Synopses & Reviews
Julian Trent, you have been found guilty by this court of perpetrating a violent and unprovoked attack on an innocent family including a charge of attempted murder. You have shown little or no remorse for your actions and I consider you a danger to society. When defense lawyer Geoffrey Mason hears the judges ruling at Londons Old Bailey, he quietly hopes that a substantial sentence will be handed down to his arrogant young client. That Julian Trent only receives eight years seems all too lenient. Little does Mason realize that hell be looking Trent in the eyes again much sooner than that.
Setting aside his barristers gown and wig, Mason heads to Sandown racetrack to don his colorful racing silks. As an amateur jockey, he fulfills his true passion by pounding the turf in the heat of a steeplechase. Yet when a fellow rider is brutally murdereda pitchfork driven through his chestMasons racing hobby soon becomes too close to his work. The prime suspect is one of their brethren, champion jockey Steve Mitchell, and the evidence against him seems overwhelming.
Mason is reluctant to heed Mitchells plea for legal helpbut he soon finds himself at the center of a sinister web of violence, threats and intimidation. Mason is left fighting a battle of right and wrong, and more immediately, a battle of life and death
his own.
Review
"A gripping thriller."
-PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"One of the most reliable mystery writers working today."
-DETROIT NEWS AND FREE PRESS
Synopsis
From award-winning author Dick Francis and his son, Felix, comes Geoffrey Mason--a defense barrister whose true passion is riding his thoroughbred. When a fellow jockey is accused of murdering a colleague, Mason is torn between doing what's right--and what will keep him alive. Available in a tall Premium Edition.
Synopsis
The Grand Master returns in prize-winning form
Geoffrey Mason did it for the money. It is obvious that his client Julian Trent is guilty, and itas about time rich boy Trent is taught a lesson for his violent ways. The only thing still bothering Geoff is that he is going to miss participating in the Foxhunter Steeplechasea the aGold Cupa for amateur ridersabecause the trial has taken a lot longer than expected. Although still an amateur, Geoff is well known (as aPerrya Mason) among the pro riders, including Steve Mitchell and Scot Barlowaarguably the two top pros. So when Scot Barlow is murderedawith Mitchellas pitchfork nonethelessaGeoff finds himself pulled into the case as a junior barrister. The problem is: which side is he on? Mitchell claims he has been framed, but Geoff knows there was tension between Mitchell and Barlow; in fact, Geoff stumbled across Barlow beaten and bloody not too long ago, and Barlow claimed it was Mitchell who had done the dirty work. To make matters worse, Julian Trent has somehow finagled is way out of prison and has sworn to hunt down Geoff unless heas a agood little lawyera and does what heas told in the Mitchell case. Geoff is left facing adversaries from all sides, tearing him between doing what is right and what will keep him alive.
Synopsis
From Dick Francis and his son, Felix, comes Geoffrey Mason-a defense barrister whose true passion is riding his Thoroughbred. Mason's two lives collide when a fellow jockey is accused of murdering a colleague with a pitchfork. Mason prefers not to get involved. But soon he is torn between doing what's right-and what will keep him alive.
Synopsis
Unabridged CDs ? 9 CDs, 10 1?2 hours The Grand Master returns in prizewinning form.
About the Author
Dick Francis (pictured with his son Felix Francis) was born in South Wales in 1920. He was a young rider of distinction winning awards and trophies at horse shows throughout the United Kingdom. At the outbreak of World War II he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot, flying fighter and bomber aircraft including the Spitfire and Lancaster.
He became one of the most successful postwar steeplechase jockeys, winning more than 350 races and riding for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. After his retirement from the saddle in 1957, he published an autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write more than forty acclaimed books, including the New York Times bestsellers Even Money and Silks.
A three-time Edgar Award winner, he also received the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association’s Cartier Diamond Dagger, was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2000. He died in February 2010, at age eighty-nine, and remains among the greatest thriller writers of all time.
Felix Francis (pictured with his father, Dick Francis), a graduate of London University, spent seventeen years teaching A-level physics before taking on an active role in his father’s career. He has assisted with the research of many of the Dick Francis novels, including Shattered, Under Orders, and Twice Shy, which drew on Felix’s experiences as a physics teacher and as an international marksman. He is coauthor with his father of the New York Times bestsellers Dead Heat, Silks, and Even Money. He lives in England.