Product Description

Kelly Hughes is a jockey, labelled a cheat by a Steward's enquiry. To clear his name he investigates all those who gave evidence, including the Chief Steward who was being blackmailed. Kelly, helped by Roberta, his employer's daughter, finds out who the real villain is and saves the stables.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4943544 in Books
• Published on: 1979-06
• Format: Large Print
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 362 pages

From the Inside Flap
"One of the greatest living suspense writers."
CBS RADIO
Jockey Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield had been barred from racing--for throwing a race for personal profit. It was a vicious frame-up and, worse, they had nowhere to turn to clear their names. Still, Hughes refused to take the phony verdict lying down--even though his personal enquiry might have him lying down permanently....

About the Author
Dick Francis has written forty-one international bestsellers and is widely acclaimed as one of the world's finest thriller writers. His awards include the Crime Writer's Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the crime genre, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Tufts University of Boston. In 1996 Dick Francis was made a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement and in 2000 he recieved a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

From AudioFile
When jockey Kelly Hughes is accused of throwing a race, he becomes the victim of a savage attempt to destroy him and everyone around him, including his horse's owner, Lord Dexter Crandall. Only when Hughes decides to fight back, with the help of Crandall's lovely daughter, Roberta, does the depth of deceit become clear. As usual, Dick Francis is superb in his depiction of the horse-racing world, full of greed and betrayal. Equally superb is the clarity of expression that Geoffrey Howard brings to the novel. Snobbery, sarcasm and arrogance flow effortlessly from his lips as all manner of English and Irish social classes become distinct. The pacing is flawless as Howard's narration takes the reader from the austere room where the enquiry is held to the faster pace of the horse race itself. I.Z. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Another great one from the great one
This is my favorite Dick Francis book, but they all are really. In this one a jockey and a horse trainer are accused of throwing a race and are banned from racing. While this hurts deeply, and Francis is a master at describing pain, mental or physical, the two react differently. The trainer just goes into an alcoholic stupor and contemplates suicide, but the jockey wants to know who set them up and why. He goes after the accusers with a vengeance. Of course he gets beat up and then nearly killed, but he doggedly continues with the search for the truth. This character is the perfect example of Francis' main characters. They are not superhuman or anything but they are strong-willed and have a desire to succeed and do the right thing at all costs. I like that in them. They have personal values and attributes we all would love to have and hope we do--integrity and grit. This is a Francis book that has you really hating the bad guys and deeply empathizing with the good guy--the Lone Jockey :-). The good guy even gets the girl in this one. She's also likeable, although not at first. Not all of Francis' secondary characters remain static unlike some authors. Francis doesn't always let the main character get the girl which is a refreshing change from most authors, but his characters are always such that you know they'll survive without her. As a woman, I find Francis' characters sexy--especially the one in this book. This was definitelly another great suspenseful mystery from Dick Francis. No fan should be without it!

If you love rational heroes...
The primary reason I continue to seek out and read Dick Francis is that he continually creates heroes that are efficacious and rational. He avoids the common pitfalls of most modern writers, and instead invents characters who pass the ultimate test: "Would I like to meet and know this person?" If you can answer "yes" to that question then there is great potential for enjoyment in the fiction centered around that character. If you answer "no" to that question, why even bother reading further?

Dick Francis' characters almost always recieve an unreserved "YES!" Read "Enquiry," it's not the best from Francis but it's still furlongs beyond the rest.

Francis at his best
"Yesterday I lost my licence."

That's how the book begins ... and indeed Kelly Hughes, a leading jump jockey , has been indefinitely suspended from racing after being found guilty of deliberately losing a race.

He knows that someone has rigged evidence against him, and rather than sit back and wait for the ban to be lifted , he sets out to find his secret enemy.

Hughes isn't a detective, and just as he doesn't really know how to carry out an investigation, the reader can't guess at how the plot will develop. My favourite highlight is when Hughes is driving home after a dance. At first it seems to be just a 'filler' scene, but it turns into something more dramatic - and the writing here is particularly well-crafted.

The two main characters are Hughes himself , a widower, and Roberta, the snooty daughter of his employer. Near the start of the book Roberta asks him:

" "That picture .. that's your wife isn't it?"
I nodded.
"I remember her". She said. "She was always so sweet to me. She seemed to know what I was feeling. I was really awfully sorry when she was killed"
I looked at her in surprise. The people Rosalind had been sweetest to had invariably been unhappy. She had had a knack of sensing it, and giving succour without being asked. "

Unfortunately Roberta has been brought up by her father to regard jockeys as an inferior social class, and it takes a long time for the two of them to kindle any real friendship, let alone romance.

Francis is particularly good in this book with the minor characters - such as the aristocratic Bobbie, who clearly is very fond of Roberta but can't help hinting that Hughes is a better match for her, or Derek the diffident mechanic who kept most of his brains in his fingertips.

The plot doesn't flag, the tale builds to a satisfactory climax and I only wish Hughes had appeared in another of Francis' books.