Plot: James 'Ty' Tyrone is a racing reporter on a small weekly; he takes on free-lance writing as well, as his wife is bed-bound, and money is tight. When he uncovers a racing scam and publishes about it, he is set upon by a couple of heavies to warn him off; of course (this being a Dick Francis novel) that only makes him more interested.
My opinion: Francis' 7th racing thriller (1968), and one of his absolute crackers: tense, tautly written, with some memorable characters. His writing is deceptively simple, but beautifully constructed; there is hardly a superfluous word. The characters are drawn with simple brush strokes, but come over completely convincingly, and 3-D as well: no cardboard cut-outs in these books! Will-power has to overcome big problems, once again, and there are some really drawn-out tense scenes in this book. Francis' descriptive power is quite amazing, he gets it spot on every time, and engages your 9mine) emotions with humour and tension. Some moral dilemmas in this book as well, at several levels.
An absolute cracker.