Hands Down: A Novel

by Felix Francis

Overview

“The master of suspense and intrigue” (Country Life) is back with the next powerful installation in the Dick Francis series, featuring Sid Halley, perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly.

Sid Halley, a private investigator, has a new left hand, having had a transplant since his last appearance in Refusal. After receiving death threats, an ex-jockey trainer friend calls Sid to ask for his help, but Sid has his own problems to deal with; like recovering from surgery and saving his crumbling marriage.

When his friend’s stable yard is torched, horses killed, and the friend is found dead, Sid can only blame himself for not helping sooner. The police think it’s suicide, but Sid is not convinced after his friend’s terrified phone calls. Heavy with a guilty heart, Sid starts to investigate and soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that cuts to the very heart of the integrity of British horse racing.


Can Sid figure out what happened to his friend, or will he be the next one that the killer targets?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781639102945
Publisher:	CROOKED LANE BOOKS
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Series:	A Dick Francis Novel
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	226,903
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

The New York Times, The London Sunday Times and International bestseller, acclaimed author, Felix Francis, was born in Oxford, England, son of the famous mystery author, Dick Francis and his wife, Mary Francis. Felix graduated from London University. His initial career led him into physics, where he was a successful teacher of A Level Physics. But he could not deny that his family’s gift of writing had been passed along to him, and he started his second career—as an author—where he found his knowledge of physics was a great advantage. His many other accomplishments include being an expert outdoorsman, marksman and pilot. Felix Francis resides in England with his wife, Debbie, their family and two Irish Setters and a Cavapoo.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/05/2022

Francis’s excellent 12th horse-racing crime novel (after 2021’s Iced) is a perfect homage to his father Dick’s major continuing character, champion jockey-turned-PI Sid Halley. Sid’s life is upended when his wife abruptly announces she’s leaving him and taking their nine-year-old daughter with her. As Sid wonders whether their relationship is salvageable, Gary Bremner, a former competitor, contacts him. Bremner, who’s now a trainer, claims his horses have been threatened, a fear vindicated when a fire at his stables kills several of the animals and apparently Bremner himself. Sid learns that an unknown agent has been imposing an additional fee for their services, making trainers’ access to jockeys to ride in races contingent on the payment, and even directing some jockeys to deliberately lose, undermining the integrity of the turf. Despite having taken a step back from investigating, Sid plunges into the case, risking his life to save the sport he loves from a devastating scandal. Francis nicely balances his lead’s personal challenges with his sleuthing. Fans of the original will hope for more of Felix Francis’s Sid Halley. Agent: Ed Wilson, Johnson & Alcock (U.K.). (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

2022-08-17
Life once more challenges Sid Halley, ex-jockey and ex-investigator, to turn lemons into lemonade.

You’d think that replacing his prosthetic left hand with a transplanted hand would be great for Sid, but its main consequence is the announcement by his wife, cancer researcher Marina, that she’s so freaked out by the new limb that she’s leaving him—or at least that she’s taking their 9-year-old daughter with her to Holland to care for her dying father and has no particular plans to return. In her absence, the always-moody Sid has nothing better to do than take up arms on behalf of Gary Bremner, a Yorkshire trainer and former jockey whose horse caused the damage to Sid’s hand during a race years ago. Gary is afraid that his stable will be targeted by a mysterious jockeys’ agent who’s not only found more and more creative ways to grab a piece of any transactions between trainers and the jockeys they hire, but who’s begun to dictate which favorites must lose which races. Gary’s absolutely right that defying the trainer, whom he eventually identifies as the sinister Anton Valance, is bad business. Though he miraculously escapes the barn fire that claims three of his horses, he doesn’t escape getting hanged from a tree, providing a news flash to DCI Williams, who’d assumed that Gary had died in that fire. The longer Sid spends poking into the jump-racing world of trainers and jockeys and horses he’s repeatedly tried to walk away from, the more convinced he becomes that Valance has a partner, and identifying that partner becomes his obsession. The inflated but routine mystery accordingly gets less and less mysterious as it goes along, but the horse-racing dope is as fascinating as ever.

For fans whose pulses quicken when they hear that “the very future of British racing was at risk.

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Hands Down:
“Excellent . . . Francis nicely balances his lead’s personal challenges with his sleuthing.”
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“One of the most compelling figures in crime fiction.”
—Booklist, starred review

“As fascinating as ever.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A carefully crafted private eye mystery that delivers a clever 'whodunnit'.”
—Midwest Book Review

“Good, clear writing with sympathetic characters make Hands Down a winner.”
 —Deadly Pleasures

“Halley fans won’t be disappointed.”
—Thoroughbred Daily News

Praise for Iced:
“Brilliant all around.”
—Booklist, starred review

Praise for Felix Francis:
“Irresistible.” 
—New York Times

“Wonderfully evocative...riveting throughout. Exciting at every turn.”
—Booklist, starred review on Pulse

“A thoroughbred thriller.” 
—Washington Post Book World

“Another trip to the winner’s circle for the talented Francis.”
—Booklist, starred review on Crisis

"Francis devises a subtle, clever scheme for the heart of the mystery, and he excels at making his broken lead credible and sympathetic.”
—Publishers Weekly, on Pulse

From the Publisher