Some people have comfort food. I have a Scottish painter, an embezzled fortune, and a brewery on the brink of disaster.
I swear I have read To the Hilt at least twenty times. Maybe more. At this point, I've stopped counting. But when I want something I know will be good, something I can pick up and immediately disappear into, I find myself reaching for it again.
Alexander Kinloch is a painter who lives alone in a bothy on a Scottish mountainside, happily removed from most of civilization. Then his mother calls to tell him that his stepfather, Sir Ivan Westering, has suffered a heart attack, and Alexander reluctantly comes down from his mountain.
Turns out the heart attack is the least of his worries.
Sir Ivan owns King Alfred's Brewery, and the company is in serious trouble. The finance director has embezzled just about every penny he could get his hands on and disappeared ... and he didn't do it alone. The brewery is facing financial disaster, the bank is breathing down everyone's neck, and Alexander suddenly finds himself involved in a mess of missing money, family complications, questionable loyalties, and people who are definitely not playing nicely.
And because this is Dick Francis, somehow horse racing, fine art, brewery finances, a ceremonial sword, and a painter who would really rather go home to his mountain all fit together perfectly.
But after all these rereads, I've realized the plot isn't really what keeps bringing me back. It's Alexander.
There is something about his character that restores my faith in humanity a little bit every time I read this book. He's intelligent and capable without needing everyone to know it. He isn't particularly interested in wealth, status, or recognition. He's perfectly content with his paintings, his bothy, and his quiet life. But when the people he loves need him, he shows up.
Completely.
Alexander isn't perfect. He's stubborn, unconventional, and occasionally makes decisions that make me want to put my arm around him and gently say, "Perhaps we could THINK about this first?" But underneath all of it is a fundamentally decent human being. He doesn't behave honorably because everyone around him deserves it. He does it because that's simply who he chooses to be.
I already know the secrets. I know where the money went. I know who can and can't be trusted. I know how all the seemingly unrelated pieces eventually fit together. None of that matters.
At this point, I'm not rereading To the Hilt to find out what happens.
I'm going back to spend a little time with Alexander Kinloch.
Five stars. Again. Obviously.
