Dick Francis

Ned Talbot has worked all his life as a book-maker so he knows not to expect any sympathy from the punters as they count their winnings at Royal Ascot. When a man steps forward from the crowd claiming to be his father, Ned is thrown into turmoil. He'd been told that both his parents died when he was a baby. Barely an hour later, his father stabbed by an unknown assailant. Before dying, he warns Ned to "be very careful." But of whom? Of what? Ned finds...

"Sadly, death at the races is not uncommon. However, three in a single afternoon was sufficiently unusual to raise more than one eyebrow." It's the third death on Cheltenham Gold Cup Day that really troubles super-sleuth Sid Halley. Last seen in 1995's Come to Grief, former champion jockey Halley knows the perils of racing all too well-but in his day, jockeys didn't usually reach the finishing line with three .38 rounds in the chest. But this is precisely...

Max Moreton is a rising culinary star and his Newmarket restaurant, The Hay Net, has brought him great acclaim and a widening circle of admirers. But when nearly all the guests who enjoyed one of his meals at a private catered affair fall victim to severe food poisoning, his kitchen is shuttered and his reputation shattered. Scrambling to meet his next obligation, an exclusive luncheon for forty American sponsors of the year's first classic race at...

Steven Scott is relatively new to horses. A successful, wealthy inventor, he takes up horse racing as a hobby—a hobby that soon brings him winner after winner under the inspired guidance of his trainer, Jody Leeds. Currently both their reputations are wrapped up in a beautiful black hurdler named Energise.

But just when Steven is winning at both women and horses, he discovers deceit in his own stables. Termination of the troublemaker

...

In Kit Fielding's breakneck world of steeplechase racing, the ultimate catastrophe strikes: someone is shooting horses with a weapon fiendishly called a "humane killer." Kit must stop the murdering madness, and everyone in his upper-crust circle becomes a suspect--the princely rival who's trying to woo his woman, the personal enemy bent on ruining Kit's family, the black-market arms dealer whose plans could imperil the globe. Such dire situations...

Edward Lincoln is a famous British actor, but when his godmother becomes worried that someone is interfering with her racehorses, her request for help brings him to South Africa.

Al Kinloch, a young painter who lives in seclusion on a Scottish mountain is called to London to save his family from financial ruin. It happens after the director of the family brewery embezzles the funds. Far from being a babe in the woods, the painter does an excellent job.

When Alessia Cenci, a young champion jockey, is kidnapped in Bologna, agent Andrew Douglas is sent to secure her release. For Andrew, the bungling of the Italian police is only the first in a chain of catastrophic events he cannot control.

"Investment banker Tim Ekaterin thought arranging the purchase of a champion racehorse was a sure thing--but he ever gambled on getting caught up in murder ..."--P. [4] of cover.

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...