Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Publication
London : Pan, 2007.
Description
Fiction. Mystery. Suspense. HTML: After being charged at a secret enquiry with throwing a race for profit, jockey Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield have been barred from racing�??a devastating event for both of them. It was a vicious frame-up, and worse, they have nowhere to turn to clear their names. Still, Hughes refuses to take the phony verdict lying down...even though his personal enquiry might have him lying down permanently.
User reviews
LibraryThing member tripleblessings
Jockey Kelly Hughes is accused of cheating, and struggles to save his own career and expose the real crooks. Good suspense, one of Francis' many good thrillers about horse-racing.
LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey
Odd - I swear I read all of Francis' books prior to 2001, but I can't remember reading this one. It's possible it's because this is a very very standard Francis; the hero is a jockey, at several points he displays great pain resistance (though at one point he does complain about the pain -
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unusual); he's the underdog who manages to solve a mystery and save his own skin thereby; he gets the girl. Nothing stands out, but it's a perfectly good Francis mystery. Kelly Hughes is a jockey who's just been warned off, in a complete travesty of a trial full of manufactured evidence. Once he gets over the shock, he decides to find out who railroaded him and why. In the process, he's threatened with a gun and a knife, nearly gets hit by a train (and does lose his car to the train), changes how he's perceived by a good many of the people he's worked with for years (not 'just a jockey' any more), and decides that detective work is not his forte. On the other hand, he does find out both the proximate and the ultimate means by which he was framed, and incidentally removes a certain low-morals private detective from the scene. Nice story; I suspect that in six months I won't be able to remember what happened (which means I can read it again and enjoy it all over!). Show Less
LibraryThing member themulhern
A standard novel by Dick Francis with a typical Francis hero. He is small, stalwart, noble, underestimated by his opponents, and great at judging and forgiving his enemies. The crooked private investigator is such an all around bad guy that he doesn't need to be forgiven, and he gets his
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comeuppance. There is a lot of preaching about snobbery and British class distinctions which swears with the rest of the story. The tremendous cluelessness of the accused and unfairness at the initial enquiry is hard to believe; Francis keeps having to remind us that the accused basically have no rights and that the board does not need to justify its decision at all, in order to try to convince us. The fact that people bet so much on racehorses ought to make cheating of one form or another a constant in a sport like this; this makes the actions of the board and the question of whether any horse was really being run to win seem utterly pointless. Show Less
LibraryThing member stephanie_M
Another top-notch novel from Dick Francis. The more novels of his I read, the more depressed I get that he's gone......what a talent!
264 pages (in p.b. form) of racing adventures, with another stalwart, honest man, going through a troubled patch in life. Likable characters, and it kept me
264 pages (in p.b. form) of racing adventures, with another stalwart, honest man, going through a troubled patch in life. Likable characters, and it kept me
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interested. A fun read. Show Less
LibraryThing member HeatherLINC
Another fun, engaging read by Dick Francis. I am enjoying his quick, horse-racing thrillers. Not only do they have likeable characters, the main protagonists use their brains instead of violence to clean their names, there is always a touch of romance and a decent crime. Overall, a satisfying,
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fast-paced story. Show Less
LibraryThing member kmartin802
Enquiry was an excellent example of Dick Francis's best writing. Kelley Hughes is a steeplechase jockey. After the favorite he was riding fails to win a race, he and the trainer are called in by the stewards for an inquiry. Neither of them are expecting the result of that enquiry: they lose their
Kelley is surprised at the hearing both because of the verdict and because of the "evidence" presented. A fellow jockey testifies that Kelley told the other riders to ease off and photos were shown that indicate he took bribe money from the trainer. And a tape from another race shows him contradicting what he had said to explain not using a whip on the horse. Only the horse in the race wasn't the one he was riding in the disputed race.
Determined to clear his name, Kelley begins his own investigation and easily learns that the fellow jockey had taken a bribe to lie about Kelley and that the detective who shot the pictures showing bribery was well known for producing "evidence" for the right price.
Someone is clearly fearful that Kelley will learn the truth because his car was tampered with almost causing his death. But the accident makes Kelley even more determined. With the assistance of some of his racing acquaintances, Kelley finds evidence that proves that the enquiry was rigged but finding out who was so determined to have him and the trainer disbarred from racing leads Kelley into even more danger.
The writing is spare, and the action is fast-paced and furious. Kelley is an ordinary man doing what he loves and then doing what it takes so that he can keep the career he loves. He's not a superman and is beaten up during the story but pain won't stop him from reaching his goal.
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licenses and aren't allowed around racing. Kelley is surprised at the hearing both because of the verdict and because of the "evidence" presented. A fellow jockey testifies that Kelley told the other riders to ease off and photos were shown that indicate he took bribe money from the trainer. And a tape from another race shows him contradicting what he had said to explain not using a whip on the horse. Only the horse in the race wasn't the one he was riding in the disputed race.
Determined to clear his name, Kelley begins his own investigation and easily learns that the fellow jockey had taken a bribe to lie about Kelley and that the detective who shot the pictures showing bribery was well known for producing "evidence" for the right price.
Someone is clearly fearful that Kelley will learn the truth because his car was tampered with almost causing his death. But the accident makes Kelley even more determined. With the assistance of some of his racing acquaintances, Kelley finds evidence that proves that the enquiry was rigged but finding out who was so determined to have him and the trainer disbarred from racing leads Kelley into even more danger.
The writing is spare, and the action is fast-paced and furious. Kelley is an ordinary man doing what he loves and then doing what it takes so that he can keep the career he loves. He's not a superman and is beaten up during the story but pain won't stop him from reaching his goal.
Show Less
Awards
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 1969)
Language
Original publication date
1969
Physical description
259 p.; 18 inches
ISBN
0330450344 / 9780330450348
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