Given a French chef and three apprentices in the kitchen the Three Musketeer references are obvious.
There’s a fairly obvious real-life model for Gilhooley, though he never, to the best of my knowledge, mastered the art of computer programming, and his wife was the long-suffering almost diametrical opposite of The Iron Maiden, who needed to be employed as a shift worker so that Gilhooley could slip surreptitiously back into town during daylight hours without fear of being detected. Familiarity with the reputed personality characteristics associated with the position of Matron at a local hospital dates back to my ex-wife’s days as a student nurse in the early seventies.
The Iron Maiden side of things also offered possibilities for further complications in the plot line that turned out to be unnecessary this time around, though the possibility of forensic accountants working through Gilhooley’s financial records is an obvious and highly likely starter if there is a sequel.
Anyone familiar with the times can probably identify the prototype for Scott Waddington, though the whole relocation to Sydney side of things is entirely fictional.
On the racing front, Wally Matthews is a completely incidental character who needed a name while Little Tony the Mafia man is an entirely imaginary construct based on an account of betting on the nod at Randwick from a car salesman who wasn't the template from which Scott Waddington was cut. Or maybe he was, in terms of a much more substantial physiognomy.
Throughout the story, the reader will come across references to a number of Herston's erstwhile cricket acquaintances which are convenient ways of explaining things away and resolving side issues. In such cases I've borrowed from real, life and modified to fit whatever the circumstances require.
The members of the two cricket teams also have the odd real life equivalent but have been through several transformations. The events within the game are entirely fictional.