Product Description

Peter Darwin was hoping for some quiet leave from the Foreign Office. Instead he found himself in the village of his childhood - at the service of a veterinary surgeon whose operating theatre was rapidly acquiring an unwanted reputation as an abattoir. The sudden unexplained death of a string of valuable racehorses from one small area in Gloucestershire was a mystery the police couldn't solve. But Darwin was local. He remembered the people and what was at stake...And now he know enough to get himself killed...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #820166 in Books
• Published on: 1991-10
• Format: Abridged
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Audio Cassette

From Publishers Weekly
His 30th novel shows once again why Dick Francis ( Longshot ) is a major brand name in the thriller genre; the components here include seamless and swift plotting, a wonderful mix of believable characters, suspense and a bang-on horse-racing background. Peter Darwin, a young diplomat stationed in Japan, has just landed a plum job in the English Foreign Office. Stopping in Miami on his way home, he befriends a middle-aged British couple, and comes to their rescue when they are mugged soon afterward. Shaken, they prevail on Peter's good nature, and he agrees to stay with them in Cheltenham while they prepare for their daughter's wedding. Peter soon becomes involved in helping save the reputation of the groom-to-be, a veterinary surgeon plagued by a series of mysterious equine deaths. Using his professional skills and sharp powers of observation ("The older man, noticeably top heavy . . . legs too short for his torso . . . sharp-eyed, pugnacious; a Rottweiler of a man") Peter unravels a generations-spanning skein of murder, suicide, swindling and equine cruelty. No actual racing here but the Gold Cup locale is atmospheric and the medical background fascinating and informative, notably an emergency operation on a pregnant mare. And the smart, likable hero deserves more adventures from the master. Paperback rights to Fawcett.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal
YA-- A chance encounter leads Peter Darwin, a British Foreign Service officer newly posted back to England, to an involvement with the problems of a Gloucestershire vet who has lost several race horses during or after surgery. Francis's horse and racing trademarks are present here, as are his characters, who in this author's skilled hands, become as comfortable and familiar as members of one's family. The book conveys a strong sense of right and wrong, is fun to read, has an upbeat ending, and displays the same storytelling magic as always. It's a wonderful example of a book that bridges the gap between the YA and the adult novel. For horse lovers and armchair adventurers everywhere. --Pam Spencer, Thomas Jefferson Sci-Tech, Fairfax County, VA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
After a superfluous opening episode in Miami, Francis begins his 30th thriller by packing his Foreign Service hero Peter Darwin back to Cheltenham, where Peter spent his own early years, to solve the riddle of who burned down the office of his new friend Ken McClure's veterinary practice, who was the dead man found inside, and why and how so many of the horses that Ken has recently attended have died on (or awfully near) the operating table. Good questions, all of them- -their mystery intensified by an unusually nasty second murder--and Peter is a likable detective (plus an engaging suitor of a bishop's daughter), but not a patch on Francis's brooding early heroes. The solution, which Peter helps construct from his own Cheltenham memories, is, like the whole exercise, a little pro forma, but the bestselling author's touch with a story is as sure as ever, and there's more about horses (though dead rather than quick) than in any Francis in years. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

Good, but not his best
In Comeback, Francis enters the world of diplomacy and veterinary medicine more than horse racing, although horses play an important part as usual. The plot seems more contrived than usual in this outing, however. The story opens when Peter Darwin, after meeting two British performers in Miami, find himself helping the couple after they are mugged on the street. Having taken responsible for them in a small way, he finds himself escorting them to England where they are to attend the woman's daughter's wedding.

Once in England, things really go to pieces. The daughter and her fiance work in a veterinary hospital, he as a well-respected surgeon, she as a nurse. But his career is in jeopardy as one after another horse dies after he has operated on it. And the cause has proved impossible to determine.

On a visit to the races at Cheltenham, Peter just happens to meet a young woman employed by the Jockey Club who is escorting two Japanese gentlemen, neither of whom speaks English. Well, Peter's last posting just happened to be Japan where he learned the language and he had even met one of the gentlemen while posted there. The romance which follows is contrived and adds nothing to the basic story in itself. Annabel, the young woman Peter has eyes for, does have connections that help him in his investigation, but those meetings could have come about in a more believable fashion.

Still, Francis' knowledge of horses, racing, and the information he garners regarding other professions is always enlightening. Weak as it is, Comeback is still a fast and often fun read.

Another Homerun for the king of Tracks and Mysteries
I checked this book from our school library. I must addmit I was a little apprehensive at first, but by the third chapter I was hooked. His name is Peter Darwin, no relation to Charles, he is an english diplomat. He is staying in his childhood town while caring for some new friends. Peter soon finds himself wrapped up in the troulbes of his new friend's future son-in-law. The son-in-law is having troulbes in his horse vet practice when horse after horse in his care ends up dead. Then, the vet hospital burns to the ground and a dead body is found. Peter has to find out who is trying to set up his new-found friend by using the knowledge from his friend and long lost childhood memories. I can assure you, you will not want to put this book down (I sure didn't)

Return Home
COMEBACK is not one of Dick Francis's best, but down a step from fantastic to different. When you write about a master who produces one great mystery after another, the downs are better than the writers in second place.
Peter Darwin is a young British diplomat who stops off in Miami on his way home from Toyko. An improbable meeting with a nice couple who are on their way to London and enjoying a last night on the town set the stage for this strangely paced mystery.
Vicky Larch and Greg Wayfield are on their way to Gloucester to attend Vicky's daughter's wedding. Peter's childhood home is Gloucester. This mystery/suspense novel takes you deep into the world of veterinary surgery with one of the strangest climaxes in the world of mystery/suspense.
Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS and QUALIFYING LAPS.