A classic mystery from Dick Francis, the champion of English storytellers. Ex-jockey Freddie Croft now runs a fleet of vehicles which transport racehorses across the British Isles and Europe. But when two of his drivers pick up a hitchhiker who ends up dead, Freddie's got a big problem. First, it quickly becomes apparent that the hitcher wasn't quite what he seemed. And second, Freddie finds that his horse boxes might just be being used for moving something a lot less legal than horses. Now he must figure out what is going on before the police, and before whoever is doing it cottons on and tries to stop him - permanently. Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror 'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph 'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman 'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard 'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express 'A super chiller and killer' New York Times Book Review Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National. On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott. During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.
I’ve yet to read a Dick Francis book I didn’t enjoy. His leading men all tend to be kind of the same guy, but it’s a character that works. Freddie Croft is tough, but not too tough… smart, but not too smart.. and somewhat of a reluctant ladie’s man. I always find myself picturing Francis’s leading men as the Daniel Craig version of James Bond.
But enough about Freddie! The story here is pretty solid and interesting, even to someone who doesn’t know patooie about horse-racing. Everything is from Freddie’s point of view… there are no sneak peeks into the mind of the bad guys or what’s happening while Freddie is elsewhere. I found that quite refreshing. I think too many suspense novels fall into that multiple point-of-view trap and it takes something away from the story. I found myself trusting the people Freddie trusted and feeling ambivalent about those he wasn’t sure of, and I think it added that extra zing of emotion to the big reveal at the finish. I highly recommend Dick Francis if you’re looking for something a little different from today’s usual mystery/suspense story.
