I read my first Dick Francis book in college, because I saw a race horse on the cover. Since then, his books have appealed to me but somehow rarely make it on my read list.

This one I happened across years back and I finally made it a point to read it.

I found Wild Horses to be hard to get into at first, but once a third or so the way in, I was fairly hooked. I thoroughly enjoyed the story; however, found most of the characters to be a tad lacking.

Will continue to read more from Dick Francis.

This one seems like a favorite of Francis fans but sadly is not my favorite. Thomas Lyon is directing a film about an old, cold case of the wife of a horse trainer who was found hanged to death in a barn stall. The police could never determine if it was murder or suicide but the horse racing set believed that her trainer husband was responsible so owners stopped sending him their horses and he left the industry. While Lyon is in town, he is spending time with his grandfather's old friend, a dying man who used to make horseshoes and write a racing column. On his deathbed, he confesses that he killed the Cornish boy and gave the knife away. Lyon thinks that it is just gibberish but when someone is trying to stop the movie from being made by slashing a knife at his lead star he begins to think that there may be some truth to it. Since he inherited the old man's books and papers, he starts to go through them and finds old pictures and news articles that point him in the right direction. The old man's nephew was around the track often and he and a group of friends called "the gang" were close with the horse trainer and his young wife. When the trainer was away, they decided to all try to have sex with his wife on the same night since she had been having casual sex with all of them for a while. One boy got carried away and accidently strangled her so they staged it to look like a suicide. The deathbed confession of the old columnist was that he killed the boy responsible for the woman's death because he had a secret, unrequited crush on her. The remaining boys in "the gang" are trying to stop the film from being made in order to protect their secret. Not that I am a prude but I am unaccustomed to a Francis book with this level of lewdness and crassness and I felt that it bordered on victim-shaming. Although I did enjoy the description of the film making business, I recommend his earlier works.

Tom Lyon is directing a movie based on an unsolved death 26 years ago and someone is trying to stop the movie. There was interesting info about producing the movie, knives, and horse racing. However, I failed to see what the wild horses had to do with anything.

Exceptionally good Dick Francis novel that involves horse racing, movie making and a woman's death 26 years earlier that is portrayed in the film. Long buried secrets are revealed and death stalks the set as the director seeks to uncover whether her death was murder, suicide or something else altogether.

I've read 20 some odd Dick Francis novels and they require a tolerance for a certain formula as other reviewers have noted--the protagonist is capable, in his 30s, and has a tendency to fall halfway in love with a woman half his age barely out of girlhood. Luckily, none of the novels focus on that, and this one is better than most in developing interesting relationships across generations and time. Our protagonist, a film director, returns home to Horseville, England where he grew up the son of a trainer. I loved the depth and reality of his relationships and ties to the town -- nothing is as small town as being able to poke around and introduce yourself as the friend of a friend of a friend. Plot was strong and compelling, he's in town filming a movie about an unexplained death from 26 years ago, and he ends up uncovering what actually happened.

I have not read a Dick Francis novel in a long time. This book was being sold by the Friends of the Library and I got a paperback copy for the holidays so I would not have to leave the house to go out and get a book. I picked it up and the story of the movie director connecting with his past and discovering long buried secrets was fast-paced and engrossing. There are enough characters who are red herrings that the murderer was not obvious to me until near the time of revelation.

While some might appreciate the depth and details of all the movie making processes in this who-done-it, I found the descriptions redundant and tedious. Of the 17 chapters, I really only "got into" the last 3 or 4 when the pace picked up. I had to "direct" myself into finishing this one.

I can count on Francis for a well-turned mystery that always manages to include horses. Gotta love it. I've read most of them but when Audible put some of the titles on sale, it was time to grab those I've missed.

The plot of Wild Horses involves a film director, Tom Lyon, making a movie loosely based on the death of a young woman 26 years earlier. The unsolved crime rocked the racing world and a bestselling novel about it is the basis for the film Lyon is crafting. As you might expect, the movie dredges up feelings long buried and, ultimately, people get hurt. Lyon must solve the crimes to protect those he cares about, himself, and his film project.

The characters are well-drawn and interesting. Through them, we learn a bit about racing and about movie making while also discovering clues and motivations.

Simon Prebble does a fine job with the narration. All in all, a very enjoyable read.

The mystery was quite a bit different from the others by the author. Not a five-star story but not a disappointment, either. His books always feature a main character with integrity, which is refreshing.

It's been a long time since I read a Dick Francis book, but I'm glad I picked up this one. It's not a horse book, exactly, in that the hero isn't a jockey but a film director making a Hollywood film about a racing-connected unsolved death 26 years ago. The insights into the film-making world are worth the price of the book alone, but the hook is the interpersonal here, the relationships between director and writer, director and producer, director and star, plus the non-film relationships that connect us to the long-buried mystery.

4,5/5

An enjoyable read overall, but the pacing felt a touch slower than his other books although, I must admit, I hadn't read any Dick Francis in a few years so this may be entirely in the eye of the beholder.