The Campaner Thal: And Other Writings (1864)

Abandoned with his infant brother at age two on a bus traveling through an Ohio blizzard, the child manages to convey to the authorities that his name is David. He is relegated to the county orphanage. The circumstances of his abandonment are not yet unraveled at age sixteen when the death of his younger brother forces David into the backstretch barns of Hialeah Racetrack and the racing world of South Florida. His involvement in thoroughbred racing affords him the means to uncover the mystery of his abandonment. With the help of a drunken ex-cop he sets out to find the serial killer who murdered his mother: the killer that separated him from a father he never knew and left him abandoned in an orphanage at age two. An abundance of racing action and conflict is prevalent in Handicapper to complement the bizarre mystery. A plethora of interesting people populate the backstretch. You are invited to meet them all.