One of his best.

A fine mystery featuring an artist. The portions of the novel dealing with painting are so realistic that I paused my reading to research whether or not Francis ever painted. What I found was that his wife Mary conducted extensive research for Francis' novels, contributing greatly to their realism.

This may not be one of Francis' strongest efforts so far as the mystery is concerned. However the main character, Alexander, is well developed and one of the more likeable of Francis' main characters whom I have encountered.

Alex Kinloch hat seiner Familie den Rücken gekehrt und ist in die schottischen Highlands gezogen. Dort lebt der Aussteiger seinen Traum: er hat die alte Jagdhütte seines Onkels in eine gemütliche Bleibe mit Atelier verwandelt und kann von dem Erlös seiner Bilder leben. Aber der Traum entwickelt sich zu einem Albtraum, als plötzlich vier Männer auftauchen und ihn zusammenschlagen und seine Hütte verwüsten. Bevor Alex den Grund herausfinden kann, wird er nach London gerufen: sein Stiefvater hatte einen Herzinfarkt und kann sich nicht mehr um seine Brauerei kümmern. Die steht kurz vor der Pleite und als Alex das Ruder übernimmt, muss er sich nicht nur mit seiner Stiefschwester auseinandersetzen, sondern auch mit der Tatsache dass die Brauerei kurz vor der Pleite steht.

Hinter dem Aussteiger steckt viel mehr, als ich anfangs vermutet habe. Nicht nur, dass er von adliger Herkunft ist: er rettet die Familienbrauerei vor der Pleite, ein Rennpferd vor dem Verkauf und ein Familienerbstück vor der Versteigerung. Das klingt fast schon zu gut um wahr zu sein und irgendwie ist es das auch. Alex passt mit seiner rauen Art nicht in die feine Gesellschaft, in der er sich bewegt, aber genau das ist die perfekte Tarnung. Die Bösen unterschätzen ihn und die Guten schätzen genau diese draufgängerische Art.

Das klingt nach einem vorhersehbaren Krimi, aber Dick Francis hat einige spannende Wendungen eingebaut. Meistens erbrachten sie das selbe Ergebnis, aber sie sorgten auch dafür, dass es nicht langweilig wurde. Das Ende war mir zu dramatisch und für mich nicht glaubwürdig, aber insgesamt hat mich das Buch gut unterhalten.

This is my first Dick Francis book and I loved it! Alexander is one cool cucumber.

Das Buch liest sich gut weg.
Die Geschichte ist nicht Welt bewegend aber interessant.
Ein paar der Charaktere sind in ihrem Handeln oder Nicht-Handeln nicht immer nachvollziehbar.
Aber die Geschichte ist stimmig und schlüssig.

Insgesamt lesenswert aber nicht unbedingt empfehlenswert.

4 Stars

To the Hilt by Dick Francis is full of action, investigation, tension, mystery, suspense, horse racing, intrigue, and drama.
->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.

Have been doing a marathon Dick and Mary Francis read (just discovered it was a collaboration). I thought these books were pretty sensitive, always with an extremely upstanding male protagonist, for a guy to have written. I enjoyed them thirty years ago, and again now. I was cleaning out my bookshelves, but not quite ready to toss. The background is always English racing, and the hero usually gets into a painful scrape, never complaining, just taking it, but courageous against stacked odds. He always outwits his opponents, but never shows any ego, modestly understated in his person. He helps the underdog, really appreciates women, and is scrupulous and honorable. Place descriptions are clear, sometimes extending to Australia or nearby England. Often the main character is a detective, sometimes a jockey who has to help with a crime around racing, but you can always count on a readable, cogent, well-thought out story, even if said main character is always similar. I love these stories because, even if each is set differently, you know what you’ll get, and it’s satisfying and entertaining, with a hero you’re sure to like. Especially enjoyable are the motivations behind what people do; now I see both male and female points of view. Just completed: To the Hilt, Come to Grief, Wild Horses, Longshot, Banker, Trial Run, Knockdown, Slay Ride, Enquiry, Odds Against, For Kicks, Field of Thirteen.

Exactly what you come to expect from a Dick Francis novel - some murder, some mystery, some horses and rich people. And with this book, I bid Mr. Francis adieu.

I have always heard rave reviews of Dick Francis's books, but
I knew he brought horse racing into most of his books and it just
didn't interest me. This was included in a Reader's Digest Condensed
Book that I got. I realize I probably would never have read this book if it had not been included in the condensed version, so I'm torn between thinking that at least I read one of the authors books and the feeling that I didn't really get a fair introduction to his writing.

Alexander, the protagonist, is an eccentric artist living and painting in a primitive shack in rural Scotland. He seems to be the black sheep of his family, yet numerous family members call on him for favors. His stepfather and his uncle ask him to hide certain valuable objects including a race horse. His stepfather is suffering from a heart attack and his distillery is going bankrupt because his accountant embezzled money and then disappeared.

There's almost too much going on in this story. The stepfather's daughter resents Alexander's involvement in her father's business and her husband is a bully. Alexander has a wife from whom he's separated, but they get together to hide the race horse and have
a brief tryst. He flirts with the woman who's handling the distillery bankruptcy. He hires a private detective who has many disguises .
He paints a picture of the elderly woman who wants his uncle to give one of his priceless antiquities to the government.

I enjoyed the book, but I didn't love it.

Nothing like a Dick Francis classic to get me back into 5-stars.
This is one of my favorites in his collection. A great mix of characters, and the story lines keep you flipping the pages. I enjoyed the complicated batch of relationships in this story.

A cleverly written book with suitably eccentric characters and an very inventive plot. I enjoyed the sense of place that is rather key to the story ... from the bothy to central London. It inspired a very minimal bit of research that I may find time to continue ... who knew about the Glen Coe massacre after all? Read on recommendation, I also liked this book because it is one I'm very unlikely to have discovered on my own. I perhaps will not race out to read other Francis volumes but suspect I'll enjoy other in good time.

A fast paced quick read thriller. Typical Dick Francis. A revisit read after many years.