Francis Thriller

Just after learning that his stepfather is gravely ill, artist Al Kinloch, returning to his remote home in the Scottish Highlands, is attacked by four men. They ask one question - 'where is it?' - then leave him for dead.
Baffled and hurt, Al visits his stepfather and learns millions of pounds are missing and a valuable racehorse is under threat. Roughed up already, Al decides he has nothing to lose getting to the bottom of this.
Unfortunately, the thugs who beat him up and the person behind them will make sure that Al doesn't survive their next encounter...

Ex-jockey Sid Halley is asked to investigate possible doping of the horses of thoroughbred trainer George Casper - whose once-successful mounts have been failing spectacularly on the race track.

At the same time he learns that a conman has left his ex-wife Jenny facing a jail sentence over a fake charity, while the Jockey Club want him to look into certain powerful syndicates who may be acting in a ruthless and illegal manner.

Three dangerous cases, three ways to die - Sid is back on home turf . . .

Nick Foxton once won the Grand National, but a terrible accident cut his racing career short. Years later, he is returning to Aintree - as a spectator - when he once more finds himself the centre of attention.

Minutes before the big race, Nick's colleague, financial adviser Herb Kovak, is shot dead and the gunman vanishes into the crowd. The police want answers but Nick can't explain why anyone would want Herb dead.

Yet when he finds a threatening message crumpled in Herb's coat, Nick begins questioning all he knows about his friend. And on learning that he is the benefactor of Herb's will, Nick is certain that something is not right.

A fact confirmed when Nick discovers he's next in the killer's firing line.

Captain Thomas Forsyth's tour of Afghanistan is cut brutally short when he is badly wounded by a roadside bomb.

Returning home, to his mother - a racehorse trainer and the 'First Lady' of racing - Tom discovers the training business is on the edge, and facing a threat far more dangerous than a run of bad form.

Tom finds himself on a very different, but just as deadly, battlefield where his military skills are tested . . . kill or be killed?

Royal Ascot's first day, and bookmaker Ned Talbot watches helplessly as a string of favourites come in. With the punters totting up their winnings, he counts his losses. Then an old man steps forward with a very different claim. The father Ned never knew - long ago believed killed in a car crash - is standing before him.

Barely an hour later, Ned's newly-found father is dying in Ascot's car park. Stabbed by an unknown assailant, he warns Ned 'be very careful'. But of whom? Of what?

Ned races to discover the truth behind his father's disappearance and sudden reappearance. It's not just money on the line now. It's lives.

"Julian Trent, you have been found guilty by this court of perpetrating a violent and unprovoked attack on an innocent family including a charge of attempted murder. You have shown little or no remorse for your actions and I consider you a danger to society."

When defence barrister Geoffrey Mason hears the judge's verdict, he quietly hopes that a long and arduous custodial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian Trent only receives eight years seems all too lenient. Little does Mason expect that he'll be looking Trent in the eyes again much sooner than he'd ever imagined.

Setting aside his barrister's wig, Mason heads to Sandown to don his racing silks. An amateur jockey, his true passion is to be found in the saddle on a Thoroughbred, pounding the turf in the heat of a steeplechase. But when a fellow rider is brutally murdered - a pitchfork driven through his chest - Mason's racing life soon becomes all too close to his working life. The prime suspect is one of their brethren, champion jockey Steve Mitchell; the evidence is overwhelming.

Mason is reluctant to heed Mitchell's pleas for legal advice - but soon he finds himself at the centre of a sinister web of threat and intimidation. Mason is left fighting a battle of right and wrong, and more immediately, a battle of life and death... his own.

The abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Dick and Felix Francis's searing and intrue-fillied thriller, Dead Heat. Read by Martin Jarvis.

'I wondered if I was dying. I wasn't afraid to die but, such was the pain in my gut, I wished it would happen soon.'

The night before the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie Gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that Max Moreton is cooking the evening's meal.

Max is something of a celebrity in Newmarket circles. He is the chef and founder of the racing town's favourite Michelin-starred restaurant, the Hay Net. However, spending the night in the throes of agony with chronic food poisoning is the last thing Max expects - such things simply aren't becoming of a professional chef. And the last thing he needs is to hear that his food is suspected of putting twenty-four of the guests in hospital.

Within hours, Max's restaurant is being forcibly closed, his reputation is teetering on the brink of ruin, and a court case seems to be looming. But the day is far from over, and soon Max Moreton finds himself desperately fighting for more than just his livelihood...

‘I wondered if I was dying. I wasn’t afraid to die but, such was the pain in my gut, I wished it would happen soon.’

The night before the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie Gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that top chef Max Moreton is cooking the evening’s meal.

Max is something of a celebrity in Newmarket circles. He is founder of the racing town’s favourite Michelin-starred restaurant, the Hay Net. However, spending the night retching in the throes of agony is the last thing Max expects. But much worse is to come...his food is suspected of putting twenty-four of the dinner guests in hospital. Max’s pride and professionalism tells him all is not as it seems.

Within hours, Max’s restaurant is forcibly closed, his reputation teeters on the brink of ruin, and a court case looms. But the day is far from over, and soon Max Moreton finds himself desperately fighting for more than just his livelihood...

Dead Heat is the latest searing, intrigue-filled blockbuster from the Grand Master of thriller writing.

Perry Stuart, TV meteorologist, chiefly predicts periods of English drizzle, with bursts of heavier rain and sunshine to follow. His life calm and ordered, his face familiar to every British household, Stuart’s profound weather knowledge and accuracy have given him high status among forecasters, but no physical baptism by storm.

Not, that is, until a fellow forecaster offers him a Caribbean hurricane-chasing ride in a small aeroplane as a holiday diversion. By frightening accident, Stuart learns more secrets from the flight than wind speeds – and back home in England he faces threats and danger as deadly as anything that nature can evolve.

‘Second Wind’ is a twisting spiralling hurricane of a thriller that will defy anyone to treat the weather as an everyday topic of conversation.

Cheltenham Races, New Year's Eve. Gerard Logan witnesses the death of his friend, jockey Martin Stukely, after a fall from his horse. In the aftermath, Gerard is left to pick up the pieces - including a mysterious unmarked videotape that Martin secretly left him.

But before Gerard gets to watch it, the videotape is stolen.

And soon further crimes start to occur. What was on the missing videotape? And why are the attacks continuing?

Gerard needs to keep one step ahead of his enemies and uncover the truth - before his livelihood and everything he loves is shattered for good.

The abridged, downloadable audiobook edition of Dick Francis's thriller, Under Orders, read by Martin Jarvis.

"Sadly, death at the races is not uncommon. However, three in one afternoon was sufficiently unusual to raise more than an eyebrow."

It's the third death that really troubles former champion jump-jockey Sid Halley. He 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 how he finds Huw Walker - the new winner of the Triumph Hurdle and Halley's friend. Now former friend.

Walker was riding one of Lord Enstone's horses in the Hurdle and it was the inimitable owner who invited Halley in the first place. His brief: to make discrete enquiries into alleged race fixing. Are results being rigged? Are bookies taking a cut? And if so, are trainers and jockeys playing a dangerous game with stakes far higher than they realise ...

Halley's quest for answers draws him ever deeper into the darker side of the race game, in a life-or-death power-play that will push him to his very limits - both professionally and personally.

"A New Dick Francis is always a cause for celebration" - Mail on Sunday.

‘Sadly, death at the races is not uncommon. However, three in a single afternoon was sufficiently unusual to raise more than an eyebrow.’

It’s the third death on Cheltenham Gold Cup Day that really troubles super-sleuth Sid Halley. 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 how he finds jockey Huw Walker – who, only a few hours earlier, had won the coveted Triumph Hurdle.

Just moments before the gruesome discovery, Halley had been called upon by Lord Enstone to make discrete enquiries into why his horses appeared to be on a permanent losing streak. Are races being fixed? Are bookies taking a cut? And if so, are trainers and jockeys playing a dangerous game with stakes far higher than they realise?

Halley’s quest for answers draws him ever deeper into the darker side of the race game, in a life-or-death power play that will push him to his very limits – both professionally and personally.

In his first new novel for six years, Dick Francis returns to prove once again that he is the Grand Master of thriller writing.

Tor Kelsey, an undercover agent for the Jockey Club's security service is involved in the attempt to rid racing of one of its most notorious villains, Julius Apollo Filmer. The court however, does not go along with their beliefs, but Tor knows that to let Julius even suspect the service are still on his tail would mean certain death for a number of witnesses. Meanwhile, several racehorse owners have planned a luxurious train trip across Canada, with race meetings fixed for every major city. Julius Apollo Filmer and Tor are on the passenger list. The beautiful journey through the Rockies gets uglier by the minute and Tor finds himself pushed to dangerous limits to defeat Filmer's wily scheming.

Charles Todd, a successful artist who paints horses, arrives at his cousin Donald's house and stumbles on a grisly scene: police cars everywhere, his cousin arrested for murder and Donald's wife brutally slain.
Believing - unlike the police - Donald's story of a burglary gone wrong, Charles follows clues which lead him from England to Australia and a diabolical scheme involving fraud and murder.
But soon Charles realises that someone is on his trail. Someone who wants to make sure that Charles won't live long enough to save Donald.

Tim Ekaterin has a lot of money. Unfortunately, it is other people's, and it's his job to invest it wisely, or get fired. And he's taken a big risk: using £5 million of the bank's money to fund a champion racing stallion stud.

When the resulting foals have birth defects, Tim decides that there may be something else going on at the stables. His suspicions are confirmed when one of those helping with the horses is murdered.

Determined to get to the bottom of why anyone would do this, Tim puts himself in danger to discover the truth.

David Cleveland is sitting in a dinghy in a Norwegian fjord. He's helping the Norwegians to find out why a visiting English rider has done a runner with the racehorse takings.

It should be straightforward, but when the dinghy is hit by a speedboat and Cleveland almost drowns, he realises there's more to this case than some missing money - especially when a dead body turns up.

The stakes are suddenly dangerously high. A sensible man would leave it to the police and go back home to England. Except, it turns out, that England isn't safe either . . .