This was my first Dick Francis mystery and I found it absolutely lovely. A perfect "cozy" staring a quirky wine merchant trying to distract himself from his wife's recent death accidentally teaming up with a "private" private eye as well as the local police department as a consultant of sorts. Just enough action as to be realistic with these characters without a lot of gore or terror and otherwise an intriguing story featuring characters that I genuinely enjoyed. Perhaps not my favorite book of all time, but I read it in less than a week and will definitely pick up another before my next holiday.

5 Love of Dick Francis Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free
Years ago, I was a mystery thriller reader only. I also fell into showing horses...Long Story...Anyway, the draw of mysteries and horses brought me to Dick Francis, an amazing mystery writer who used the racing environment as a backdrop.

Now, this specific book doesn't have much of the horse racing part... but does have the Dick Francis talent throughout. I saw it was on sale, remembered how much I loved reading him and thought I would alert those who might be interested.

Enjoy

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This stand-alone story is about a wine merchant who gets pulled into a criminal mystery where someone is stealing wine/booze and fraudulently selling it. And this being a Dick Francis book there are some ties to the horse racing world. I thought the side plot of the protagonist being a recent widower was overall touching and very well done. There were a few dangerous situations that I think the protagonist should have avoided if he or his partners were wiser. This made those situations feel a little forced to me in order to increase the action/suspense. I enjoyed it overall.

I learned about wine

Damn!!! Such great buildup, and attention to detail.. much more my style than Agatha Christie. The last two chapters I couldn’t hide my face or audible reactions on the subway as I frantically whipped through each page to find out what was going to happen!!

This a really good one. Good plot, lots of insider expert info about the composition of wine and whiskey, and a particularly deep character insight into the main character-- fathers and sons, bravery, family dynamics.

I always enjoy Dick Francis mysteries but this one has more depth than usual.

Unusually horse-free Dick Francis thriller, about fake alcoholic drinks (the only horse connection is that the main character supplies drink to race meetings). He has a superlative sense of taste, easily able to identify a brand of scotch or a wine label from a sip, and this makes it possible for him to work as a consultant to the police when he uncovers a large scale fake wholesale drink racket - made easier because most people cannot really distinguish one brand/label from another. This definitely reads like a thriller plot that came from a conversation from a real life expert. Interesting, but not especially thrilling.

Dick Francis is one of those authors I avoided for a long time because I assumed since he wrote so many novels over his lifetime that the quality of them wasn't good. Luckily a few years ago I put aside my ill-informed prejudice and actually tried on his horse racing mysteries and I learned why he's so popular.

Proof is a great example of what Dick Francis can do. He effortlessly sets up an interesting mystery in a world that I have no experience with, but he makes all his characters relatable. His protagonist is an honorable, flawed person who grows by the end of the story.

I knocked off one star because I felt the last 1/4 of the book dragged out the ending too much.

Read by Nigel Havers. The Sheikh was rattled then rolled - I know, I have a terrible sense of humour. Classic Francis, which is always acceptable.

At the annual party celebrating the success of the racing season, everything is running well to form until a runaway horsebox ploughs into the marquee, causing terrible death and destruction. A witness to the tragedy, wine merchant Tony Beach presumes it is just one of those awful accidents.

But as he gets involved in the investigation and begins to make connections, events take a more sinister turn...

First broadcast on BBC Radio 7 in 2004.

Some years ago I read most if not all (that were out then) of Dick Francis murder mysteries. While they had patterns - the hero always gets beaten up (often multiple times), horse racing and/or horses are involved in some fashion, etc. - they were enough different from each other to continue to draw me in. Every one featured a specific aspect of the horse racing field, sometimes very tangentially and sometimes explicitly with a jockey, a stable owner, a trainer. I found that I enjoyed those that were to some degree on the fringes and so found my favorites - Straight, Proof, Hot Money, In the Frame and To the Hilt.

Revisiting them years later, those favorites are still favorites. After so many years, while I remember key points, they're fresh enough to read as if I found a (mostly) new DF novel, a high treat. And I did find one new to me - Shattered (glass blower) - which, while not his best work, was another fun angle and an industry I'm always happy to read about.

This book, Proof, focuses on Tony Beach, a very knowledgeable wine merchant who wrestles with issues of loss, grief and cowardice. Following a tragic accident at a party of one of his clients, a wealthy racehorse trainer, Beach finds himself embroiled in uncovering and tracking down some wines and a scotch that were not what their bottles indicated they should be. He serves as an expert consulted both by the police and by a private detective firm, working on the same case from different angles.

What he finds along the way and how he comes to see himself in a different light are what make Dick Francis novels so enjoyable. The hero is a decent man and his new friend is also a decent man. They're not oblivious of the machinations of those around them, but when tested, they find their way through without compromising their values.

I learned a lot about the wine and scotch industries. But, as always, found that the protagonist is someone I would love to have as a friend. Perhaps that's why those favorite books (named earlier), are old friends of mine. Maybe they will be for you, as well?

My first ever Dick Francis book and although I knew the name, I had no preconceptions of what I'd read. 'That horse guy" was what my well-read Mum said, well this book had little to do with the horse or racing industry (although others do!).
The book started most gently and undramatically. Even the action when it happened seemed to be tainted with a 'proper English stiff upper lip' and an almost effeminate no-hero quality here. (It reminded me of some of the early Ian Fleming James Bond). However, the action continues and nothing is lost by not having a heavy macho hero or gratuitous blood-fest. This is horror in places, crime in other and plenty of suspense and thrills for a very 'everyday male' lead.
Francis books have an intimacy of character, a fearful growing menace that we can't look away from and ultimately satisfying endings where many loose ends are rolled up. A favourite.

Audio on this reread, a nifty-sounding radio play with multiple voice actors, that moves swiftly and smoothly to the close. When there’s a graceful acknowledgment of the grief that gets a bit transmuted. Very well done!