Dead on Course

October 19, 2015
Wilson’s second murder mystery featuring British jump jockey Harry Radcliffe (after Dead Certainty) opens strongly enough, with the compelling opening line, “I knew I was a target when I opened the cottage door that morning and found, sitting on the doorstep, a pair of false teeth.” The dentures belonged to a fellow jockey, Carl Smith, whose murdered corpse Harry discovered in a lavatory in the prior book. Soon afterward, Harry gets a threatening note from Carl’s brother, Jake, and when the two men meet up, Jake demands that Harry investigate the supposedly accidental death of his sister, Jo-Jo, or face the prospect of bodily harm to the attractive grown daughter of a horse owner whom Harry’s ridden for. Jake denies leaving his brother’s dentures outside Harry’s home. Harry ends up tackling numerous murders, but he’s not the most impressive of detectives, and the plot doesn’t live up to the intriguing start. Agent: David Grossman, David Grossman Literary Agency (U.K.).

October 15, 2015
Those who love both horses and a good mystery will find this latest installment in the Harry Radcliffe series a real treat. After recuperating from a fall during a race, Harry is thrilled to be riding again. But he's no sooner won his first race than he's approached by Jake Smith, an ex-con who's aware of Harry's status as a talented amateur sleuth. Jake's sister Jo-Jo died recently in a car crash, and Jake is convinced she was murdered. He's giving Harry no choice but to find Jo-Jo's killer or he'll harm someone close to Harry. Giving in, Harry starts interviewing the few leads Jake's given him. With Harry off attending a wedding, tragedy strikes, a tragedy that will break open not only the story behind JoJo's death but also a much larger murder plot. With a compelling story, plenty of action, taut suspense, a no-nonsense sporty hero, and realistic descriptions of a jockey's world, this one follows perfectly in the Dick Francis tradition, now so ably continued by his son Felix.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)