New York Times-bestselling author Felix Francis returns with his newest edge-of-your seat horseracing thriller in the Dick Francis tradition. Harrison Foster, a crisis manager for a London firm, is summoned to Newmarket after a fire in the Chadwick Stables kills six very valuable horses, including the short-priced favorite for the Derby. There is far more to the 'simple' fire than initially meets the eye . . . for a start, human remains are found among the equestrian ones in the burnt-out shell. All the stable staff are accounted for, so who is the mystery victim? Harry knows very little about horses, indeed he positively dislikes them, but he is thrust unwillingly into the world of thoroughbred racing where the standard of care of the equine stars is far higher than that of the humans who attend to them. The Chadwick family is a dysfunctional racing dynasty. Resentment between the generations is rife and sibling rivalry bubbles away like volcanic magma beneath a thin crust of respectability. Harry represents the Middle-Eastern owner of the Derby favourite and, as he delves deeper into the unanswered questions surrounding the horse's demise, he ignites a fuse that blows the volcano sky-high. Can Harry solve the riddle before he is bumped off by the fallout?
A smartly-dressed man has been found unconscious at the local racecourse and is rushed to the hospital, where he subsequently dies. But who is he? Where does he come from? He had no form of identification on him, and no one claims the body. Doctor Chris Reynolds, a specialist who treated the deceased-and who struggles with mental health issues-is intrigued by the nameless dead man, obsessed even, and starts asking questions. However, someone doesn't want the questions answered and will go to any lengths to prevent it, including an attempted murder. But when no one will believe that someone tried to kill Chris, the doctor is left with no option but to discover who the nameless man was and why he died.preferably before following him into an early grave. Author bio: Felix Francis, a graduate of London University, is an accomplished outdoorsman, marksman, and pilot who has assisted with the research of many of his father's novels. The co-author and author of numerous Dick Francis novels, most recently Triple Crown, he lives in England
New York Times-bestselling author Felix Francis returns with the newest thriller in the Dick Francis tradition. Jeff Hinkley is back for a third outing. Still a British Horseracing Authority investigator, Jeff has been seconded to the US Federal Anti-Corruption in Sports Agency (FACSA) where he has been asked to find a mole in their organization, an informant who is passing on confidential information to those under suspicion in American racing. Jeff attends the Kentucky Derby with the FACSA team, accompanying the Special Agents on a raid to a horse trainer's barn at Churchill Downs. Things do not go well and someone ends up dead. Then, on the morning of the Derby itself, three of the most favored horses in the field fall sick in what Jeff considers are suspicious circumstances. Jeff goes in search of answers, taking on the undercover role of a groom on the backstretch at Belmont Park racetrack in New York. But he discovers far more than he was bargaining for, finding himself as the meat in the sandwich between FACSA and corrupt individuals who will stop at nothing, including murder, to capture the most elusive prize in world sport, the Triple Crown.
Jefferson Hinkley is back in the newest Dick Francis thriller by the New York Times-bestselling author of Damage. In his role as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff Hinkley is approached by a multi-time champion jockey to discuss the delicate matter of losing races on purpose.
Little does he know that the call will set off a lethal chain of events, including the apparent suicide of the jockey and an attempt on Hinkley's own life. Never one to leave suspicious events alone, Hinkley begins investigating the jockey and the races he may have thrown. But there are others out there who intend to prevent his inquiry from probing further . . . at any cost.
Felix Francis is back with another edge-of-your-seat thriller, in the classic Dick Francis tradition.
Undercover investigator Jeff Hinkley is assigned by the British Horseracing Authority to look into the activities of a suspicious racehorse trainer, but as he’s tailing his quarry through the Cheltenham Racing Festival, the last thing he expects to witness is a gruesome murder. Could it have something to do with the reason the trainer was banned in the first place—the administration of illegal drugs to his horses?
Then many more horses test positive for prohibited stimulants, and someone starts making demands, threatening to completely destroy the integrity of the racing industry. In order to limit the damage to the sport, it’s critical that Jeff find the perpetrator ... but he’ll soon learn he’s up against someone who will stop at nothing to prevail.
"Six years ago, investigator Sid Halley retired for good. He'd been harassed, beaten, shot, even lost a hand to his investigating business, and enough was enough. For the sake of his wife and new daughter he gave up that life of danger and uncertainty, and he thought nothing would ever lure him back into the game. He thought wrong. Sir Richard Stewart, chairman of the racing authority, begs Sid to investigate a series of dodgy races. Sid adamantly refuses, but the following day, Sir Richard is found dead under suspicious circumstances. And then a man with an Irish accent contacts Sid, telling him to deliver a whitewashed report about the suspected race-fixing . . . or else. At first Sid ignores these warnings, knowing that once he submits to this criminal bully, he will forever be under his control. But as the intimidation tactics escalate- and Sid' s own family comes under threat- Sid realizes he must meet his enemy head-on . . . or he might pay the ultimate price for his refusal.
Felix Francis co-wrote several horse racing mysteries with his late father Dick Francis before the legendary author passed away in 2010. Taking up the reins for his first solo effort, Felix delivers a captivating tale that franchise fans will thoroughly enjoy. Former jockey Nicholas "Foxy" Foxton is at the track one day when he witnesses the execution-style killing of his friend Herb Novak. Worried he might be next, Foxy wonders if there was a dark side to Herb he didn't know about.
Shell-shocked and missing a foot, lost to an IED during his tour of duty in Afghanistan, Captain Tom Forsyth uses his finely honed military skills to find the person blackmailing his estranged mother--the first lady of British racing.
On the first day of Royal Ascot, the crowd rejoices in a string of winning favourites. Ned Talbot has worked all his life as a bookmaker - taking over the family business from his grandfather - so he knows not to expect any sympathy from the punters as they count their winnings, and he counts his losses. He's seen the ups and downs before - but, as the big gambling conglomerates muscle in on small concerns like his, Ned wonders if it's worth it any more.
When a grey-haired man steps forward from the crowd claiming to be his father, Ned's life is thrown into far deeper turmoil. He'd been told since he was a baby that his parents had died in a car crash.
Barely an hour later his newly found father is stabbed by an unknown assailant in the Ascot car park. Blood oozing from his abdomen, he warns Ned: 'Be very careful'. But of whom? Of what? Ned finds himself in a race to solve his father's riddles, a race where coming second could cost him more than even money, it could cost him his life.
The New York Times-bestselling authors return with a heart-stopping new novel.
On the first day of Royal Ascot, the world's most famous horse race, the crowd rejoices in a string of winning favorites. Ned Talbot has worked all his life as a bookmaker- taking over the family business from his grandfather- so he knows not to expect any sympathy from the punters as they count their winnings, and he his losses. He's seen the ups and downs before-but, as the big gambling conglomerates muscle in on small concerns like his, Ned wonders if it's worth it any more.
When a gray-haired man steps forward from the crowd claiming to be his father, Ned's life is thrown into far deeper turmoil. He'd been told since he was a baby that his parents had died in a car crash.
Barely an hour later, his newly found father is stabbed by an unknown assailant in the Ascot parking lot. Blood oozing from his abdomen, his father warns Ned to "be very careful." But of whom? Of what? Ned finds himself in a race to solve his father's riddle-a race where coming in second could cost him more than even money-it could cost him his life...
When defence barrister Geoffrey Mason hears the judge's guilty verdict, he quietly hopes that a long and arduous custodial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian Trent only receives eight years seems all too lenient. Little does Mason expect that he'll be seeing Trent again much sooner than he'd ever imagined.
Setting aside his barrister's wig, Mason heads to Sandown to don his racing silks. An amateur jockey, his true passion is to be found in the saddle, on a thoroughbred, pounding the turf. But when a fellow rider is brutally murdered - a pitchfork driven through his chest - the prime suspect is champion jockey Steve Mitchell and the evidence is overwhelming. Mason, reluctant to heed Mitchell's pleas for legal advice, soon finds himself at the centre of a sinister web of threat and intimidation and is left fighting a battle of right and wrong, and more immediately, a battle of life and death... his own.
