British horse racing is under attack from an unknown foe willing to resort to extortion and even murder. Jeff Hinkley, an investigator for the British Horseracing Authority (BHA), must go undercover to find and catch those responsible for the increasingly dangerous occurrences at major races around the U.K., which endanger horses, jockeys and spectators--not to mention threatening the billions of dollars invested in horse racing and gambling.
Race horses have been dosed with low levels of illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and no one knows who's doing it. Soon after, anonymous letters are mailed to the BHA, threatening even more mayhem if the demands for large sums of money aren't met. Hinkley and an older mentor from the BHA join forces to flush the perpetrator into the open, but they must manage their investigation without much support; afraid of ruining their own reputation and the gambling business on the whole, the BHA board refuses to go to the police. While trailing a suspicious trainer through the Cheltenham Racing track, Hinkley witnesses a murder, and though he's tried hard to do his snooping silently, he eventually becomes a target himself.
Felix Francis wields all of his father's tools of the trade here, telling a satisfying story of murder and intrigue that barrels along without losing sight of the details. This is his fourth stand-alone novel since Dick Francis's Gamble in 2011, and its gentle storytelling and just-complex-enough mystery will keep the pages turning. While the final reveal comes rather abruptly, this satisfying novel is worthy of the Francis name. --Rob LeFebvre, freelance writer and editor