Come to grief

by Dick Francis

Paperback, 1996

Status

Available

Call number

823.914

Library's review

England, ca 1995
Sid Halley er privatdetektiv, 34 år og tidligere stjernejockey. Han har fået en af sine venner på anklagebænken. Ellis Quint har ellers et godt ry, så det er Sid, der får på puklen af pressen. Sid er skilt fra sin kone Jenny, men har et godt og fortroligt forhold til sin

eks-svigerfar, pensioneret kontreadmiral Charles Roland. Sid tager ud til Charles, efter at hans dag er startet med at Ellis' mor Ginnie Quint har begået selvmord og Ellis' far Gordon Quint - en agtværdig ældre herre på tres år - har overfaldet ham med en jernstang og brækket hans højre arm. Sids venstre arm slutter med en kunstig hånd, så han er lidt handikappet. Sid fortæller historien om hvordan han bliver kontaktet af en kvinde, Linda Ferns, hvis hest Silverboy er blevet lemlæstet ved at den højre forhov er blevet amputeret. Det går specielt kvindens datter Rachel på ni år på. Hun har leukæmi og har nu mareridt om hesten. Sid tager sagen uden at ane at han ret hurtigt får en af sine venner Ellis Quint ind på radaren. Han finder tre lignende sager ved at samarbejde lidt med en journalist Kevin Mills fra avisen The Pump. De gætter på at manden vil slå til igen efter et stort løb og Kevin laver en historie i avisen om det.
Det får som ventet alle hesteejere til at passe på og der sker ingenting. To uger senere får en ny hest kappet hoven af. En af Sids venner Bill Ruskin er dyrekirurg og i stedet for at slå hesten ned, forsøger de at sy hoven på igen.
Hesteejeren mrs Betty Bracken har givet en kvart million for hesten, men den er ikke forsikret. En nevø Jonathan er lidt af en forbryderspire og ret irriterende, men han har lagt mærke til en bil, en blå Land Rover og den kan spores tilbage til Ellis Quint. En anden bekendt af hesteejeren Archie Kirk er fredsdommer og kender en dygtig politimand Norman Picton, så de samarbejder med Sid om at få skovlen under Ellis. Bilen bliver undersøgt af politiet og de finder en led grensaks med blod i hængslet som matcher hestens dna. Ellis bliver opsøgt af politiet, som egentlig bare vil høre hvor han var henne, da forbrydelsen skete, men han forsøger at flygte og både ham og en betjent bliver påkørt. Han bliver taget i forvaring og forsøger at hænge sig i sit slips, men det mislykkes. Det får ham måske til at skifte mening, for nu nægter han alt og hans advokater bagateliserer hvad der skete ved anholdelsen. Måske kan han endda slippe for at blive dømt?
Via en avisejer Lord Tilepit og en megalomanisk erhvervsmand Owen Yorkshire lægger Ellis maksimalt pres på Sid. Avisen The Pump kører bagvaskende artikler og petitstof på Sid uge efter uge i tre måneder. Det gør det ikke lettere at det i alt fald på papiret er India Cathcart og Kevin Mills, der fører den giftige pen og Sid kan egentlig godt lide dem begge to. På den anden side hjælper Archie Kirk og Charles Roland med deres forbindelser og Sid bliver faktisk hyret til at finde ud af hvem der står bag. Det er ret farligt, for Sid sniger sig ind på Yorkshires fabrik og bliver fanget. Han bliver torteret og slået og klemt hårdt på sin raske arm og er formentlig på vej til en likvidering, da han får en chance og stikker af. Bagmanden viser sig at være Ellis, hvilket er dybt ironisk, fordi både Sid og Ellis har en overflade, der får folk til at fejlfortolke dem. Sid kan gå i et med tapetet og se lidt skvattet ud, men han er fysisk ukuelig og går fx rundt i en uges tid med brud på højre albueben og venter på at det gror sammen af sig selv. Ellis er tv-vært og ren overflade, samtidigt med at han manipulerer alt og alle omkring sig. Ellis arrangerer en ny hestelemlæstelse på et tidspunkt, hvor han selv har et stjernealibi. Han får sin far til at klippe hestens hov af på samme måde, som han selv har gjort, men faderen svøber grensaksen ind i et stykke klæde, som moderen genkender. Erkendelsen af at Ellis faktisk er skyldig og at hendes mand har hjulpet med den seneste misgerning får hende til at begå selvmord. Faderen bliver ude af sig selv og det ender med at han skyder Sid. Inden han kan gøre det helt af med Sid, får Ellis ham slået til jorden. Både Gordon og Sid ryger på hospitalet og Ellis kører sin bil ud i skoven og begår selvmord. Han efterlader et tilståelsesbrev til Sid, men det gemmer Sid sandsynligvis bare i en skuffe.

Man får helt ondt af Sid, der er fantastisk hård, men alligevel lider indenunder skallen, hvad både hans ekskone Jenny og ekssvigerfaderen Charles er helt klar over.

Plottet lyder usandsynligt indtil man åbner dagens avis (6 februar 2016) og læser om en mand, der har klippet hale og man af flere heste ved Hedensted og som har overfaldet og sprayet en kvinde, der forsøgte at stoppe ham.

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Genres

Mystery

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

London : Pan, 1996.

Description

Fiction. Mystery. HTML: When ex-jockey Sid Halley becomes convinced that one of his closest friends�??and one of the racing world's most beloved figures�??is behind a series of shockingly violent acts, he faces the most troubling case of his career

User reviews

LibraryThing member tripleblessings

Sid Halley #3, the ex-champion jockey turned investigator, uncovers a case of cruelty to ponies in which the evidence points to an old friend, a beloved public figure. This time the detection story is told in flashback, while awaiting trial. Very sympathetic hero and victims, remarkable villain. I

enjoy re-reading the Sid Halley series every couple of years.

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13 more

LibraryThing member library_girl27

This is my favorite Sid Halley book. It's really sad since Sid discovers that a friend and popular media man is behind a string of grotesque crimes and Sid gets brutalized in the media for claiming it was him.

LibraryThing member reannon

Sid Halley is a series character for Dick Francis. He is a former jocky who lost a hand and can no longer race. So he has taken up investigation to earn a living. In this case, Halley finds out and has to prove that someone he considers a dear friend, one of the most popular men in England, is

responsible for some hideous crimes. The characterization is absolutely outstanding, and the plot is good as well.

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LibraryThing member Risa15

A mystery featuring Sid Halley, a former jockey who after an accident that ended his racing career became a private detective. He is asked to find out who mutilated a number of ponies and discovers that the culprit is a well liked former jockey, a friend. Ellis Quint then attempts to discredit

Halley who is maligned by several newspapers.

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LibraryThing member LA12Hernandez

A very good book I find hard to forget.

LibraryThing member SalemAthenaeum

When ex-jockey Sid Halley becomes convinced that one of his closest friends--and one of the racing world's most beloved figures--is behind a series of shockingly violent acts, he faces the most troubling case of his career.

LibraryThing member benfulton

This book is a solid entry in the standard Francis formula, which involves jockeys with mysterious, highly placed enemies, racing grounds and stables, physical abuse, and a love interest. The writing is solid as always; a good way to spend a few hours. Although this is only the third in the Sid

Halley series, the books that I've read by Francis always have the same main character. Sometimes his name changes is all.

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LibraryThing member hailelib

This mystery held up pretty well as a reread although I did remember who was maiming the horses. However it had been long enough since i read Come to Grief previously that the why and the details were like reading a new book. Sid Halley is the investigator and while he isn't my favorite Francis

hero this is, for me, the best of the books featuring him. The novel begins with the upcoming trial of Ellis Quint and the suicide of Quint's mother. We learn from Halley how he came to believe in Quint's guilt and then we begin to learn along with Sid just what else is going on behind the scenes. Overall, the story follows the standard Francis plot so his fans will enjoy the book, especially those who have read Whip Hand and Odds Against.

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LibraryThing member LCB1016

Dick Francis is one of my favorite authors. I have found all of his novels to be great stories, suspenseful, and fast reads. There are always characters you love and others not so much. The main character has been developed across multiple novels so he is familiar and interesting. The setting of

horse racing and the horse racing industry in England has been very informative and, I assume, very close to the truth given the author's background.

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LibraryThing member phyllis2779

Dick Francis was one of my favorite mystery writers and this one, about Sid Halley, is excellent. There was something about the books featuring Sid Halley that really resonated with me. I wouldn't mooch this one out except I have to clear out a lot of books before we move.

LibraryThing member pmarshall

[Come to Grief], [[Dick Francis]]
I haven’t reread this title often because I don’t like the idea of someone cutting through the fetlock of a young colt to hear the ‘scrunch’ and feel the power. But the book is really about friendship and the loss of it, the fatal illness of a child, the

disbelief of the public that their hero could do this terrible, horrible act. It is about the many faces of grief, for the living and the dead, human and horse.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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LibraryThing member stephanie_M

It seems odd to me that Dick Francis, who normally sticks to standalones, has won two of his three Edgars for Best Novel with books in his all-too-brief Sid Halley series. Come to Grief is the last of them, an unusually-structured book which, while losing none of the suspense Francis excels at,

also adds new depth to the character of steeplechase-jockey-turned-private-eye Halley.

I would have loved this novel to be longer. I would have adored there to be much more Sid Halley novels. There are not. I spent the entirety of this novel very happy for a new Francis read, while very sad that my 'new Francis reads' were dwindling ever smaller.

From page one we know the perpetrator. Suspense depends on unfolding details tantalizingly, slowly - questioning motivation why, revelation of how discovered, and resenting harsh treatment of the hero. If I hate the cruel sadistic deed, the frustration and denial knowing who, the nightmares..... why read on? Because Francis is a genius at his craft, that's why. And I always, literally jump at the chance to read a Dick Francis novel I have not read yet.

Dick Francis compels my curiosity, draws me into strange new worlds. The world of horses, racing, and jockeys is completely foreign to me, but Francis, as usual, makes it all very accessible, likeable, and new, while revisiting this same world again. The character travels through most of Britain, high and low, to find his answers, and this is like a mini-vacation to me. Francis really knows how to write a novel that while straddling new technological advancements, they still retain the 1950's style of living/writing/being. A man's world of physicality, where women are peripheral criers, or hard-edged and cold-seeming, objects of beauty & admiration, and men willingly break and bloody bodies in fights. Stories told in the first person enable us to identify with the protagonist, who has physical and moral courage, then needs to demonstrate those qualities. But Halley gets little praise, as usual. No accolades.

As the book opens, a trial is about to begin -- the trial of Halley's longtime friend and fellow jockey Ellis Quint, now a TV presenter, for a series of horrifying and unusual crimes. Sid Halley is one of the chief witnesses for the prosecution. In the rest of the book, we see how Halley reached his conclusions, and we learn along with him why there is more to the story than he at first realized.

Come to Grief has several elements that suggest Francis may have planned to continue the series with some new twists and some new continuing characters, but he has passed on sadly, and is no longer able to do so. (I sincerely hope it's not because the main character had a prosthetic arm, but who knows?)

4 stars. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member Nodosaurus

Sid Halley, ex-jockey turned detective, returns in a new book. Someone is cutting of the off-hand leg of yearlings, just below the fetlock joint. When the person injures the horse of a terminally ill child, it becomes more personal. A few clues point to a famous jockey, loved by many, friend to

Halley, and who wasn't present, the mystery deepens and the the political cost to Sid is high.

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LibraryThing member nordie

This book brings the return of narrator Sid Halley (Odds Against; Whip Hand) as the one-handed PI and ex-jockey takes on a case of multiple mutilations of thoroughbreds; unnervingly, the amputation of the animals' front left hooves mirrors Sid's own injury. The investigator soon realizes that the

man behind the crimes is his old friend Ellis Quint, ex-gentleman jockey and now a beloved TV host. Sick at heart, Sid builds a strong case; but, when Quint is charged, British law bars any public discussion of the case, rendering Sid mute at the huge public backlash against him. Particularly vicious and unrelenting is The Pump, a garish tabloid. When another mutilation occurs and Ellis has a seemingly unbreakable alibi, Sid finds some odd connections between a business tycoon, The Pump's noble owner and Ellis. Finally, the honourable, brave and thoroughly decent Sid faces his worst nightmare - the loss of his good hand - while doing what he must.

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