Thoroughbred Legacy

As soon as I saw a promo for the Thoroughbred Legacy mini-series, I knew I would have to check it out. Even though I don't usually read Silhouette Special Edition, this is about horse-racing and a mystery and, according to the blurb I read, a range of locations from Kentucky to Australia to Dubai.

I've been a sucker for a horse story ever since I could read -- or perhaps ever since Black Beauty made its mark on my horse-loving psyche -- and this one sounds as though it's tailormade for me. I just hope it's well researched because I'm such a zealot when it comes to getting the horsie bits. And, yes, I know that is all kinds of wrong because I could name a zillion special interest areas that I have no authority in.

Only other trouble is, I don't know where to start the series. There are, count them, FOUR Thoroughbred Legacy books released in July. Do not tell me I have to buy ALL FOUR to ensure I have the right BOOK ONE, but I can't for the life of me see any identifying of which book comes first. And it would really irk me to have to buy all four only to find that the series is not for me.

Anyone else think this is a slightly odd marketing idea? Or perhaps it is marketing genius, allowing readers to get hands on all books in the series quicksmart instead of having to wait months to build the entire collection. It's very easy to miss a book or two when they're released one book at a time over 6 months or even a year. Hmmm.

Desire has done the same with the first two books in Michelle Celmer's new trilogy. Both books released in June, but the stories are not told on a parallel timeline. One book precedes the other, but how is a reader to know which comes first? Would that bug you, finding you'd picked up and read the second book first? It would me, but then I know I'm ever so slightly anal about such things.