The Dick Francis Collection Three intriguing racetrack mysteries Former champion jockey Dick Francis invented his own genre of mystery-thriller when an accident cut short his riding career. No longer able to perform at the track, he began writing about it, using jockeys and other track types to show what went on behind the scenes, where murder and mystery were as prevalent as horses and hay. Here's three fan favorites. Nerve Someone is trying to destroy the lives of jockeys all over England. When Jockey Robert Finn becomes the next target, he takes it upon himself to do a little amateur sleuthing to settle the score. (published in 1964) In the Frame Charles Todd is an English artist who is well known and respected for his renderings of sleek and athletic horses. What he now faces at his cousin Donald's house is also art — the art of a perfectly brutal murder. (published in 1976) Reflex When jockey Philip Nore begins to suspect that a track photographer's fatal accident was really murder, he sets out to discover the truth and to trap the killer, and unwittingly sets himself up to become the hunted rather than the hunter. (published in 1980).

A beautiful Italian girl driving home in an open top sports car, a little boy playing on a south Coast beach and the Senior Steward of the Jockey Club on his way to a press reception in Baltimore. One after the other they suffer the same nightmare ordeal — kidnapping. But there is one thing connecting these particular cases. For the Italian girl is a jockey and the little boy an only son of a race horse owner. A picture of the person behind this interanational chain of crime starts to emerge — a lover of Verdi, a man with a cool and calculating brain and an aficionado of the racing world. Andrew Doublas, brought in to advise and help the vicitms and their families, proceeds with all his customary diplomacy and courage. Only to find himeself playing a dangerous part: the role usually reserved for his clients...

«New York Times» bestselling Grand Master of Crime Fiction Foreign Office diplomat Peter Darwin uncovers a peculiar operation involving a veterinary surgeon and the unexplained deaths of several valuable racehorses.»

Sid knows the perils of racing all too well, but in his day jockeys didn't usually cross the finish line with three. 38 rounds in the chest-which is how he found Huw Walker, the winner of a coveted race only a few hours earlier. Now Halley's quest for answers will push him to his very limits-both on and off the track.

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.

In Francis's best thriller (Evening Standard), a movie star must give the performance of his life when he crosses paths with killers while investigating race-horse tampering in South Africa.

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.

After his friend is killed in a horse-racing accident, up-and-coming glass artisan Gerard Logan finds himself embroiled in a deadly search for a stolen videotape — a videotape that just might destroy his own life.

Sid Halley's glory days as a jockey are over, but he still finds a certain satisfaction in successfully solving a case. His latest one, though, could prove to be his undoing.

Gene Hawkins takes on the job of locating a missing priceless breeding stallion. But he gets more action than he bargained for from a group of horse thieves who want to put Hawkins out to pasture — permanently.

When a hurricane-chasing plane is downed on a Caribbean island, TV meteorologist Perry Stuart barely escapes with his life. But he can't escape what he saw on the island — and if the people who've tracked him back to England have their way, Stuart will have a zero percent chance of survival.

At twenty to midnight Neil Griffon's home is broken into and he is roughly abducted by masked men. He has no idea who they are, or what they want. But when Neil wakes up, hours later, he quickly discovers that unless he cooperates his kidnappers will destroy his father's precious horses, racing stable and ultimately Neil himself. Returned to take charge of the stables, Neil can tell no-one about his ordeal. Vicious threats and horrible violence against his horses become a day-to-day reality and he is forced to comply with his blackmailer's wishes. Trapped in a war of attrition, Neil realises he must find a way to stop these criminals before his nerve gives out. After all, a choice between his integrity and his life is no choice at all...

Wine merchant Tony Beach has expertly catered his latest society soiree, but the fun's over when a team of hit men crash the party... literally. The event leaves Tony with a bitter aftertaste of suspicion — and sets off a mystery that's an intoxicating blend of deception, intrigue, and murder.