Product Description
On the heels of Under Orders, “Francis once again proves himself a master. Wow.” (BOOKLIST)
Max Moreton is a rising culinary star—until his guests fall victim to severe food poisoning—and then a bomb blast rips through the luncheon he’s catering. Two close calls are too close for comfort, and Max vows to protect his name, and himself, before it’s too late.
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 Simmering along ( tertius3 )
This novel opens with a lovely long buildup, through poisonous and explosive meals, to the core mystery. Then it simmers for a very long time, while a sudden love interest pops up from several choices available to the busy chef, Max Moreton. Usually, a Francis novel is hard to put down, he leaves so few slow moments or pauses. This one lingers over the love interest--a lovely, profane musician--while the mysteries of who and, especially, why languish on a back burner. Things keep happening, but nobody gets visibly excited. Transparently artificial reasons keep the chef from going to the coppers with his very slowly growing suspicions or his continuing string of "accidents."
This is a true Francis-formula story, a satisfying snack with all the ingredients, but just not one of his (their) most exciting creations (it's now the Dick Francis Corporation). The writing never becomes fierce and the plot is stretched. We get a light introduction to catering and restaurant ownership, and tiny bits of the London classical musical scene. There's also a bit of polo and new finagling on the horse side. Unusually, the hero admits fear, and rockets between fear and anger, as if the story outline said, "sprinkle some in here, and here, and here," as nothing rises from the episodes for the longest time. Similarly, there is no cast of suspects for a long time, leaving the center hollow. There's even a pause for a Poirot-like session of explanation, usually entirely unnecessary in a Francis. Nevertheless, even a 3-star Francis story is better than the efforts of many other authors, so I truly look forward hopefully to the next.
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A New Beginning ( richardcoreno )
The incredible franchise that Dick Francis created from his mystery writing now has a co-entry with his son and manager, Felix Francis, as a collaborator.
In an oftentimes uneven plot that has a feel of a movie script, the story surrounds the travails of ace chef Max Moreton and the bizarre death of a customer while he was catering an event at the Newmarket Race Course. To add to Moreton's woes, an explosion in a section of the prime boxes at the race course - a Middle Eastern royal family had been scheduled to use the area - and lures him into discovering what may be an international web of equine crime that rambles across several continents.
There is a theme introduced by Dick Francis in Under Orders concerning the shameless depths some will stoop to risk the health of Thoroughbreds for profit, but the plot stalls when fists aren't flying. The final action scene brings so many characters together that it loses its punch as Moreton's life hangs in the balance.
This is setting a foundation for the franchise to continue into the future, but something is lost when someone else is filling in the spaces when using the sketches of Dick Francis. A new beginning, for sure, but the course is set for Grade III events and not entry into the prestigious Classics.
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 This still has the identifiable Francis touch ( professorneal )
I am surprised by the reviews here which claim this doesn't read like a Dick Francis novel. I haven't read all his later books, but I found the style still ehre, maybe aged and matured, but unmistakeable.The title, as usual, has about three possible applications. The race track application of course is his trademark, and the restaurant application is equally obvious. The third application comes in the later part of the story. The racetrack connection is peripheral in this, but no more so than in several of his previous mysteries. The food preparation background isn't new with him. The wry humor and coincidental happenings are ever present along with his brand of brutality, the tinges of sadness at the loss of a couple of characters. The brutality, the betrayal of trust are themes that of course are not his alone, but the flavor of those elements is still the Francis we know and love. The richness of background detail is still the Francis we know.One always picks up some unusual knowledge in his books and this one is no exception. I did feel that he did a somewhat better job of tying up even the smallest of threads at the end although I was slightly disappointed at on character not being mentioned at the end.In my case though, he certainly did not disappoint.
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 Food Poisoning & Bombs. Let's Pray Dick Francis is Here to Stay ( vestairene )
Max Morton is sick. He thinks it's food poisoning and he's not the only one affected, so he's worried, because last night he was the chef at a black tie dinner event. He's the youngest chef to receive the "Michelin Star" which is a true chiefly honor. He not only owns a popular restaurant in New Market, but he also operates his own catering business. So when an environmental health office shows up to investigate the poisoning, he's got cause for concern. The inspector does too, so she shuts down his restaurant, despite the fact that the food had not been prepared at his restaurant and that all of the leftovers are gone.
Fortunately Max still has his catering business. He's catering a function held in the viewing box at the 2000 Guineas horse race when a bomb goes off. Several people are killed, but luckily for Max, he suffers only minor injuries, however the woman who put on the event is badly injured and one of Max's staff does not survive the blast.
Despite this tragic event, Max still has to try and save his restaurant. He discovers kidney beans caused the poisoning. However there were no kidney beans on the menu, nor were they used in anything served that night, so how could they have been in the food? Now Max has to wonder if he'd been set up. He also begins to wonder if the bombing was somehow connected to the food poisoning. Was the food poisoning an attempt to keep someone away from the bombing, if so who? And who was the bomb intended for? These are just a few of the questions you'll be asking yourself as you page through this satisfying mystery.
I've long been a fan of Dick Francis and missed him dearly when he stopped writing. Then when he came back after so long off with Under Orders, I bought it straightaway. Now a year later we have this story. It's good to have Dick Francis back and I hope he and Felix have many more mystery thrillers in them.
Reviewed by Vesta Irene
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 Boring and Bland ( aaaaanne )
I'm really surprised at all of the good reviews for this book. Granted, I listened to it on the audio version (it was a gift; not a choice I would ordinarily make), but I thought the plot was fairly boring and the protagonist was unconvincing in both his investigative exploits as well as his romantic ones. In addition, the performer who did the audio version was badly miscast, I thought. He sounded really old. It was jarring, in that the main characters were supposedly in their early 30s. I would suggest re-reading some of the old Francis books rather than taking a stab at this one.
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