey Alan York, winning is a bonus. For Joe Nantwich, victory means no cushy backhanders. And for Bill Davidson, front-running on strongly fancied Admiral, triumph is an...

Perry Stuart is a TV meteorologist who routinely works before the cameras. His life calm and ordered, his face familiar to every British household, Stuart’s profound weather knowledge and...

Gene Hawkins, investigator by trade, was expert at arranging events so that they appeared accidental to all involved. Therefore, when he himself witnessed an 'accident' his curiosity flared up...

At nearly eighteen, easy–going Benedict Juliard has no stronger ambition than to ride in steeplechases as an amateur jockey. His father, George, driven towards a life of public service and...

Jamaica Inn stands alone on Bodmin Moor, stark and forbidding, its walls tainted with corruption. Young Mary Yellon soon learns of her uncle Joss Merlyn's strange trade here. But does he deal in...

When defence barrister Geoffrey Mason hears the judge's guilty verdict, he quietly hopes that a long and arduous custodial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian...

'An Old Man’s Love', Trollope’s last complete novel, was finished seven months before his death, when he was suffering from ill health and was in constant pain. The old man of the title,...

A former champion jockey, Sid Halley knows the perils of racing all too well – but in his day, jockeys didn’t usually reach the finishing line with three .38 rounds in the chest. But this is...

Valentine, a blind, confused old man on his deathbed, seeking his peace with God, makes his last confession to a visiting friend, Thomas Lyon, mistaking him for a priest. This puts Thomas in a...

Free choice? There’s no such thing, according to Lee Morris, architect, engineer, jobbing builder and entrepreneur. Choice is pre-ordained by your personality, he says. Stratton Park racecourse,...