Smart and sassy bookkeeper China Bohannon is a career woman who’d rather sleuth than type. With her uncle, Montgomery Howe, and her heart’s desire, Gratton Doyle, attempting to keep the peace at the Corbin Park racetrack, China oversees the Doyle & Howe office.

On the second day of the meet, a fourteen-year-old girl shows up at the office seeking the detectives’ help in a case of what she says is murder. Neva Sue O’Dell’s jockey brother has been killed during a race, the horse he was riding the dead-on derby favorite lamed. Neva claims her mother and grandfather are involved, having been paid a lot of money to rig the race. Who paid them? Neva doesn’t know, but she wants China to find out and somehow bring those who harmed her brother to their rightful end.

In Double Deal, Bunco artists looking for an easy target are in for a surprise when they run up against a bored former U.S. Marshal and a woman with a dodgy past. Biden Smith is celebrating an abundant harvest with a few drinks at the local saloon when he's drawn into a poker game with a couple strangers. The talk turns to horses and a big race being held at the state fair and it so happens there's nothing Biden likes better than a good horse race. He's not adverse to laying a few bets either… however, a Mickey Finn and a virtual kidnapping were not in his plans.

Misdirection, revenge, the authentic Old West and surprise endings are all included in this assortment of short stories.

Although still working with her uncle’s detective agency, Doyle & Howe Investigations, she’s almost given up on becoming a partner and is turning to providing security services, something her uncle, Montgomery Howe, and his partner, Gratton Doyle, aren’t interested in. Suitable applicants are hard to find, but she settles on a trustworthy old acquaintance, a somewhat iffy person who likes his booze, and a handsome stranger. When an important job comes up, she has to go with the available crew.

China is an excellent investigator. The who, what, and why, of this vendetta becomes clear and, as is China’s experience so far, she discovers a woman directly behind the crime.