This is one of the better novels from Dick Francis. Like a few of the others in the series, this one is only loosely set in the world of horseracing, and the protagonist, Tony Beach, is not a jockey but rather a wine merchant. He owns a small shop and has spent the last six months grieving for his wife who built up the shop with him and then died of an aneurysm while six months pregnant.

Beach is simply going through the motions of living, opening his store, dealing with customers and occasionally supplying the liquor for various parties. On a Sunday afternoon, he's catering the liquor for a party thrown by a successful horse trainer. A lot of important guests have gathered for the event, which is being held in a large tent on the grounds of the trainer's home.

As the party gets under way, the trainer's principal assistant approaches Beach with a problem. One of the owners who has several horses with the trainer also owns a restaurant. The trainer and his assistant had dinner there recently as guests of the restaurant owner. The assistant is concerned because he believes that someone is fiddling with the liquor served at the restaurant. The man ordered an expensive Scotch whisky after dinner, but was served something decidedly inferior that had apparently been substituted for the whisky that was supposed to be in the bottle.

The assistant fears that someone may be cheating the restaurant owner, and he asks Beach if he would be willing to go to the restaurant and order the whisky to confirm his suspicions. Then he can delicately approach the owner and inform him of the problem. However, as they are discussing the matter, a horse van breaks loose, apparently accidentally, rolls down a long hill, and smashes into the tent where the party is being held, killing a few guests and injuring others. Among the dead is the restaurant owner.

Beach now finds himself assisting a firm of investigators, and the police as well, in a wide-ranging investigation involving mislabeled wine and spirits. It turns out to be a very dangerous assignment, given that there are some powerful adversaries who will stop at nothing to protect the racket they've perfected.

Readers will recognize Tony Beach as a typical Francis protagonist--apparently quiet and unassuming, but underneath the mild exterior, a man who is smart and tough as nails when the going gets rough. The plot moves along well, and the details of the liquor business that one picks up along the way are interesting too. All in all, a pleasant way to spend an evening.

Dodgy wine, stolen whiskey, dead sheiks, expensive horses. Not really my bag, but Francis has constructed a neat little mystery here. Romped along nicely enough.

A Sidebar


Bourbon’s Craft Kitchen & Bar image credit
Last week, during the days in which I listened to Proof on my commute, my boss was making his exit from the firm. My co-worker and I took him out to lunch at a downtown spot of his choosing. Since he is a teetotaler (not from religious convictions) we thought his choice was pretty fun–Bourbon’s Craft Kitchen & Bar, where he had gone with the firm C-Suite [that’s today speak for the head honchos) and liked what he had to eat.

They have an amazing selection of bourbons–including many from Japan. My co-worker ordered an Old Fashioned made with her beloved Buffalo Trace Burboun. I had a margarita–a crime I shouldn’t have committed. It was watery and awful. But, so too, was the Old Fashioned. Typical for lunchtime downtown. I understand that doesn’t happen in the evening.
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Driving home much later that day [don’t worry the margarita was so bad I didn’t come close to finishing it–dumb thing to order at that place] I remembered the Bourbon Museum “down the road” from my home in George Clooney’s family’s hometown, Maysville, KY. Connecting dots everywhere!

So, a sidebar to explain why this book got even more interesting!

The Story
I’ve been slowly reading/listening my way through Dick Francis’ output for many years, but don’t always review this type book–too hard to avoid spoilers in many.

Proof takes on a different aspect of the racing world–the catering at the racecourse. Tony Beach, son of an Army officer who was a gentleman jockey, does not ride and isn’t terribly interested in horse racing. He found his calling when, as a boy, he realized he could taste the differnce immediately between types of chocolate. As an adult he puts his discerning taste buds to work telling wines apart. He is a wine merchant by trade [wine seller].

When some baddies start watering the whiskey and pawning off bad wine as good, Tony, through the making of an instant friendship–well, at least professionally, comes to help in the investigation as a wine expert. He is also able to tell whiskey’s apart and understands well their composition.

In true Dick Francis style the baddies are dealt with by the end, but not before a lot if learned about both wine and whiskey. Francis knows his audience though–there’s no “brain dump” of all his research. Enough to make the reader understand how Tony knows what he’s doing.

My Thoughts
Like Francis’ 10lb Penalty, this book isn’t racing-centered. I find those to be his most interesting stories. I liked Tony–his personal life was interesting, but not overwhelming to the story. Of course “instant friendship” is a convenient vehicle in a lot of mysteries and romances, but I thought it worked well here. All of the wine and whiskey talk made it a good foodie tale. I did think the Sheikh would play a larger role in the story though…..[no spoilers].

Proof by Dick Francis

I listened to the audio version of this book.

Wine merchant, Tony Beach, is delivering wine to a party of racing enthusiasts when a horse trailer breaks loose and kills several people in the party tent. The police question him about who he saw around the trailer and they are impressed with his ability to remember things. Eventually the police ask for his expert help in following up on complaints about false labeling on some of the Scotches and wines provided to local bars and restaurants. That then leads to him being asked to assist private detective Gerard McGregor in finding out who is responsible for a series of whiskey bottling trucks being hijacked.

I've never been much of a Dick Francis fan because I just don't have any interest in horses and that's normally what he writes about. I'm still nursing a grudge from a nasty horse I met about forty years ago. I do love wine and this book is filled with interesting tidbits about wine, as well as Scotch whiskey. I also loved the characters in this story. Tony Beach is a widower who is devastated by grief for his recently deceased wife. He's also the son of a military hero and knows he doesn't live up to the expectations his family had for him.

There were plenty of twists and turns and the ending was incredibly tense. It definitely wasn't predictable and even though the villain was already known to the reader, it was a very compelling novel. I really enjoyed this book, especially the character of Tony Beach and his slow realization of what sort of man he really is. I may have to reconsider Dick Francis books, even the ones that deal with horses.

Tony Beach, wine merchant, is providing drinks for trainer Jack Hawthorn's party when a horrific accident pitches him into a convoluted investigation. What connects wine and scotch with false pedigrees, missing tanker trucks, race track catering, and an unknown murderer who uses plaster of Paris? Can Tony help an investigative agent and the police find proof before Tony is found dead?

DF loves to make his protagonists underrated and quietly relentless and intrepid, with brutal villains and an engaging supporting cast. This tale adds a wealth of information about wine and spirits, as well as insight into widower Tony's struggle with grief and his feeling of not living up to his family's legacy of bravery. Well done, and a favorite.

3.5 Stars

Proof by Dick Francis is a well-woven tale of deception, hit men, murder, agendas, suspicion, secrets, action, tension, mystery, suspense, horse racing, and dramatic developments- which made for an intriguing read.
->2023 Reading Challenge.
->Glennie's Collection
Dick Francis novels were a familiar fixture in our household when I was growing up, as both my parents loved his books. He was amongst the first ‘adult’ reads that I explored at the time, and over the years I have read everything he’s written. I remember every time my mother read one of his books, she'd tell me about him and how he'd gone from being an RAF pilot to being the Queen Mother's favourite jockey, before retiring to become a journalist/writer.
Since my mother passed away over a year ago, I have been making my way through her book collection, finally. I decided to make reading her entire collection a part of my reading challenge for the next couple of years (she has a HUGE collection), as well as a way to pay tribute to my mum, who was such a voracious reader..... Reading her collection of books has stirred up a lot of memories, mostly of our shared love of reading. I am forever grateful that she passed on her love of reading to me.

A fun mystery. But also the main character finding himself, his strength and courage. I had been told it would pertain to the horse racing world, but that was totally peripheral to the wine and spirits world and the fraud that seemed too easily successful. If you like mysteries, this is a quick read.

I embarked on my Dick Francis reading guided by my friend Rohan’s Top Ten list, and so far she has not steered me wrong: https://rohanmaitzen.com/2013/06/18/r...

I think what I like most about Francis is that his male characters are heroic, but they challenge the typical thriller-hero model of masculinity in some way. Above all, they are decent. Tony Beach is especially interesting. He is a wine merchant who feels he can’t live up to his father, a steeple-chasing colonel who was killed in a racing accident, and who is for Tony a model of physical courage. In the opening scene, when Tony works to rescue people at the scene of a horrible accident, the reader starts to see that his self-assessment as a coward isn’t really accurate, but it takes Tony much longer to recognize this.

The accident draws Tony into a mystery surrounding stolen tankers of booze, and as often in Francis there is lots of great background stuff on this (I finally know what “malt” is in malt whiskey). Both Tony and Gerard McGregor, the private investigator he works with, are interesting characters, and the mystery is a good one. There are some strong minor female characters too.

This was my favorite of all the Dick Francis books. It contains all of the best elements of his works: first, of corse, a well crafted mystery. Then there is a main character already going through changes in his life who gets caught up in the mystery. Then there is the painstaking research Francis did into an unusual occupation, which is a hallmark of some of his later works. (The first books were all about jockeys or horsetrainers.) I later started at the beginning and read all of his books, but if I were going to recommend just one, this would be it.

Reminded me of the super late night movie of the week that I used to watch on a Saturday night as a kid. I can imagine this as a black and white or technicolor. Ready cute. Nice touch with Emma.

I love an author who can write well about horses, horseracing and wines. This book has an unlikely hero in Tony, the small wineshop owner, ner-do-well son of a horse tradition family, who has the proper training to be a wine taster and shipper in a tale that leads us through a tangled world of murder and intrigue surrounding wine and whisky thievery and all the pecadillos of upper crust British heritage and horseracing.
When an Arab sheik and other afficianados of horse racing are killed by a runaway horse trailer during one of Tony's annual catering jobs for the horse crowd, a search for any motive behind the mishap leads to a gang of swindlers substituting poor wine and whiskey for the real McCoy across the whole of Britain. Tony's French trained nose and tastebuds are commandeered by the police to get to the bottom of the scam while gruesome murders of suspects take place whenever a lead pops up through Tony's investigative pub crawls.
Readers will enjoy the tidbits of wine information that author Dick Francis brings to light, including the original reason and methodology for determining "Proof" is alcoholic beverages. As always, the author takes you to the final pages to reveal the full details of the crimes and the apprehension of those responsible.

I love this intriguing mystery more than I can say! The sum is far greater than its parts. On the surface, it is a well-written, fast-paced mystery with some loose connection to horse racing, as one expects from a Dick Francis novel. If it were just that, it would still be readable and good. However, what puts it over the top, is that underneath the clever plot, the skilled narrative and easy prose style, lies the bedrock of an age-old question of "what is courage?" The main character's (Tony Beach,) father and grandfather were both highly decorated military men with formidable reputations for bravery under enemy fire. Tony, a mild-mannered wine merchant, feels he never has nor ever will, be able to live up to his forebear's achievements. As he is sucked farther and farther into investigating murder, industrial espionage and large-scale crime, he is forced into facing several dangerous situations until, at last, he uses his knowledge and brains to free himself and a friend from certain death. As he ruminates on his actions, he reads a tiny excerpt from one of his father's journals which opens a brand-new world of understanding to him. It is on the last page that courage, honor and love come together in a powerful way which prove (Proof?) that heroics are not just played out on the battlefield.