Hot Tip

Dehydration-death in a sweatbox for jockey Johnny Mallo, accidental death the doctor said. But Johnny's friend, Doc Connor, didn't believe it; he knew that Johnny could have turned off the box-by the mere flick of a switch.

So Doc started to turn up things. Among them were:

Lorry Mallo, Johnny's gorgeous wife, who stood to collect the insurance; and Johnny's brother, Mickey, who had practiced brotherly love a few days earlier by sticking Johnny with a knife. Huck Trask, a shady race-track character; and Eve, Huck's luscious blond wife, over whom Huck and Johnny had once fought.

There was also the strange appearance of five grand, the strange disappearance of a cat called Sauki-no-no, and another attempted killing before Doc proved his point and the police called it murder too.

A fast and tough story, moving from start to finish at an accelerated speed, told in the clipped staccato prose of the race track and Broadway world.

Hot Tip was first published in 1951. For more classic mysteries, visit CoachwhipBooks.com.