The Queen Mother's famous jockey - and even more famous author of detective stories featuring the horse-world - was 76 when he wrote this. Gaining insight and vigour as he wrote his many books, this is superb in its genre, vintage Francis, the thrills more chilling, the plot deceptively almost non-existant, the details of making a film professionally explicit. It's almost impossible to guess who did it, while the depth of human understanding and subtle characterisation lifts it to the level of Sayers and Tey.
(Kathie Somerwil Ayrton - bwl 103 Winter 2022 ) |
