Eavesdropper

by John; Macgregor Francome, James MacGregor

A trainer loses his licence; a jockey is warned off: all in a day's work for the senior steward of the Jockey Club. But when the blackmailing starts, when a most influential corpse is found in a horse box at Newbury races, a cloud of corruption, suspicion and violence threatens to overwhelm the National Hunt season.
James Thackeray, racing journalist, erratic tipster, amateur jockey, had every reason to turn detective. His career was in crisis; his private life was on the cusp—and he’d found the body. But it was only a matter of time before the villains found him. Saddling up for the Grand National might just be the last thing he ever did...

Genres: Mystery, Sports, Crime

309 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 14, 1993

Reviews

[John Frankham]

A pleasant-enough first crime novel by the brilliant champion jump jockey, John Francome (plus co-author). Same idea as Dick Francis' crime novels, based in the horse-racing world.

Rather perfunctory, with stock goodies and baddies, but a good page-turner with a decent denouement.

Best to read all the Dick Francis' first if this is your fancy. I expect Francome's subsequent efforts improved as he gained experience.

[Lisa Arnold]

Parts of this story were really good, others were just so convoluted they barely made sense. Also made it sound like everyone involved with horse racing is crooked and an amateur rider winning the grand national and having a professional jockey on tv watched by millions trying to hide his underhand doings such as putting a foot through the stirrups not to mention deliberately putting an opponent through a fence would mean automatic disqualification. I didnt know whether to laugh or cry.

[crucnhRATsuprme]

Enjoyed it. Still some parts very slow and a lot of focus on the horse racing world which i understand nothing of. And kind of obvious who was the murder half way through… Would i read again? no? would i recommend? no

[Helle]

Say ‘horse mystery’ and most people will probably think of Dick Francis. But don’t ignore John Francome; he’s serious competition.
Eavesdropper is his first attempt at fiction joined with James MacGregor. I think it is a good effort: it is a clever story with realistic main characters. I found it fast-paced, easy to read and knowledgeable when it comes to horses.

[Kathy KS]

John Francome's books are fun to read, especially when you have read all the Dick Francis tales. I discovered Francome when returning to the States from the UK and bought one of the paperbacks at the airport. I've been gradually reading through them all, since.

[Samantha Parker]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/7396822