Enquiry

When jockey Kelly Hughes is accused of throwing a race, he becomes the victim of a savage attempt to destroy him and everyone around him, including his horse's owner, Lord Dexter Crandall. Only when Hughes decides to fight back, with the help of Crandall's lovely daughter, Roberta, does the depth of deceit become clear. As usual, Dick Francis is superb in his depiction of the horse-racing world, full of greed and betrayal. Equally superb is the clarity of expression that Geoffrey Howard brings to the novel. Snobbery, sarcasm and arrogance flow effortlessly from his lips as all manner of English and Irish social classes become distinct. The pacing is flawless as Howard's narration takes the reader from the austere room where the enquiry is held to the faster pace of the horse race itself. I.Z. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

A jockey unfairly suspended by a commission of enquiry sets out to clear himself and a trainer in this BBC Radio dramatization of one of Francis's racing mysteries. The acting is professional and the sound quality good, except for the attempt to have characters seem to be moving off while speaking; as they recede, one strains to hear them. While background music and other cues make the story seem dated by several decades, the only real problem is the abridgment. The story seems abrupt and jumpy, never developing or even catching its breath, and the mystery is too easily solved. Still, it entertains, within its limits. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine