Former hotshot jockey Sid Halley landed a position with a detective agency, only to catch a bullet from some penny-ante thug. Now, he has to go up against a field of thoroughbred criminals—and the odds are against him that he'll even survive.

Sid Halley had been a champion jockey. But those days were lost in a fall beneath 500 pounds of horse that cost him his left hand and his racing future—and fractured his marriage in the bargain. Now medical and engineering science have provided him with a marvelous mechanical substitute for his whip hand. But there are no substitutes in Halley 's life for his two great loves: his beautiful, bitchy ex-wife., and thoroughbred racing. And they're both in trouble ..trouble that has led him into a battle of nerves with an elegant, vicious aristocrat—where losing could be worse than the loss of his hand, his career or his wife—and where surviving means a desperate confrontation with his own worst fear.

Sid Halley, ex-champion jockey turned investigator, is facing his toughest test. A number of horses have been brutally mutilated, horrifying their owners and the general public. Even Sid's friend, broadcaster Ellis Quint, has been moved to make a shocking programme about it. But when Sid is asked to look into the case, the evidence he uncovers points in a startling direction and he finds that his head must overrule his heart. As friends and associates are angered by his discoveries, so Sid is drawn into a terrible web of conspiracy and intrigue. Escape will require all his legendary wits and cunning . . .

"Sadly, death at the races is not uncommon. However, three in a single afternoon was sufficiently unusual to raise more than one eyebrow." It's the third death on Cheltenham Gold Cup Day that really troubles super-sleuth Sid Halley. Last seen in 1995's Come to Grief, former champion jockey Halley knows the perils of racing all too well-but in his day, jockeys didn't usually reach the finishing line with three .38 rounds in the chest. But this is precisely how he finds jockey Huw Walker-who, only a few hours earlier, had won the coveted Triumph Hurdle. Just moments before the gruesome discovery, Halley had been called upon by Lord Enstone to make discreet inquiries into why his horses appeared to be on a permanent losing streak. Are races being fixed? Are bookies taking a cut? And if so, are trainers and jockeys playing a dangerous game with stakes far higher than they are realistic? Halley's quest for answers draws him even deeper into the darker side of the race game, in a life-or-death power play that will push him to his very limits-both professionally and personally.

Dick Francis’s beloved investigator Sid Halley returns in the riveting new mystery by New York Times–bestselling author Felix Francis. Six years ago, investigator Sid Halley retired for good. He’d been harassed, beaten, shot, even lost a hand to his investigating business, and enough was enough. For the sake of his wife and new daughter he gave up that life of danger and uncertainty, and he thought nothing would ever lure him back into the game. He thought wrong. Sir Richard Stewart, chairman of the racing authority, begs Sid to investigate a series of dodgy races. Sid adamantly refuses, but the following day, Sir Richard is found dead under suspicious circumstances. And then a man with an Irish accent contacts Sid, telling him to deliver a whitewashed report about the suspected race-fixing . . . or else. At first Sid ignores these warnings, knowing that once he submits to this criminal bully, he will forever be under his control. But as the intimidation tactics escalate—and Sid’s own family comes under threat—Sid realizes he must meet his enemy head-on . . . or he might pay the ultimate price for his refusal.

Sid Halley is back and he has a new left hand having had a transplant since his last appearance in Refusal. An ex-jockey trainer friend calls him to ask for his help in finding out who has threatened him but Sid has his own problems of a marital nature, and he puts the friend off for a couple of days. However, the very next morning, the friend’s stable yard is torched, horses killed, and then the friend is found dead. The police think it’s suicide but Sid is not convinced. Sid starts to investigate and soon finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy that cuts to the very heart of the integrity of British horse racing. Can Sid get to the bottom of what’s going on before he too becomes a victim, while, at the same time, saving his marriage?