A courageous Siamese bags a cunning cat burglar...a country kitty proves a stumbling block in a violent murder...and an intuitive feline's premonition helps solve the case of the missing antiques dealer.
At his best, Francis can make you feel the hot breath of horses on the back of your neck' Michael Dobbs, Express on SundayDamaging allegations cost young Benedict Juliard his hopes of a career as a steeplechase jockey. Instead he's forced to join ranks alonside his father, a high-flying businessman battling a Dorset by-election for a street level entry into politics. The campaign gets off to a flying start. But this time the obstacles ahead aren't just dangerous - they're lethal. Horses, politics, lies and treachery. They can all carry the maximum 10lb penalty. And, as any jockey knows, a 10lb penalty can be a killer...
Young wine merchant Tony Beach is a professional taster, who can easily distinguish between different wines. When he stumbles across a liquor scam involving substituted wines, he becomes involved in the challenge of tracking down the culprits. However the mastermind has already committed one brutal murder to cover his tracks. Will Tony be the next?
Kipling's epic rendition of the imperial experience in India is also his greatest long work. Two men - Kim, a boy growing into early manhood and the lama, an old ascetic priest - are fired by a quest. Kim is white, a sahib, although born in India. While he wants to play the Great Game of Imperialism, he is also spiritually bound to the lama and he tries to reconcile these opposing strands, while the lama searches for redemption from the Wheel of Life. A celebration of their friendship in an often hostile environment, Kim captures the opulence of India's exotic landscape, overlaid by the uneasy presence of the British Raj.
For Neil Griffon, temporarily in charge of his father's racing stables, blackmail has become a terrible reality. It is threatening not only his valuable horses but his own health.
Malcolm Pembroke never expected to make a million pounds without making some enemies along the way. Nor did he, however, expect his latest wife to be brutally murdered. All the clues are pointing towards the killer being close to home - but after five marriages and nine children that still leaves the field wide open. When he finds his own life on the line, Pembroke entrusts his safety to his estranged son, Ian, an amateur jockey; and through him discovers a compulsive new outlet for his financial expertise. Soon he finds himself playing the international bloodstock market for incredible stakes. Not the safest bet for a man on the run from avaricious relatives. Particularly when one of them has got a bomb..
Tor Kelsey, undercover security operative for the British Jockey Club, expects trouble in the villainous person of one Julius Apollo Filmer. When a long chain of mishaps clearly leads to Filmer, Tor realizes that his nemesis is his equal in cleverness and guile and to catch him will require a particular shocking sort of surprise. By the author of Hot Money.
Vyprávění vzpomínkového charakteru v podání člověka, který má za sebou zajímavý lidský osud i profese. Vzpomíná na Janu Brejchovou, Terezu Brodskou, na akademiky Buriana a Wichterleho, Miloše Formana, Josefa Jíru, Evalda Schorma, Jiřího Šlitra a Dicka Francise a další, k jejichž jménům nebývá třeba dodávat, o koho jde. Ale taky na lidi širší veřejnosti neznáme od příbuzných až k pacientům z oddělení popálenin. Ve všech objevila nevšednost a neobyčejnost. Jaroslava Moserová se totiž uměla dívat a viděné i nakreslit....
Na smrt se nenávidí Allardekové a Fieldingové, dva rody od nepaměti působící v dostihovém světě. Pro manželství jejich "Romea a Julie" - Boba a Holly, má pochopení jedině Hollyino dvojče, slavný překážkový jezdec Kit Fielding. On jediný pomáhá, když jim na základě zprávy v bulvárním plátku hrozí krach podniku. Vystavuje se tak velkému nebezpečí. Ve jménu pochybené rodinné cti opět hrozí vražda
Po třicítce je Tom Lyon na začátku kariéry úspěšného filmového režiséra. V Newmarketu, srdci dostihového světa, natáčí příběh o smrti mladé manželky jednoho trenéra, k níž došlo před šestadvaceti lety a která se nikdy nevysvětlila. Byla to sebevražda nebo vražda? Ani Tomův scénárista, autor románu inspirovaného stejnou událostí, na to neodpověděl. Filmovým divákům však nelze předhodit neznámé příčiny, tím méně neznámého pachatele, a tak Tom začíná pátrat, jak to tehdy bylo, jací byli smutní hrdinové dávného dramatu – a proč ti žijící nemají zájem na tom, aby se minulost oživila. Ke všemu se na film lepí smůla, při exteriérech dojde k atentátu, v novinách se objeví pomluvy, producenti hrozí zastavit přítok peněz. Tomova práce je v ohrožení. A brzy někdo zaútočí i na jeho život.
Další detektivní příběh z dostihového prostředí, tentokrát však bez Eddieho Malloyho, žokeje a amatérského detektiva. Román je psán z perspektivy profesionálních vyšetřovatelů Bezpečnostní služby Jockey Clubu. Možná se v něm zrodil hrdina nové série. Jmenuje se Frankie Houlihan, býval knězem, ale zamiloval se a vyměnil své poslání za nebezpečné povolání. Setkává se v něm s dopováním, únosy koní, nedovolenými pokusy i s vraždami. Barvitost jeho osudu zřejmě zaujme i ty nedostihové příznivce dobrých detektivek.
The accidental death of jockey Martin Stukely implicates his friend Gerard Logan, a glassblower, in a dangerous search for a missing videotape.
Hlavní protagonisté příběhu jsou bratři Derryové. Starší Jonathan je středoškolský profesor fyziky. Je ženatý, bezdětný, miluje střelbu a zbraně. Mladší William chodí do výběrové školy, má rád koně a od mládí touží stát se žokejem. Oba jsou velmi skromní, mírumilovní a mají smysl pro fair play. Až do chvíle , kdy jim náhoda postaví do cesty zločin, žijí jako mnoho jiných lidí. Při svém střetu s bezohledností a násilím majitele herny a jeho syna však musí zmobilizovat síly a riskovat skutečně všechno. Svět počítačů, který jim byl donedávna cizí, se pro ně stává nebezpečím s mnoha tvářemi.
Collection of thirteen mystery stories about horse racing, with settings ranging from a spring race meeting at Cheltenham, England, to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.
Steven Scott may have been a successful, wealthy inventor with no experience in horseracing, but with the inspired guidance of his trainer, Jody Leeds, and the prowess of a beautiful black hurdler named Energise, he has brought home several wins. But his winning streak is about to come to a fast end when he discovers trouble in his own stables—trouble that could bring about his own termination if he doesn’t watch his step…
Meteorologist offered a Carribean adventure during a hurricane learns a deadly secret that follows him home to England.
A charge of throwing a race for personal profit leaves jockey Kelly Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield barred from racing. When Hughes refuses to take the charge lying down, his personal enquiry may leave him lying down, permanently.
Presents a plot that mixes mystery with horse racing.
Anglickému dostihovému sportu hrozí nebezpečí dopingu. Mladý australský farmář a majitel dostihové stáje Daniel Roke se sice domnívá, že jeho osoby ani jeho vlasti se to netýká, ale nabídku, aby zkusil vypátrat, co se vypátrat dá, přijme. Vzdává se poklidného života na rodinné farmě a nastupuje nebezpečnou dráhu soukromého detektiva, aby odhalil neznámou gangsterskou organizaci. Netuší však, jakých zločinů se jeho protivník dokáže dopouštět na koních i na lidech, a jak dlouhé a úmorné pátrání, při kterém musí přežít ponižování a nejednou nasadit i vlastní život, ho vlastně čeká....
Book by Francis, Dick
A tantalizing new Dick Francis mystery as violent and wild as the wind off the Scottish Highlands. Alexander Kinloch, an eccentric artist who lives alone on a Scottish mountainside, receives a card from his mother in London summoning him to the bedside of his dying stepfather. The news takes him by surprise, but the realization that his stepfather is unintentionally about to take Alexander to the grave with him is the shock that draws Alexander out of the untamed wilderness and into the much more perilous company of polite society.
The story explores typical themes of female friendships, failed parties, and the longing for a boy to impress, alongside the complexities of romantic relationships and the emotional turmoil of a boy's serious injury. These elements are set against the backdrop of a family that upholds certain principles embraced by all its members. The narrative also reflects on the social barriers present in contemporary English society, which the younger generation struggles to overcome.
A gang of horse dealers get nasty when their scam is threatened, but they haven't reckoned on the steely and implacable resolve of Jonah Dereham, a bloodstock agent who flushes out the real scam and the identity of Mr Big.
With his 30th novel, Dick Francis proves without a doubt that he is one of the superstars among mystery-thriller writers.--Los Angeles Times Book Review. A globe-hopping diplomat comes face to face with a case of fatal corruption in Francis's new thoroughbred thriller.
Gene Hawkings must travel to Kentucky, on the orders of his boss, to spend three weeks looking for kidnapped stallions. But before he leaves, Gene's survival skills are called on closer to home, catapulting him into a maelstrom of blackmail and murder.
Randall Drew is sent to Moscow on a delicate investigation involving a mysterious woman who is threatening a royally-connected candidate for the Moscow Olympic Games.
From "the best writer in the mystery genre" (Larry King) comes the story of a jockey who discovers that his losing streak is caused by something sinister. Reissue.
Convinced that one of his closest friends, a renowned racer, is behind a series of violent acts, Sid Halley faces the most troubling case of his career and becomes the target of backlashing fans and media representatives.
Champion race-jockey Kit Fielding's patron, Princess Casilia, is in trouble. Her invalid husband is being threatened and all the Princess's best runners are being destroyed - shot by a bolt. The only person she can turn to is Kit, but he has problems of his own
Andrew Douglas, working as a partner in the firm of Liberty Market Ltd, is used to kidnappers. But he is placed in danger when he becomes involved in the seizing of a victim which embroils the racing world from Italy to England to the United States.
Steeplechase jockey Christmas "Kit" Fielding has had more than his share of close calls both on and off the course. But trouble hits close to home when a grudge between his family and his sister's in-laws turns into a blood feud.
A classic mystery from Dick Francis, the champion of English storytellers. Edward Lincoln has scaled the Himalayas, survived deadly car chases and defeated scores of assassins. As a movie action man he's even suffered stoically at the hands of sadistic directors. After finishing his latest film, he's asked to visit South Africa to discover why a dying friend's horses are suddenly failing on the race track. Unfortunately, Lincoln's attempt to help a friend soon puts him in harm's way. From a nearly fatal interview to a dangerous accident in a gold mine, it seems only luck is keeping him alive. And in life, unlike the big-screen, there's no coming back from dead . . .
When his best friend and rival has a fatal accident in the middle of a race, steeplechaser Alan York finds the cause -- an almost invisible trip wire rigged to take down a running horse. And the more he investigates, the more likely he is to take a fall...
When a film director hears a friend's deathbed confession about an unsolved crime that rocked the racing world nearly 30 years ago, he is compelled to pick up the thread of the unfinished tale, and follow it through to the perilous end, ANew York Times Notable Book of the Year.
Longtime jockey Philip Nore suspects that a racetrack photographer's fatal accident was really murder--and unravels some nasty secrets of corruption, blackmail, and murder.
Jockey Freddie Croft discovers a high-stakes conspiracy that exposes the seedy underside of horse racing--and faces even deadlier odds of survival than in any steeplechase run.
A computerized horse-betting system falls into Jonathan Derry's hands--and unless he returns it to the rightful owners, the odds of his survival are slim to none.
Five million pounds has been laid out on a horse race. What is the Chairman and Board of Directors at the bank going to say when they find out that the money is gone? Includes questions as aids to understanding
Aware of her husband's dalliance with an alluring business associate involved with him in an important real estate deal, Sybil Harlan asks Perry Mason to help her sour the deal and win back her errant spouse
Román, v němž až dosud neznámá, sportovně založená americká dívka vypráví za pomoci novinářky autentický příběh dvou osudných dnů, kdy podnikne se svými přáteli výlet malým letadlem, přežije havárii na jednom z nejvyšších vrcholků Sierry Nevady a se zraněním slézá skalní srázy a dostává se k civilizaci.
Henry Grey is a reserved young man whose greatest problem is his mother's match-making plots and whose greatest joy is to ride as an amateur steeplechase jockey. But on a sudden impulse, he throws in his respectable desk job to join a firm which transports racehorses all over the world.
When the gloves are off it's very gritty indeed' Daily TelegraphCharles Todd makes a living as a painter of horses. Someone else is making a lot more, forging paintings by masters such as Stubbs and Munnings. And selling them to people like Charles' cousin and his wife. People who usually end up dead. When Charles arrives in Australia, he's not there for the surf at Bondi beach. He's right on the trail of the ruthless fraudsters, to whom violence and corruption are part of normal business practice. And he's right in the frame for murder...
Writer John Kendall travels to England to interview a racehorse trainer with something to hide--a secret that could threaten Kendall's life.
The privately owned Stratton Park racecourse faces ruin in the hands of a squabbling family. Because of shares inherited from his mother, Lee Morris is unwillingly sucked into the turmoil. A half-outsider, he is faced with difficult choices which have deadly consequences.
Roland Britten, champion steeplechase jockey, wakes up captive on a yacht in the Mediterranean just after winning the Gold Cup. But escaping is just the beginning. . . . "Few things are more convincing than Dick Francis at a full gallop."--Chicago Tribune. Previous publisher: HarperCollins.
Break In: When steeplechase jockey Kit Fielding comes to the aid of his twin sister and her husband Bobby Allardeck, death threatens. A vicious newspaper campaign jeopardizes Bobby's career as a racehorse trainer. Combining investigations with riding winners for his patron, Princess Casilia, Kit makes some startling discoveries. But some powerful people think a jockey should mind his own business and are prepared to use violence to make sure he does.... Bolt: Princess Casilia is in trouble. Her invalid husband is being threatened by a business partner andall her best runners are being wantonly destroyed-shot with a bolt. The only person she can turn to is Kit, but he has problems of his own. His fianc Danielle appears to have changed her mind. And the old Fielding-Allerdeck feud has once again violently intensified. Wherever he goes, the champion jockey seems to attract bloodshed....
Horace Rumpole is the lovable, irreverent, claret-swigging, poetry-spouting criminal lawyer immortalized on TV. By the author of "Rumpole and the Golden Thread" and "In Character".
Patnáctiletá Helena vypráví o své rodině, škole, problémech s nadbytečnými centimetry, o životě v basketbalovém oddíle, ze kterého musí ze zdravotních důvodů odejít.
První dva příběhy se Sidem Halleyem. *** POSLEDNÍ ŠANCE: Bývalý šampion Sid Halley je zaměstnán jako poradce dostihového oddělení soukromé detektivní kanceláře Radnor a spol. Dosud se nevzpamatoval ze ztroskotaného manželství, ani z konce své jezdecké kariéry kvůli ruce zmrzačené připádu. Aby nebylo všemu konec, je postřelen. Když nejvíc pochybuje o smyslu svého života, rozhodne se ho jeho bývalý tchán vyburcovat a svěří se mu s problémem, který Sida zaujme. Kdosi totiž systematicky likviduje dostihová závodiště. Sid začne shromažďovat první důkazy a hledat odpovědi na otázky kdo, proč a jak. Z problému je brzy skutečný případ, při jehož vyšetřování se Sid střetne s mimořádnou krutostí a tvrdě zaplatí za poznání, že jeho nové povolání je možná nebezpečnější než jezdit překážkové dostihy. Jeho protivníkem je totiž podvodník velkého formátu, jehož pravé jméno je na seznamu Interpolu. BIČ: Hlavní postavou detektivního románu je bývalý žokej Sid Halley. Po úrazu ruky musel zanechat závodění a nový smysl života našel jako soukromý detektiv. Stále se pohybuje především v prostředí milovaných dostihů. Řeší nezákonné spekulace s akciemi dostihových závodišť, likvidaci nejlepších závodních koní, úplatkářství. Oporou je mu jeho přítel Chic Barnes, učitel džuda. Jako úspěšný tandem společně objasňují případy, jež se podivuhodně prolínají. Nebezpečná pátraní je přivádějí do nečekaných situací, které vyústí v bezprostřední ohrožení života.
Společné vydání Motiv koní + Risk V prvním příběhu Motiv koní se Charles Todd, malíř portrétů dostihových koní, utká se skupinou padělatelů významných malířských děl s motivem koní. Hrdinou druhého příběhu Risk je účetní a spolumajitel revizní kanceláře Roland Britten, amatérský jezdec, který odhalil finanční a daňové machinace. 27-011-81
James Tyrone, a racing reporter for a London scandal sheet, knew that fellow writer Bert Chekov was a drunk, but he always thought he was an honest one. But when Bert suddenly died in an "accidental" fall from a window, Tyrone suspected the clues to his death might be found in some suspicious columns he'd written touting can't-lose horses--who mysteriously failed to show up on a race day. In between trips to cover the next big race and secret rendezvous with his sensual new mistress, Tyrone knew he'd prove that Chekov had been murdered. But he didn't know the terrifying risk involved in proving it.
