Search - Driving Force

Delightful...fast pased,tense...resourceful, transporting racehorses
to the course is big business for x-jockey Freddie Croft. he runs his fleet of vans and their drivers ith tight reins,stricct security and everything on the up & up. But one driver breaks a cardinal rule - never pick up a hitchhiker - an the results are fatal...for the hitchhiker. A corpse is not only bad for business its bad for FReddie's long termsurvival, one corpse leads to number two--and to strange nighttime stalkers and unseen sonspirators who are weaving a web of deceit & danger that Freddie might never escape...

YA-- From the first paragraph, the action grabs readers and plunges ahead like one of the thoroughbreds that is such valuable secondary characters in every Francis novel. As usual, a particular aspect of the British racing industry is carefully profiled, in this case the job of transporting horses. Former jockey Freddie Croft is the owner of just such a business, and must confront the discovery that his vans have been used for some very unusual smuggling. Freddie discovers two separate plots to victimize race horses through disease; along the way a bit of romance begins to enrich his life, a trusted employee is murdered, computer files are wiped out, and a malicious villain destroys Freddie's home with an ax. Clues abound, with those needed to solve the mystery satisfyingly mixed in with enough red herrings to keep readers happily guessing. Additional plot enrichment is provided by weaving in the latest in computer technology and epidemiology. A dependable writer will satisfy his YA fans once again.

From the book's cover: " Transporting racehorses to the course is big business for ex-jockey Freddie Croft. He runs his fleet of vans and their drivers with tight reins, strict security, and everything on the up-and-up. But one driver breaks a cardinal rule - never pick up a hitchhiker - and the results are fatal ... for the hitchhiker. A corpse is not only bad for business, its also bad for Freddie's long-term survival. For the corpse's trail leads to corpse number two - and to strange nighttime stalkers and unseen conspirators who are weaving a web of deceit and danger that Freddie might never escape..."
One of Francis' better mysteries - an excellent read!

good mystery about a jockey turned transporter of horses who has a corpse turn up in one of his vans.

Transporting racehorses to the course is big business for ex-jockey Freddie Croft. He runs his fleet of vans and their drivers with tight reins, strict security, and everything on the up-and-up. But one driver breaks a cardinal rule--never pick up a hitchhiker--and the results are fatal...for the hitchhiker.

A corpse is not only bad for business, it's also bad for Freddie's long-term survival. For the corpse's trail leads to corpse number two--and to strange nighttime stalkers and unseen conspirators who are weaving a web of deceit and danger that Freddie might never escape....

Enlightening reading if you know nothing of English horse racing, which I did not.

Transporting racehorses to the course is big business for ex-jockey Freddie Craft. He runs his fleet of vans and their drivers with tight reins,strict security, and everything on the up and up. But one driver breaks a cardinal rule-never pick up a hitchhiker and the results and fatal..for the hitchhiker.