The Significant Seven

January 18, 2010
In McEvoy's fine fourth horse racing mystery (after 2008's Close Call
), FBI agents persuade reluctant sleuth Jack Doyle to work undercover for a Chicago trainer to discover the culprits fixing races by “sponging” the favorite, an ugly practice that deprives the horse of enough oxygen to race effectively. Interwoven is the feel-good story of the Significant Seven—seven middle-aged friends who parlayed a huge pari-mutuel win into a small but successful racing syndicate thanks to the racing and stud career of a horse named the Badger Express. Seven years after their initial win, a pair of trained killers, both ex-navy SEALs, begin systematically eliminating the syndicate members. When Jack becomes suspicious about their deaths, he also becomes a target. McEvoy is a racing expert whose knowledge permeates the pages, and, like any good tout, he's full of amusing stories about horses, bettors, and trackmen.

March 1, 2010
Jack Doyle returns for the fourth time to find out who's fixing horse races and uncovers murder.

Thirty years after they began gathering to place their bets and watch the races, seven old college buddies hit the jackpot, winning the Pick Six for $1 million. Forming a syndicate dubbed The Significant Seven, they invest their winnings in horses of their own. The proceeds from their champion stallion are divided equally; when any of them dies, the profits will be divided among the survivors in a tontine whose ultimate beneficiary is to be a home for retired racehorses. But all is not well at the track. Someone's been"sponging," secretly cramming a sponge up the noses of favored horses to slow their breathing in order to rig races. The FBI asks Jack Doyle, ex-boxer and denizen of the racing world (Close Call, 2008, etc.), to go undercover. Meanwhile, two mercenary thugs, veterans of the transparently veiled"Aqua Negro," are bumping off the Significant Seven, disguising the murders as accidents. Jack spends his time shooting the breeze with ethnic stereotypes of the underworld; dating a pretty, plucky trainer down on her luck; and unsurprisingly getting nowhere with the case. After the fifth member of the Significant Seven dies, Jack finally catches on when he becomes a target himself. Relying on process of elimination and an utterly implausible bit of stupidity by the murderers, Jack solves both cases.

Strictly for those who play the ponies.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

March 15, 2010
McEvoys third horseracing thriller starring Jack Doyle again nails the track milieu, although this time the mystery elements fall a little flat. Doyle, working with the FBI to identify who is sponging horses (inserting sponges into Thoroughbreds nostrils to impede breathing), stumbles into an even-bigger case: the systematic murder of the seven co-owners of a champion horse now earning millions at stud. Both the sponger and the person behind the murders are apparent virtually from their first appearances, but horseracing fans will still find much to enjoy. McEvoy, a former Daily Racing Form columnist, knows the racetrack intimately, and his insider details will keep racing fans turning pages.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)