Enquiry (A Dick Francis Novel)

Kelly Hughes, jockey and Dexter Cranfield, trainer are warned off---barred from racing. The secret enquiry is a frame, but how does Kelly Hughes prove it? The hunt takes him into blackmail and vicious revenge yet provides a girl to keep the story moving. ENQUIRY by Dick Francis is a deftly plotted work that moves as fast as the pace of the horses. The crossing of class boundaries in this book does not work as well as other Francis's stories, but it is an early career book, which may explain some of the awkwardness. Nash Black, author of SINS OF THE FATHERS and QUALIFYING LAPS.

I have the listened to the BBC dramatization of Enquiry at least a dozen times and the unabridged version several additional times and it never fails to entertain me. It was the first of the Dick Francis stories I listened to or read and it is brilliant from several points of view. The development of all the characters is done so well, especially Kelly Hughes and his helper Roberta and minor characters such as the sleazy detective and the horse trainers and owners. You meet so many memorable characters as Kelly seeks to clear his name and Dexter Cranfield's as well. Kelly Hughes was the kind of hero several stories could have been done about and I wish there were more. While not all the Francis stories were written quite as well as this story, I listen to this one several times a year. I strongly recommend this book/audio to all fans of Dick Francis and the hourse racing business.

"Yesterday I lost my licence."That's how the book begins ... and indeed Kelly Hughes, a leading jump jockey , has been indefinitely suspended from racing after being found guilty of deliberately losing a race.He knows that someone has rigged evidence against him, and rather than sit back and wait for the ban to be lifted , he sets out to find his secret enemy. Hughes isn't a detective, and just as he doesn't really know how to carry out an investigation, the reader can't guess at how the plot will develop. My favourite highlight is when Hughes is driving home after a dance. At first it seems to be just a 'filler' scene, but it turns into something more dramatic - and the writing here is particularly well-crafted. The two main characters are Hughes himself , a widower, and Roberta, the snooty daughter of his employer. Near the start of the book Roberta asks him:" "That picture .. that's your wife isn't it?"I nodded."I remember her". She said. "She was always so sweet to me. She seemed to know what I was feeling. I was really awfully sorry when she was killed"I looked at her in surprise. The people Rosalind had been sweetest to had invariably been unhappy. She had had a knack of sensing it, and giving succour without being asked. "Unfortunately Roberta has been brought up by her father to regard jockeys as an inferior social class, and it takes a long time for the two of them to kindle any real friendship, let alone romance.Francis is particularly good in this book with the minor characters - such as the aristocratic Bobbie, who clearly is very fond of Roberta but can't help hinting that Hughes is a better match for her, or Derek the diffident mechanic who kept most of his brains in his fingertips.The plot doesn't flag, the tale builds to a satisfactory climax and I only wish Hughes had appeared in another of Francis' books.

The primary reason I continue to seek out and read Dick Francis is that he continually creates heroes that are efficacious and rational. He avoids the common pitfalls of most modern writers, and instead invents characters who pass the ultimate test: "Would I like to meet and know this person?" If you can answer "yes" to that question then there is great potential for enjoyment in the fiction centered around that character. If you answer "no" to that question, why even bother reading further?Dick Francis' characters almost always recieve an unreserved "YES!" Read "Enquiry," it's not the best from Francis but it's still furlongs beyond the rest.

This is my favorite Dick Francis book, but they all are really. In this one a jockey and a horse trainer are accused of throwing a race and are banned from racing. While this hurts deeply, and Francis is a master at describing pain, mental or physical, the two react differently. The trainer just goes into an alcoholic stupor and contemplates suicide, but the jockey wants to know who set them up and why. He goes after the accusers with a vengeance. Of course he gets beat up and then nearly killed, but he doggedly continues with the search for the truth. This character is the perfect example of Francis' main characters. They are not superhuman or anything but they are strong-willed and have a desire to succeed and do the right thing at all costs. I like that in them. They have personal values and attributes we all would love to have and hope we do--integrity and grit. This is a Francis book that has you really hating the bad guys and deeply empathizing with the good guy--the Lone Jockey :-). The good guy even gets the girl in this one. She's also likeable, although not at first. Not all of Francis' secondary characters remain static unlike some authors. Francis doesn't always let the main character get the girl which is a refreshing change from most authors, but his characters are always such that you know they'll survive without her. As a woman, I find Francis' characters sexy--especially the one in this book. This was definitelly another great suspenseful mystery from Dick Francis. No fan should be without it!