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Enquiry

dick francis

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When Kelly Hughes rides the favourite into second place, he gets penalised. Not only has he lost the race, but also his licence, as the Jockey Club suspends him - believing he threw the race.

Only he knows that the problem lay with the horse's performance, not his own. Suspecting he was framed, Kelly sets about finding out how it was done, and then who might have done it.

But the closer he gets to the perpetrators, the more danger he finds himself in. Now there's more than his reputation and career at stake. There's also his life . . .

Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Enquiry is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.

264 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1,1969
Literary awards
cwa silver dagger, 

This edition

Format
264 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
July 1, 2000 by Jove
ISBN
9780515128673
ASIN
0515128678
Language
English

More editions

About the author

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dick francis

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Dick Francis, CBE, FRSL (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.

Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."

Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '

Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '

Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.

On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.

During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
37(37%)
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28(28%)
3 stars
35(35%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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kirbytycoon
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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3.5 stars

Another fun, engaging read by Dick Francis. I am enjoying his quick, horse-racing thrillers. Not only do they have likeable characters, the main protagonists use their brains instead of violence to clean their names, there is always a touch of romance. Overall, a satisfying, fast-paced story.
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Faceless_Friend
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Quick, Beach read. Not his best or worst. Ending was pretty darn decent. Woke up in middle of night fighting hate in my heart for our neighbors in 1997-2000, the Malevolent Malones. Actually they weren't malevolent, just snobbish greedy selfish assholes who thought they were better than everyone else. Especially that Leslie. Ugh. So I'm trying to do the Loving Kindness Meditation on the Malones and failing miserably, then I turned on the light and read Enquiry for 2 hours. Problem solved. There were enough greedy snobbish assholes in the novel to keep me entertained and allow me to forgive Leslie. May she be happy, successful and spirtually improved in the past 16 years. God Bless her.
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GutsEndo
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Kelly Hughes, jockey and Dexter Granfield, trainer are forced to an enquiry and lose their licenses because Kelly lost a race he was expected to win and the trainer was found to be betting the wrong side.

Usual well written plot.
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Kuhaikyu
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Opravdu mě překvapilo, kdo se nakonec ukázal být pachatelem. To jsem nečekala. Skoro jsem zapomněla, jak dobře umí Francis psát. Líbilo se mi, že se Kelly nenechal srazit na kolena. Ano, pár dnů mu trvalo, než se sebral, ale pak se vrhl do vyšetřování a potížím se stavěl čelem. Roberta byla taky skvělá!
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the_terrible
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I have to admit this is one of my favourite books by Dick Francis, live the characters and too see how the story pans out
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Maho_Stitch
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Trainer Dexter Cranfield and steeplechase jockey Kelly Hughes are summarily disqualified after an obviously rigged racing enquiry. Cranfield falls to pieces, but Hughes is made of tougher stuff and takes it upon himself to get back their licenses before the fast approaching Gold Cup. As with all Francis’ heroes, Kelly Hughes is not a run of the mill jockey. The son of a farm labourer he may be, but he holds a degree from the LSE, and was planning to enter the Civil Services when he lost his heart to racing. Brains, sheer guts, imperviousness to threats, violence and severe injury, softened by a quick intelligence, a kind heart and impeccable taste produce a true Francis protagonist.
But unlike all the previous books, which I truly enjoyed, this one is unusually slow to develop. In fact, the action begins only after a hundred pages or so. While the pace picks up and is maintained, the reader is in for another disappointment at the end. The solution to the mystery is difficult to swallow, and leaves one wishing for another twist in the tale in true Dick Francis style.
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IcyAngel
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Enquiry was an excellent example of Dick Francis's best writing. Kelley Hughes is a steeplechase jockey. After the favorite he was riding fails to win a race, he and the trainer are called in by the stewards for an inquiry. Neither of them are expecting the result of that enquiry: they lose their licenses and aren't allowed around racing.

Kelley is surprised at the hearing both because of the verdict and because of the "evidence" presented. A fellow jockey testifies that Kelley told the other riders to ease off and photos were shown that indicate he took bribe money from the trainer. And a tape from another race shows him contradicting what he had said to explain not using a whip on the horse. Only the horse in the race wasn't the one he was riding in the disputed race.

Determined to clear his name, Kelley begins his own investigation and easily learns that the fellow jockey had taken a bribe to lie about Kelley and that the detective who shot the pictures showing bribery was well known for producing "evidence" for the right price.

Someone is clearly fearful that Kelley will learn the truth because his car was tampered with almost causing his death. But the accident makes Kelley even more determined. With the assistance of some of his racing acquaintances, Kelley finds evidence that proves that the enquiry was rigged but finding out who was so determined to have him and the trainer disbarred from racing leads Kelley into even more danger.

The writing is spare, and the action is fast-paced and furious. Kelley is an ordinary man doing what he loves and then doing what it takes so that he can keep the career he loves. He's not a superman and is beaten up during the story but pain won't stop him from reaching his goal.
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