Hands Down

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After the death of the elder Francis, his protege and youngest son Felix took over primary writing duties and continued the legacy with respectable verisimilitude. Sid was missing his wife and daughter, but he also felt duty bound to sort out who was doing what to rig races. Suffice to say it’s a great read, with a good insight into the hard life of an up and coming jockey. Because the details of the plot would have had more time to leak out of context from my constantly replenished brain bucket of memories.

I’m afraid those old shoes were pretty hard to fill, thus my disappointment about the slightly rehashed crime that begs for Sid’s attention and makes him a target of those he tries to thwart. Reading her collection of books has stirred up a lot of memories, mostly of our shared love of reading. When his friend turns up dead, apparently by suicide, then he can't resist the urge to investigate, assisted once again by Chicco. Life should be looking good but things start to sour when his wife decides to go home to be with her mother when she finds out that her father is dying. My fave character Sid Halley makes a comeback, living a normal life now he's dragged back into the mysteries involved in horse racing.Sid Halley is back and he has a new left hand having had a transplant since his last appearance in Refusal. The jockey is drawn in by knowing that this particular horse is an outsider anyway, so he takes the cash. Started reading the British racehorse mysteries by father Dick Francis as a young adult in the 1980’s.

This book features Sid Halley, an ex jockey, who lost his hand by having it trampled on by another horse, when his own horse fell during a race.Jockey-turned-private eye Sid Halley was last seen in Refusal after losing his left hand in a nasty fight with even nastier opponents; for his troubles, he ended up with a prosthetic hand and a wife who who insisted that he quit his detecting work. 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. But when he learns that his friend's stables have burned down and he's presumed dead, Sid feels he has no choice but to get involved. My thanks to the publisher Crooked Lane and to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for my honest review.