“Even Money”  
by Dick and Felix Francis

Review #177

Bookmaker, Ned Talbot is struggling with his wife's mental illness and the technology that threatens to give the big bookmaking outfits an insurmountable advantage over his small family business. Now he must contend with murder.

Soon after a man shows up at the Royal Ascot and identifies himself as Ned's father, Peter, (whom Ned believed long dead), a thug demanding money stabs Peter to death. Ned is in for even more shocks when he learns his father was the prime suspect in his mother's murder, and that Peter's killing, rather than a random act of violence, may be linked to a mysterious electronic device used in some horse-racing fraud. 

Ned must juggle his amateur investigations into past and present crimes along with his demanding family responsibilities.

Fans of Dick Francis books will find this book deals less with horse racing than with horse betting.  I liked it, but prefer the earlier books by him.