From Dick Francis and his son, Felix, comes Geoffrey Mason-a defense barrister whose true passion is riding his Thoroughbred. Mason's two lives collide when a fellow jockey is accused of murdering a colleague with a pitchfork. Mason prefers not to get involved. But soon he is torn between doing what's right-and what will keep him alive.
After collaborating on Dead Heat(2007), bestseller Francis and his son, Felix, deliver another gripping thriller with a thoroughbred racing backdrop. Soon after London barrister Geoffrey Mason, an amateur jockey by avocation, starts receiving a series of threatening messages from a former client, Julian Trent, whose conviction for assault was overturned on appeal, Mason reluctantly accepts the defense of a jockey, Steve Mitchell, accused of the pitch-fork murder of fellow rider Scot Barlow at a steeplechase event. Mitchell and Barlow had fallen out over Barlow's sister, a vet and Mitchell's former girlfriend, who took her own life just a short while before. When unknown parties order Mason to lose the case, he must balance his professional ethics and his sense of self-preservation. The solid writing and engaging lead will carry readers along at a brisk pace, though some may find the dramatic courtroom revelation of the murderer overly theatrical. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Threetime Edgar® Awardwinning author Dick Francis's first collaboration with his son, Felix, was the 2007 mystery Dead Heat, which debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times best sellers list. This is his second such partnership, also set in Francis's triedandtrue world of British horseracing. Actor/narrator Martin Jarvis voices all the characters distinctly and believably; with the undercurrent of wry humor and masterful pacing, his narration nicely complements the characterdriven writing. A wonderfully successful package for all popular fiction collections. [Also available from Books on Tape on CD (ISBN 9781415959626 - 9781415959633)
—Don Wismer
