CITY OF FORTUNE

A society lady’s past as a con artist helps right a wrong involving racehorses and grifting.

Gideon Bates may be an attorney from a society family, but his wife, Elizabeth, comes from a family of grifters. She hasn’t put her past entirely behind her but only uses her talents to help people. When racehorse owner Sebastian Nolan hires Gideon to help him arrange a dowry for his 23-year-old daughter, Irene, in order to help her find a suitable husband, he invites Gideon and his family to watch the Belmont Stakes from his box. Irene, the driving force behind Nolan's stable, is devastated when jockey Cal Regan, whom she loves, is first the victim of a dirty racetrack trick and then is badly injured when Irene’s favorite horse, Trench, collapses during his race. Meanwhile, the Bates family hears the story of how Daniel Livingston, another horse owner, was once engaged to Irene’s long-dead mother, Mary, who left him for Nolan, creating a lifelong feud between the two. Both men are gobsmacked when they see a woman at the track who looks just like their lost love accompanied by Elizabeth’s father, a grifter known as the Old Man. Though Irene is pregnant, she hasn’t told Cal, who’s too proud to marry her without money. So the kindhearted Elizabeth, her father, and Mary Nolan's look-alike cook up a con that will solve the young couple's problems. Posing as a wealthy Spanish widow who’ll claim a fortune as soon as a family dispute is solved, the look-alike borrows money from quite a few wealthy men. Elizabeth plans on giving her share of the proceeds to Irene. The things she learns about the past make her even more determined to succeed.

A delightfully informative combination of racing lore and a clever con.