I love this book, although it's no secret at all that I'm a sucker for almost every Dick Francis, except for the ones co-written with his son. It's rare, now, though, that I read them with anything other than the pleasant buzz of familiarity, and the absolutely comfortable surety that I'm going to close the cover totally satisfied.
This one, however, was an absolute joy to read. The characters are classic Francis, but the format of this book is innovative and spans 14 years, a technique I've not seen in other Francis books.
I was really happily surprised with this book, and if Francis can still surprise me this much after all these years, and in such a nice way, I'll give his short stories a try. I've been avoiding them, worried that I won't get as much pleasure out of them as I do his longer works.