Front Runner

August 31, 2015
At the start of bestseller Francis’s entertaining second novel featuring British Horseracing Authority investigator Jeff Hinkley (after 2014’s Dick Francis’s Damage), Dave Swinton, a champion steeplechase jockey who’s the public face of the sport, confesses to his friend Jeff that he intentionally lost a race, a breach of the BHA’s rules that could bar him from racing for a decade. Dave refuses to say more, though he later tells Jeff in confidence that he was blackmailed into doing so by a person who threatens to tell the tax authorities that the athlete neglected to report sizable gifts. This makes the situation even more awkward for Jeff, who urges Dave to admit he made an error and pay what he owes to the revenue service. When Dave’s burned corpse turns up in his car in what appears to be a case of suicide, Jeff investigates. Francis again offers an imaginative variant on the racetrack-related thriller plots of his father, Dick. Agent: Ed Wilson, Johnson & Alcock.

Starred review from October 1, 2015
In Felix Francis' fifth solo mystery (after coauthoring four novels with his late father, Dick Francis, the champion of racing mysteries), Francis once again proves himself worthy of wearing his father's colors. This latest effort has an absolutely propulsive plot, from fast start to pounding finish, that will remind Dick Francis fans of his classic nail-biters, Nerve (1964) and Dead Cert (1962). Hero Jeff Hinkley, a senior investigator for the Integrity Service of the British Horseracing Authority, made his first appearance last year in Damage. Hinkley's position as the racing police gives him a tremendous advantage as a sleuth, since he has all-access status to the races. It also gives readers a fascinating backstage pass to the racetrack world. Hinkley has many longtime friends and an increasing roster of enemies who want their secrets buriedwith Hinkley, if need be. An early scene, in which Hinkley is locked in a sauna set at 110 C, establishes the fact that someone is out to get him. Hinkley lays the blame on a superstar jockey and national hero who has confided that he has thrown some races and is being blackmailed as a result. When the champion jockey is found dead, and further attempts at murdering Hinkley are made, the investigation expands into uncovering the secrets at the heart of it all. Hinkley fits the bloodline of young (he's 32), clever, and tough Francis heroes. This one's a stunner.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

May 15, 2015

After helping to research and then coauthoring his father Dick Francis's racing novels, Francis leapt into the saddle on his own with 2011's Gamble; 2014's Damage introduced Jefferson Hinkley, an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority. Now Jeff is back, nearly killed after big-time champion jockey Dave Swinton rings him up to broach the issue of intentionally losing races. Swinton himself is soon found dead.

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