Dick Francis's Gamble

by Felix Francis

Overview

Felix Francis continues his father's New York Times- bestselling legacy with another edge-of-your-seat read that's classic Francis.

Nicholas "Foxy" Foxton, a former jockey who suffered a career- ending injury, is out for a day at the Grand National races when his friend and coworker Herb Kovak is murdered, execution style, right in front of him-and 60,000 other potential witnesses. Foxton and Kovak were both independent financial advisers at Lyall & Black, a firm specializing in extreme-risk investments.

As he struggles to come to terms with Kovak's seemingly inexplicable death, Foxton begins to question everything, from how well he knew his friend to how much he understands about his employer. Was Kovak's murder a case of mistaken identity...or something more sinister?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425250389
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/07/2012
Series:	A Dick Francis Novel
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	4.22(w) x 7.39(h) x 0.95(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Felix Francis is the younger of Dick Francis’s two sons. Over the last forty years Felix assisted with the research of many of the Dick Francis novels, not least Twice Shy, Shattered, and Under Orders. Since 2006, Felix has taken a more significant role in the writing, first with Dead Heat and then increasingly with the bestsellers Silks, Even Money, and Crossfire, all father-son collaborations. He lives in England.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“[Felix Francis] has one priceless advantage. He couldn’t have had a better teacher.”—The Washington Times

“A suspenseful read. Francis aficionados will hope that Felix chooses to carry on the family tradition on his own.”—Publishers Weekly on Crossfire

Editorial Reviews

[Felix Francis] has one priceless advantage. He couldn’t have had a better teacher.”—The Washington Times

“A suspenseful read. Francis aficionados will hope that Felix chooses to carry on the family tradition on his own.”—Publishers Weekly on Crossfire

From the Publisher

Francis, having coauthored four horse-racing thrillers (Crossfire, etc.) with dad Dick Francis (1920–2010), proves himself more than capable of carrying on the family legacy alone. Shortly before the start of the Grand National, "one of the world's greatest sporting events," Nicholas Foxton, a financial adviser and former jockey, is standing next to Herb Kovak, who works for the same London financial services firm, when a gunman executes Kovak and escapes into the crowd of spectators. The police, who cancel the race, are irked that Foxton can't meaningfully describe the assassin. Later, Foxton finds a threatening note in the pocket of Kovak's coat that may provide a clue to the crime's motive. Foxton, who retired from the turf after breaking his neck in a race, can't resist playing detective, especially after he discovers that Kovak designated him as executor of his estate. While the ending will strike many readers as predictable, Francis shares his father's gift for brisk storytelling—and for creating a sympathetic, wounded, but determined hero. (July 26)

Publishers Weekly

Nonpareil jockey/suspense writer Dick Francis's son Felix, who coauthored his late father's last four novels (Crossfire,2010, etc.), turns in a solo performance fully worthy of the family name.

There's nothing like having a colleague murdered in front of you to turn an inoffensive financial advisor into a freelance investigator. Nicholas Foxton has both a more pressing incentive than most self-made heroes, since his friendship with Herb Kovak, of Lyall & Black, was just beginning to deepen when Herb was executed by three shots minutes before the Grand National was to be run, and better qualifications, since he has both the computer skills to follow the money and the physique of a former jockey sidelined when he broke his neck seven years ago. Doctors have forbidden Nick from riding again, but they can't stop him in his unexpected capacity as Herb's executor and sole heir from looking into his estate, and it's one unholy mess. Herb, a transplanted American, owed thousands of pounds on a dozen credit cards and had only a nominal savings account. With some help from Herb's twin sister Sherri, however, Nick realizes that Herb also had a large income stream he kept carefully off the books. Meantime, Col. Jolyon Roberts, a client at Lyall & Black, has asked Nick to look into a hospital the Roberts Family Trust had supposedly built in Bulgaria—a hospital the Colonel's nephew Ben claims doesn't exist. And Nick's artist girlfriend Claudia, who's been suspiciously distant lately, thoroughly alarms him when she tells him the reason why. As the plot unfolds, Nick will fall into the hands of his enemies, come to terms with a dark family secret and get one more chance to climb on a horse and ride him to glory.

If all this sounds familiar, Francis fans can be assured that, like Nick's climactic mount, they're in reassuringly expert hands.

Kirkus Reviews