
Hands Down
A Dick Francis Novel
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Narrated by:
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Martin Jarvis
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By:
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Felix Francis
About this listen
"The master of suspense and intrigue" (Country Life) is back with the next powerful installation in the Dick Francis series, featuring Sid Halley, perfect for fans of Harlan Coben and Michael Connelly.
Sid Halley, a private investigator, has a new left hand, having had a transplant since his last appearance in Refusal. After receiving death threats, an ex-jockey trainer friend calls Sid to ask for his help, but Sid has his own problems to deal with, like recovering from surgery and saving his crumbling marriage.
When his friend's stable yard is torched, horses killed, and the friend is found dead, Sid can only blame himself for not helping sooner. The police think it's suicide, but Sid is not convinced after his friend's terrified phone calls. Heavy with a guilty heart, 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 figure out what happened to his friend, or will he be the next one that the killer targets?
©2022 Felix Francis (P)2022 Recorded BooksListeners also enjoyed...
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
A superbly crafted collection of thirteen tightly plotted tales that treats listeners to murder, mystery, and mayhem in the world of horseracing. With his remarkable blend of unrelenting suspense, finely tuned narrative, and lean, stylish prose, New York Times bestselling author Dick Francis proves that he is as much a master of the short story as he is of the novel in this thrilling collection.
-
-
Great narrator
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
When globe-hopping British First Secretary Peter Darwin returns to his childhood home for a visit, he is sorry. Waiting for him were long-hidden memories, a string of racehorse deaths and homicide. As Darwin begins to realize that the key to all of it involves his own past, he wishes he'd never come back, because he just might never leave again—alive.
-
-
Like the story, but sound was weird
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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-
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By: Dick Francis
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- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
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Good but disturbing
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The Thursday Murder Club
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In a peaceful retirement village, four unlikely friends meet weekly in the Jigsaw Room to discuss unsolved crimes; together, they call themselves the Thursday Murder Club. When a local developer is found dead with a mysterious photograph left next to the body, the Thursday Murder Club suddenly find themselves in the middle of their first live case.
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Loved the book but needed better audio production
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Excellent
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Boring!
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Dead Heat
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Max Moreton is a rising culinary star and his Newmarket restaurant, The Hay Net, has brought him great acclaim and a widening circle of admirers. But when nearly all the guests who enjoyed one of his meals at a private catered affair fall victim to severe food poisoning, his kitchen is shuttered and his reputation takes a hit.
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Dead Heat
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Nerve
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Despair, suicide, and obsessive hatred, mixed well with humor, love, and horses, brew up into the story of a battle between one man's nerve and another man's cunning. Robert Finn, steeplechase jockey, finds himself the focus of a malicious campaign, which is also afflicting his friends. He sets out to discover its source and remove it.
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One of Francis' Best
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For Kicks
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Australian horse breeder Daniel Roke had resisted the exorbitant sum of money offered by a suave Englishman to investigate a scandal involving drugged racehorses. But after another investigator dies mysteriously, Roke agrees to fill his shoes, and learns that men who would give drugs to horses are capable of doing much worse to human beings …
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One of my favorite Dick Francis books!
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Knockdown
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A Classic Dick Francis Story
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Rat Race
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Hired to fly four racing buffs to the track, pilot Matt Shore expects it will be the kind of job he likes: quick and easy. That is until he’s forced to make an emergency landing just minutes before the plane explodes. Luckily nobody is hurt, but it isn’t long before Matt realizes that he’s caught up in a rat race among violent criminals, who are dead set on putting anyone who stands in their way on the wrong side of the odds.
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Vintage Francis
- By MICHAEL on 06-05-23
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Odds Against
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s amazing what bodily injury can do for a man. A fall from a racehorse left brilliant jockey Sid Halley dangerously depressed, with a wrecked hand and the need for a new career. It was a bullet wound that helped him find one.
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Fabulous!
- By motown on 02-10-15
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Wild Horses
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Thomas Lyon decides to make a movie based on an unsolved crime that shocked the horseracing world in Wild Horses, he discovers that someone will do anything - including commit murder - to make sure this story isn't told.
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Loved this Book - Problems with the download fixed
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Forfeit
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When reporter Bert Chekov falls to his death, his colleague James Tyrone is suspicious. Chekov’s column had recently recommended some ‘can’t-lose’ horses, who then wound up out of the running on race day. Tyrone thinks he can prove it was murder, but he may not live to tell the tale. Because as the dead man has already made clear, there’s no such thing as a sure thing...
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The plot was intriguing
- By Jaguar on 12-26-24
By: Dick Francis
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When globe-hopping British First Secretary Peter Darwin returns to his childhood home for a visit, he is sorry. Waiting for him were long-hidden memories, a string of racehorse deaths and homicide. As Darwin begins to realize that the key to all of it involves his own past, he wishes he'd never come back, because he just might never leave again—alive.
-
-
Like the story, but sound was weird
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By: Dick Francis
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Trial Run
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The last place veteran horseman Randall Drew wanted to go was Moscow. But when his royal highness the prince asks a favor, one doesn’t refuse. The Royal Family is worried about the prince’s brother in law, who aims to make the Olympics. Unfortunately a jealous Russian rider has sworn to kill him if he sets one hoof in Moscow. So Randall leaves his thoroughbred horses and loving girlfriend to investigate. But what he finds is more than jealousy. It’s a terrifying track of sabotage and murder. And now that he knows, the killer is after him.
-
-
Excellent
- By karen on 05-07-24
By: Dick Francis
-
Silks
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- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
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-
Overall
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Performance
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-
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Boring!
- By mrtoybox on 07-21-18
By: Dick Francis, and others
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Shattered
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When jockey Martin Stukely dies after a fall at Cheltenham, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape. Logan is a glassblower on the verge of widespread acclaim.
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Narrator has flat, almost mechanical voice!
- By Jaegersmum on 05-21-14
By: Dick Francis
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Odds Against
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- Narrated by: Geoffrey Howard
- Length: 7 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It’s amazing what bodily injury can do for a man. A fall from a racehorse left brilliant jockey Sid Halley dangerously depressed, with a wrecked hand and the need for a new career. It was a bullet wound that helped him find one.
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Dick Francis's Gamble
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- Narrated by: John Keating
- Length: 10 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
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Story
Nicholas “Foxy” Foxton, a former jockey who suffered a career-ending injury, is out for a day at the Grand National races when his friend and coworker Herb Kovak is murdered, execution style, right in front of him—and 60,000 other potential witnesses. Foxton and Kovak were both independent financial advisers at Lyall Black, a firm specializing in extreme-risk investments.
-
-
Frustration
- By Anonymous User on 08-24-11
By: Felix Francis
-
Comeback
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When globe-hopping British First Secretary Peter Darwin returns to his childhood home for a visit, he is sorry. Waiting for him were long-hidden memories, a string of racehorse deaths and homicide. As Darwin begins to realize that the key to all of it involves his own past, he wishes he'd never come back, because he just might never leave again—alive.
-
-
Like the story, but sound was weird
- By Jeanette on 11-07-22
By: Dick Francis
-
Trial Run
- By: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The last place veteran horseman Randall Drew wanted to go was Moscow. But when his royal highness the prince asks a favor, one doesn’t refuse. The Royal Family is worried about the prince’s brother in law, who aims to make the Olympics. Unfortunately a jealous Russian rider has sworn to kill him if he sets one hoof in Moscow. So Randall leaves his thoroughbred horses and loving girlfriend to investigate. But what he finds is more than jealousy. It’s a terrifying track of sabotage and murder. And now that he knows, the killer is after him.
-
-
Excellent
- By karen on 05-07-24
By: Dick Francis
-
Silks
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- Length: 10 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
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Story
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.
-
-
Boring!
- By mrtoybox on 07-21-18
By: Dick Francis, and others
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Shattered
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- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
When jockey Martin Stukely dies after a fall at Cheltenham, he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape. Logan is a glassblower on the verge of widespread acclaim.
-
-
Narrator has flat, almost mechanical voice!
- By Jaegersmum on 05-21-14
By: Dick Francis
Good book, and well narrated
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Love a good Sid Halley story
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a great story
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Sid Halley returns
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By the way, the vaccination references in the book were part of maybe one paragraph describing issues with transplants. Science, not liberal conspiracy. Enjoy!
Comfort fare
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Love how this story develops into a serious topic involving horse racing and fixes. You’ll love the character s.
A truly real subject
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Great Story!
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Felix can hold his own in Dick Francis’s books
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Great plot, excellent writing.
Wonderful book!
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Francis tradition continues
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