Francis Thriller

51 books in this series
DICK FRANCIS was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys and author of forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), the biography of Lester Piggott and his own autobiography (The Sport of Queens). He was rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world.

Since his death, his son FELIX FRANCIS has taken over the literary reigns from his father and Dick's legacy lives on through the Dick Francis novels. The Francis flair is clear for all to see in these national treasure thrillers, and readers will appreciate the sporadic reappearance of beloved series characters Sid Halley and Jeff Hinkley.
Front Runner
Front Runner
Operating as an undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, Jeff is approached by the multiple-champion jockey, Dave Swinton, to discuss the delicate matter of his losing races on purpose.

Shortly after Jeff narrowly escapes a certain and grisly death, the body Dave Swinton is found in his burnt out car at a deserted beauty spot in Oxfordshire. The police think it's a suicide, but Jeff is not so sure. He starts to investigate those races that Swinton could have intentionally lost, but soon discovers instead that there are those who would prevent him from doing so, at any cost.
Damage
Damage
Jeff Hinkley, undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, is looking into the shady activities of a racehorse trainer. Tailing his quarry through the Cheltenham Racing Festival, Jeff unexpectedly is witness to a gruesome murder. Could it be connected to the trainer's recent ban for administering illegal drugs to his horses?

Days later, more horses test positive for prohibited stimulants, a scandal that could throw horse-racing into disrepute. To limit the damage to the sport, it's critical that Jeff find the perpetrator . . . but he'll soon learn he's up against someone who will stop at nothing to prevail.
10-Lb Penalty
10-Lb Penalty
Seventeen-year-old Benedict Juliard's ambitions of becoming a steeplechase jockey are dashed when he's falsely accused of taking drugs. For his estranged father, however, this is an opportunity.
A wealthy businessman running for a parliamentary by-election in Dorset, Juliard Senior needs all the help he can get - especially when the campaign moves from mudslinging to something more deadly.
Now young Benedict has to grow up fast, not only to find out who is trying to harm his father's chances of election but also to keep him alive long enough to stay in the race...
Banker
Banker
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.
Blood Sport
Blood Sport
Gene Hawkins is a fixer for his boss Mr Keeble: if Keeble has a problem, Gene fixes it. It's that simple. Sometimes it requires his Luger - mostly it doesn't.
Now Keeble has summoned Gene back from a long-overdue holiday. It seems that a very expensive stallion has been taken in Kentucky. It's the third high-value kidnapping in a few years.
Keeble wants his horse back. Gene is asked to go out there and find it. But what Gene doesn't know is that he's about to get involved with blackmailers and murderers. Looks like that Lugar will see some use...
Comeback
Comeback
Diplomat Peter Darwin is returning to his childhood home: Gloucestershire. But instead of a pleasant trip down memory lane, Peter finds himself coming to the aid of a veterinary surgeon whose operating theatre is rapidly turning into an abattoir.

A string of valuable race horses have suffered unexplained deaths and the police are baffled. When Darwin looks into the mystery he finds that his connections - and his memories - help him uncover criminal activities that stretch back all the way to his childhood.

But the more Darwin uncovers, the closer he gets to a killer who just can't stop.
Driving Force
Driving Force
Ex-jockey Freddie Croft now runs a fleet of vehicles which transport racehorses across the British Isles and Europe. But when two of his drivers pick up a hitchhiker who ends up dead, Freddie's got a big problem.
First, it quickly becomes apparent that the hitcher wasn't quite what he seemed. And second, Freddie finds that his horse boxes might just be being used for moving something a lot less legal than horses.
Now he must figure out what is going on before the police, and before whoever is doing it cottons on and tries to stop him - permanently.
For Kicks
For Kicks
Daniel Roke owns a stud farm in Australia. He's young, smart, hard-working and desperate for some excitement - which makes him the ideal candidate for the visiting Earl of October.
The Earl is concerned about a horse-doping scandal that is destroying English racing. He wants to pay Daniel to come back with him, pose as a highly corruptible stable lad and discover who is behind it.
Unfortunately, when Daniel agrees he doesn't realise how close he'll have to get to find the truth. Nor how determined the criminals will be to prevent him living long enough to tell anyone...
Forfeit
Forfeit
Bert Checkov, a racing correspondent, drunkenly confesses to fellow Fleet Street hack James Tyrone that he's been giving his readers bum tips for years. Five minutes later, Checkov's fallen out a seventh floor window.
Tyrone has a nose for a story and he's convinced there's more to his friend's death than meets the eye. When he starts digging, he discovers that many of Checkov's tips never even made it to the start.
But the deeper Tyrone gets, the dirtier and more dangerous this business appears to be. If he's not careful he'll be following Checkov to his death...
High Stakes
High Stakes
When inventor Steven Scott abruptly fires his winning trainer Jody Leeds, the racing world is shocked and disgusted - though not quite as angry as Leeds, who swears revenge on his former friend.
Now, Steven is not only in fear of losing everything - but also his life. Somehow, he must prove to the world that Leeds is a vicious crook - or die trying.
Hot Money
Hot Money
Malcolm Pembroke didn't get rich without making a few enemies - not least the five wives and nine children left like wreckage in his wake.
But when Moira, his fifth wife, is murdered and Malcolm believes that someone is out to get him, he knows of only one person he can turn to: his estranged son Ian.
Ian - an amateur jockey - wants nothing to do with his father until it becomes clear the old man's life is in danger. And worst of all the evidence suggests it's from someone in the family . . .
In the Frame
In the Frame
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.
Odds Against
Odds Against
Champion jockey Sid Halley retired from racing when his hand was smashed in a fall. Now he works as a private detective - which is proving to be no less dangerous to life and limb.

Recuperating from a bullet wound, Sid is asked by his father-in-law to look into some potentially shady activity involving Seabury racecourse and a ruthless property dealer.

But the closer Sid gets to those determined to get their hands on Seabury, the more he finds himself in harm's way. The odds are against him - but that's exactly when Sid is at his best ....
Proof
Proof
Tony Beach will do anything for a quiet life. But when a party to celebrate the end of the racing season ends in eight violent deaths, he is drawn reluctantly into the subsequent investigation.
Meanwhile, the police, having evidence of the sale of illicit alcohol at a local club, ask for Tony's help in closing it down. Thanks to his intervention, Tony comes to the attention of the criminal underworld.
And that's when he reluctantly realizes that the deaths and the illicit alcohol are connected.
Tony doesn't want to be a hero. But if the choice is that or dying...
Reflex
Reflex
Jockey Philip Nore knows all too well what it's like to fall from a horse, to feel the wrath of owners and trainers, to not always be a winner.

George Millace hated winners. As a photographer he specialized in exposing the failings of riders. Now he's dead - and no one seems very sorry.

But after Millace's home is broken into, Nore finds something unexpected. Millace had other pictures - ones people are desperate to possess.

Now Nore must discover who wants them - and fast. Because if George Millace's death was no accident then his killers are getting closer.
To The Hilt
To The Hilt
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...

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