Come to Grief

I’ve once again dipped slightly into the past for this author. Dick Francis was a prolific writer, having penned 40 best-selling novels between 1957 and his death in 2010. Francis was an English steeplechase jockey who won over 350 races and was England’s champion jockey in the 1953-54 season. He retired to become a full-time writer. He actually won three Edgar Awards, including one for this novel, so there’s no doubt that this man knows how to write a crime novel. Come to Grief was published in 1996 and was one of a series of novels about his investigator and protagonist, Sid Halley.

In this book, Francis captured my interest in the first three sentences in which he introduced himself and announced that he put his famous and well-loved friend on trial, thus becoming a despicable character himself. Halley and his friend, Ellis Quint, were both retired jockeys of great fame, but Quint had gone on to become a nationally known sports broadcaster. From the outset, it seemed inevitable that Sid would triumph, but it was impossible to fathom how that might come about given the hurdles that were present because of the nature of the case, the character of Quint, and his Halley’s uncompromising ethics. The crimes were brutal, not because of human torture, although there was enough of that, but because of the ugly harm that was being done to animals, specifically race horses. Someone was chopping off the legs of these precious animals. How could Quint possibly have been responsible for such brutality.

Francis’ character development is what makes this work so outstanding. But, the plot was also binding, and there were surprises right to the last chapter. This books gets my strong recommendation.