Product Description

A tantalizing new Dick Francis mystery as violent and wild as the wind off the Scottish Highlands. Alexander Kinloch, an eccentric artist who lives alone on a Scottish mountainside, receives a card from his mother in London summoning him to the bedside of his dying stepfather. The news takes him by surprise, but the realization that his stepfather is unintentionally about to take Alexander to the grave with him is the shock that draws Alexander out of the untamed wilderness and into the much more perilous company of polite society.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3181969 in Books
• Published on: 1931-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Audio Cassette

Amazon.com Review
There's less horseplay in the 35th thriller by former jockey Francis, but as much suspense and pain as ever. Alexander Kinloch is a painter who lives in rural Scotland, and somebody thinks he knows where the jewel-encrusted, solid gold-handled sword of Bonnie Prince Charlie is hiding. It wouldn't be a Francis book without lots of beatings and torture, but you'll also find out how to run a brewery, paint a landscape and yes, hide a racehorse, in this thoroughly enjoyable outing from the Cigar of fiction.

From Publishers Weekly
The "hilt" of Francis's delightful 35th thriller refers to the jewel-encrusted, solid gold handle of the ceremonial sword of Scotland's would-be king, Bonnie Prince Charlie. A descendant of the Scottish earl to whom the prince gave the hilt, narrator Alexander Kinloch lives in an unelectrified bothy in the Scottish mountains, supporting himself through his paintings. Al's keen visual sense allows him to draw the faces of the four thugs who beat him and tear apart his home in the opening chapter. "Where is it?" they demand, establishing the leitmotif of concealed objects that Francis weaves through the plot. Hard on the beating, Al must rush to London to comfort his mother in the aftermath of her husband's heart attack. Al learns that his stepfather's brewery is about to collapse because the finance director has absconded with millions of pounds. In desperation, the business affairs of the brewery are turned over to Al, though he pines for solitude, his easel and the mountains. A Francis novel wouldn't be complete without thoroughbred racing; in fact, Al's estranged wife is a race trainer, and one of the many things Al has to hide is Golden Malt, his stepfather's steeplechaser, slated to run in the King Alfred Gold Cup?unless Al's spiteful stepsister can steal the horse first. The diverse plot threads tie up neatly, but not before Al achieves an understated emotional breakthrough with his wife and with his undemonstrative mother, endures gruesome torture with hardly a murmur and wins his stepsister's trust. Likable characters abound: a PI who's a master of disguise; the earl, "Himself," who trusts Al to hide the ancestral hilt; a solvency practioner whose flowered dresses and soft hair help persuade bankers to give the brewery a second chance. Earlier this year, the Mystery Writers of America honored Francis as a Grand Master; this novel again shows why. BOMC featured alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA. Alexander, a reclusive young painter living in the Scottish Highlands, returns to London to oversee his stepfather's business when the older man has a heart attack. Both the chief financial officer and the firm's money have disappeared. Many twists occur before the conclusion of the story. Many teens will identify with Al as he doesn't quite fit in with the rest of his elite family. They will laugh at his assistant, a delightful private eye whose personality and unique methods of operation are efficient and entertaining. The plot moves quickly and there is abundant white space per page. Explanations of Scottish history are provided within the narrative. Although horses and a race are involved, their role is not as important as in other novels by this author.?Claudia Moore, W. T. Woodson High School, Fairfax, VA
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

A Dick Francis masterpiece!
The main character of Dick Francis' "To the Hilt" is twenty-nine year old Alexander Kinloch whose only desire is to spend time alone painting. Unfortunately for him, Alexander is thrust into a plot involving the theft of million from his stepfather's, Ivan Westering's, brewery. Alexander is asked for his help in hiding Ivan's two treasures, the King Alfred cup and Golden Malt, a valuable racing thoroughbred. But soon Alexander realizes that not only will he have to protect these two items at the same trying to find out where the embezzled money went, he must also watch out for himself as things turn from worse to deadly...

My second Dick Francis novel to read, I found "To the Hilt" a totally enjoyable read. Very exciting and suspenseful, there's a lot of mystery. Alexander is a delightfully fun character, you can't help but feel sorry for him as he gets more and more involved in helping his stepfather although the only thing he wants to do is paint. Dick Francis must also be applauded for his array of interesting characters. There's the jealous stepsister Patty who would do anything to discredit Alexander, Alexander's uncle Robert the Earl, Oliver Grantchester the lawyer, and more. But probably my most favorite characters is 'Young and Uttley', who is really just one person. I love how he has so many disguises. I cracked up laughing at one part where Alexander tries not to reveal that his 'lady-friend' is actually his 'Young and Uttley' bodyguard!...

An honorable, non-horsey protagonist
Alexander Kinloch, the hero-narrator of Francis' 1996 thriller, is not a horseman. A painter, he enjoys a solitary life in a windswept hut on his aristocractic uncle's Scottish estate. But his solitude is disrupted first by news of his stepfather's heart attack and then by four thugs who attack him and ransack his hut.

Kinloch has never been close to his stepfather, Ivan, but quickly finds himself embroiled in his plight, up to his neck in bank officers and lawyers and entrusted with hiding a race horse and a jewel-encrusted trophy. All of which he accepts with stoic aplomb, despite the increasing risk to his own neck and the disruption of his life.

There's not much racing in this one, but Francis' hero does plenty of quick thinking and maneuvering and takes plenty of knocks as he defends the family's honor "to the hilt," ferreting out a murderer in the process.

Francis keeps things moving and invests his characters with complex and very British codes of honor. His fans will not be disappointed.

One of the great Dick Francis novels
This is one of the first Dick Francis novels I read, and it remains one of the best for me. If I read it in the larger context of his work, it does seem to be something of an anomaly--not first and foremost about horses, and not concentrating on action and the understated heroics that many Francis heros find themselves forced into. ...there is a depth to the character of Alexander--a sort of simultaneous self-undertanding and also a oneliness that he wishes he could get past--that is touchingly human. I actually think this book has much more depth than some of the more action-packed stories. I would recommend it.