Wild Horses
by Dick Francis
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Valentine Clark knows a lot of secrets about the horse racing world of Newmarket, England. Now, on his deathbed, the elderly blacksmith reveals the most horrifying secret of all to his young friend, film director Thomas Lyon. On location in Newmarket, where he is shooting a motion picture about the decades-old, unsolved murder of a local horse trainer's wife, Thomas knows that Valentine's cryptic revelation holds the solution to the murder-and the identity of the murderer.Tags
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Thomas Lyon is directing a film about a tragedy from 26 years ago in the horse racing world. Violence ensues when the guilty fear their misdeeds will come to light.
This was an edge of my seat thriller from the first page. The unusual knives peppered the narrative with intrigue. I loved it. 4 stars.
This was an edge of my seat thriller from the first page. The unusual knives peppered the narrative with intrigue. I loved it. 4 stars.
Not one of my favorites, but excellent none-the-less. Interesting insight into film-making - both the practicalities and the politics. The way he tries to solve the mystery, mostly so that the film _won't_ be correct, is great - he doesn't want to stir up old troubles. The scene where he shows the daughter the characters in the movie and urges her not to identify them with the actual people involved is great. Good, interesting, well-written (well, it is a Francis!), just doesn't quite catch me. Glad I read it again, though.
Francis's usual mix of professional something and amateur sleuth gets a little mired in the business of movie-making, but still delivers a satisfying mystery, along with some gruesome details about combat knives.
This is the first Dick Francis book I've read and it was okay. The mystery was not quite what I was expecting. It was written well and held my interest. I'll try another book or two by the author.
This is the first Dick Francis book I have read. I found it to be an enjoyable mystery/thriller with a backdrop of horses and movie making that had me coming back for more.
When Thomas Lyon decides to make a movie based on an unsolved crime that shocked the horseracing world in Wild Horses, he discovers that someone will do anything—including commit murder—to make sure this story isn’t told…
Excellent novel from Dick Francis. Thomas Lyon is a director working on a film involving a mysterious death that happened many years ago. Lyon feels that if he solves the mystery it will make a better ending for his movie. Well-plotted, good characterization. Highly recommended.
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ThingScore 75
Perhaps it's inevitable that more sex has crept into the books, occasionally salted with a twist of sadomasochism, but making love still ranks far lower than racing. In his latest work, "Wild Horses," the sexual behavior is very rare and exotic; but fortunately it happened long before the book began and the hero, who though a film director is still an extremely decent chap, had absolutely show more nothing to do with it. show less
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Author Information
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Dick Francis was born in Wales on October 31, 1920. Because his father was a professional steeplechase jockey and a stable manager, Francis grew up around horses, and after a stint as a pilot in the Royal Air Force during World War II, he became a steeplechase jockey himself, turning professional in 1948. He was named champion jockey of the show more 1953-54 racing season by the British National Hunt after winning more than 350 races and was retained as jockey to the queen mother for four seasons. When he retired from racing in 1957 at the age of 36, Francis went to work as a racing correspondent for the Sunday Express, a London paper, where he worked for 16 years. In the early sixties, he decided to combine his love of mysteries with his knowledge of the racing world, and published Dead Cert in 1962. Set mostly in the racing world, he has written more than 40 novels including Forfeit, Blood Sport, Slay-Ride, Odds Against, Flying Finish, Smoke Screen, High Stakes, and Long Shot. He wrote his last four books Dead Heat, Silks, Even Money, and Crossfire with his son Felix Francis. He has received numerous awards including the Silver Dagger award from Britain's Crime Writers Association for For Kicks, the Gold Dagger award for Whip Hand, the Diamond Dagger award in 1990, and three Edgar awards. He died on February 14, 2010 at the age of 89. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Awards and Honors
Distinctions
Work Relationships
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1994
- People/Characters
- Thomas Lyon; Valentine Clark; Howard Tyler; Frank O'Hara; Nash Rourke
- Important places
- Newmarket, Suffolk, England, UK
- Epigraph
- We are spirits clad in veils;
Man by man was never seen;
All our deep communing fails
To remove the shadowy screen.
Christopher Pearse Cranch
(1813-1893) - First words
- Dying slowly of bone cancer the old man, shriveled now, sat as ever in his great armchair, tears of lonely pain sliding down crepuscular cheeks.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)The young woman of the fantasy lovers dreamed she was riding the wild horses as she swung to her death.
- Original language
- English
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 1,801
- Popularity
- 12,202
- Reviews
- 18
- Rating
- (3.65)
- Languages
- 8 — Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Norwegian (Bokmål)
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 51
- ASINs
- 29