Book Review: The Edge by Dick Francis

Everyone is off for a good time on a trip, but one of their number is not all that he seems. A sociopaht, blackmailer and all round criminal Julius Filmer is along for the ride too. Luckily, also on the trip is Tor Kelsey who is an undercover security agent for the Jockey Club as the train speeds across Canada. Love Dick Francis books, trains and Canada so that is three winning ingredients for me in this novel published in 1988.

Filmer has been tried before for the murder of a groom, but a bit of manipulation and strong arm tactics and he was found not guilty. The train trip is supposed to promote Canadian racing and the train is full of innocent horse owners, racegoers, crew etc. However they will soon have their innocent lives changed dramatically in this novel.

Tor Kelsey takes on the part of an actor in a staged mystery, as he pretends to be a dining car waiter. A bit of romance is in there too.

For the ingedients that I like this is a 9/10 book for me.

Book Review: Hot Money by Dick Francis

A very little known fact is that I also wrote a novel and I called it Hot Money. The difference between me and Dick Francis is that he completed his, submitted it to a publisher and got it out there. Mine remains 3/4 finished (3 years later) with a few publisher's rejection slips. Take action!

This 1987 outing for Dick Francis sees a wealthy gold trader with five ex-wives and nine children all at it hammer and tongs. However when one violent death visits the worst of the ex-spouses, the trader Malcolm Pembroke calls in his son Ian, a jockey, to protect him. We are back into the horse racing world again with Dick Francis. Something his avid readers never tire of.

Ian and Malcolm become reconciled but it is clear that a family member is intent on their own agenda and the jockey becomes bodyguard becomes detective. The novel is really good and I enjoyed reading it. The hot money is money that is used to gain inside knowledge. The hot money is used to seek the truth.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Bolt by Dick Francis

Kit Fielding (a character we have met before in the world of Dick Francis) is not having a good period in his life. His girlfriend is in the process of leaving him, an international arms dealer is threatening him, and someone is trying to spike his career as a jockey too.

Kit rides for a Princess and he sees her after a race speaking with a very rude man. The Princess invites Kit to come to her house which she shares with her husband and Kit's girlfriend. The rude man is discovered to be the business partner of the Princesse's husband. The business partner wants her husband to sign up to using a plastic developed in the use of firearms. He refuses and we are off and running again in this 1986 Dick Francis thriller.

Two of the Princess's horses are shot (using a bolt used by vets), and one of these horses was a top tip for the Grand National. Kit's girlfriend is followed and the business partner is the man in the frame, abetted by other characters in the novel. The failure of the Princess's husband to sign up has serious violent repercussions.

Roland, the Princess's husband nearly signs up and Kit persuades him not to. However, the violence and the danger and the intrigue continues.

A good novel and 8/10 for me.

Book Review: Break In by Dick Francis

Another great read from the Dick Francis stable, this one published in 1985. His books don't seem to date at all, and this one features one of his great heroes, steepchase jockey Kit Fielding. In this novel it is family troubles when a grudge between his family and his sister-in-laws family turns nasty.

As ever, we gallop along with Dick as he rides us into his rather cosy world of murder, mystery with a little romance thrown in too. We learn with Kit what has happened and the facts of the case become clearer as Dick Francis unfolds the mystery before our eyes.

Another good read from the master.

8/10 for me.

Book Review; Proof by Dick Francis

In this 1984 outing from Dick Francis we peer over the shoulder of the hero, Tony Beach who is a wine merchant with his own small store. However, his private life is overshadowed by the death of his wife and their unborn child. He is in the routine task of catering for one of his horse trainer clients (always the Dick Francis trait to be in the horsey world, I love being there too).

Hit men kill an international figure at the party and Tony gets sucked into the thick of things investigating stolen and fake drinks.

Tony also has a brave father and grandfather before him both of whom he has previously struggled to live up to. However in this book Tony discovers inner strengths that he did not realise that he had. As ever good triumphs over evil and we are rooting for Tony all the way as well as learning something about the drinks industry too.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: Deadly Decisions by Kathy Reichs

Temperence Brennan novel number 3 from Kathy Reichs and we are now really in character. This novel starts with disparate parts of a puzzle: the shooting of a nine year old in a Montreal stree; a North Carolina teenager disappears from her home yet parts of her skeleton are found hundreds of miles away.

Temp spends a lot of time travelling from place to place and we are along for the ride too. She enters the world of the motorcyle cult and she treads a fine line between getting the information and clues she needs with the possibility of putting herself or her family in grave danger.

Some romance ensues with Andrew Ryan and I try to understand the thoughts of a woman and her views on romance! Dr Reichs is, like Temp, a forensic anthropologist so we get the real deal here as well as the background of Canadian and USA locations. As I am from England I find these fascinating too.

8/10 for me.

Book Review: The Danger by Dick Francis

Andrew Douglas's business is to find kidnap victims and return them to their loved ones. However, three horse racing related kidnappings in  a row is too much for him. Almost. The action races from England to Washington DC to Italy. He flirts with danger and his name is also on the wanted list as the next kidnap victim.

One of the kidnap victims is a pretty Italian jockey and she becomes the lover interest in this novel. However, before he can win the lady, Andrew has to outwit the kidnapper to put wrongs to rights.

Once again, Dick Francis takes us on a ride into the horse racing world, and once again he delivers the high quality that we have come to expect from his novels.

8/10 for me.