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Whip Hand
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Series: A Dick Francis Novel, Book 2
- Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins
- Categories: Mystery, Thriller & Suspense, Mystery
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Odds Against
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Amazing what bodily injury could do for a man. A fall from a racehorse had left brilliant jockey Sid Halley dangerously depressed, with a wrecked hand and the need for a new career. And now a bullet wound was helping him find one. He'd been with a detective agency since his racing accident, but it wasn't until some two-bit hoodlum drilled a slug into his side that he was sent out on a case of his own. That was where he met Zanna Martin, a woman who just might make life worth living again.
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Great book!
- By mcgr on 2019-04-04
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Come to Grief
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Sid Halley, the ex-champion jockey turned investigator who appears in Odds Against and Whip Hand, is back and facing new dilemmas and dangers. The opening finds him having uncovered an obnoxious crime committed by a friend whom he, and everyone else, has held in affection bordering on love.
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Break In
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
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Family ties mean trouble, but when jockey Kit Fielding comes to the aid of his twin sister and her husband, Bobby Allardeck, even death threatens. Putting behind him an age old feud, Kit tries to find out who is behind a vicious newspaper campaign which is jeopardising Bobby's career as a racehorse trainer. Combining his investigations with riding winners he makes some startling discoveries.
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Under Orders
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Abridged
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It's the third death that really troubles former champion jump-jockey Sid Halley. He 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 Huw Walker, the new winner of the Triumph Hurdle and Halley's friend. Now former friend. Walker was riding one of Lord Enstone's horses in the Hurdle and it was the inimitable owner who invited Halley in the first place.
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Comeback
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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Peter Darwin was hoping for some quiet leave from the Foreign Office. Instead he found himself in the village of his childhood, at the service of a veterinary surgeon whose operating theater was rapidly acquiring an unwanted reputation as an abattoir. The sudden unexplained death of a string of valuable racehorses from one small area in Gloucestershire was a mystery the police couldn't solve. But Darwin was local. He remembered people and what was at stake. And now he knew enough to get himself killed.
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Bonecrack
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Violence suddenly takes the lead in the life of Neil Griffon. Following a grisly accident that lands his father in the hospital, Griffon finds himself in charge of his father's stables. Before he has a chance to get his bearings, he is brutally assaulted and abducted. The price for his freedom will mean the betrayal and deception of those who trust Griffon most.
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Odds Against
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 8 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Amazing what bodily injury could do for a man. A fall from a racehorse had left brilliant jockey Sid Halley dangerously depressed, with a wrecked hand and the need for a new career. And now a bullet wound was helping him find one. He'd been with a detective agency since his racing accident, but it wasn't until some two-bit hoodlum drilled a slug into his side that he was sent out on a case of his own. That was where he met Zanna Martin, a woman who just might make life worth living again.
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-
Great book!
- By mcgr on 2019-04-04
-
Come to Grief
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sid Halley, the ex-champion jockey turned investigator who appears in Odds Against and Whip Hand, is back and facing new dilemmas and dangers. The opening finds him having uncovered an obnoxious crime committed by a friend whom he, and everyone else, has held in affection bordering on love.
-
Break In
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 9 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Family ties mean trouble, but when jockey Kit Fielding comes to the aid of his twin sister and her husband, Bobby Allardeck, even death threatens. Putting behind him an age old feud, Kit tries to find out who is behind a vicious newspaper campaign which is jeopardising Bobby's career as a racehorse trainer. Combining his investigations with riding winners he makes some startling discoveries.
-
Under Orders
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Martin Jarvis
- Length: 3 hrs and 37 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's the third death that really troubles former champion jump-jockey Sid Halley. He 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 Huw Walker, the new winner of the Triumph Hurdle and Halley's friend. Now former friend. Walker was riding one of Lord Enstone's horses in the Hurdle and it was the inimitable owner who invited Halley in the first place.
-
Comeback
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Peter Darwin was hoping for some quiet leave from the Foreign Office. Instead he found himself in the village of his childhood, at the service of a veterinary surgeon whose operating theater was rapidly acquiring an unwanted reputation as an abattoir. The sudden unexplained death of a string of valuable racehorses from one small area in Gloucestershire was a mystery the police couldn't solve. But Darwin was local. He remembered people and what was at stake. And now he knew enough to get himself killed.
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Bonecrack
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 6 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
-
Story
Violence suddenly takes the lead in the life of Neil Griffon. Following a grisly accident that lands his father in the hospital, Griffon finds himself in charge of his father's stables. Before he has a chance to get his bearings, he is brutally assaulted and abducted. The price for his freedom will mean the betrayal and deception of those who trust Griffon most.
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Forfeit
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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James Tyrone was the troubleshooting gracing correspondent of the Sunday Blaze, a newspaper dedicated to exposing scandals in the noisiest (and most profitable) way. Ty was accustomed to hot water, but from the day a Fleet Street colleague died after giving him some serious advice, he found himself wading deep into more danger than he expected. What he thought to be the fairly routine uncovering of a minor racing fraud turned into a major hunt involving ruthless international crime.
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Not that great
- By mcgr on 2020-05-15
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Risk
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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When he wakes in a pitch-black room with his hands bound, Roland Britten – accountant and champion steeplechase jockey – knows he’s entered a nightmare of someone else’s making. Wracking his brain to figure out who’s out to get him and why, he comes up empty, but somehow manages a death-defying escape. It isn’t long, though, before he’s recaptured.
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Longshot
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 11 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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John Kendall knows how to survive. He's written six handbooks on the subject. Now he wants to become a novelist, preferably without starving to death. But when cold and hunger set in, Kendall impulsively accepts an unlikely job. He is to research and write a biography of Tremayne Vickers, a famous racehorse trainer. Staying at Vickers' home in rural Berkshire, Kendall soon learns to like his host and friends, learns to ride racehorses, learns about murderers ...
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Good!
- By mcgr on 2020-04-15
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Damage
- Written by: Felix Francis
- Narrated by: Michael Nielson
- Length: 10 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Story
Jeff Hinkley, undercover investigator for the British Horseracing Authority, is looking into the shady activities of a racehorse trainer. But as he's tailing his quarry through the Cheltenham Racing Festival, the last thing he expects to witness is a gruesome murder. Could it have something to do with the reason the trainer was banned in the first place – the administration of illegal drugs to his horses? Days later, many more horses test positive for prohibited stimulants.
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Second Wind
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Perry Stuart is a TV meteorologist who routinely works before the cameras. His life calm and ordered, his face familiar to every British household, Stuart's profound weather knowledge and accuracy have given him high status among forecasters, but no physical baptism by storm. Not, that is, until a fellow forecaster offers him a Caribbean hurricane-chasing ride in a small aeroplane.
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Hot Money
- Written by: Dick Francis
- Narrated by: Tony Britton
- Length: 10 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Malcolm Pembroke never expected to make a million pounds without making enemies. Nor did he expect his latest wife to be brutally murdered. All the clues suggest the killer comes from close to home, but after five marriages and nine children, that still leaves the field wide open. When he find his own life in danger, Pembroke entrusts his safety to his estranged son, Ian, an amateur jockey; and through him discovers a compulsive new outlet for his financial expertise.
Publisher's Summary
Sid Halley had one good hand and another made of metal. Five hundred pounds of horse had landed on him, directly ending his career as a brilliant jockey - and indirectly ending his marriage to the woman he loved.
He had become a private investigator, quite a good one, though his new life could never erase the haunting memories of his past glories. But it was only when the wife of one of England's top trainers came to beg his help in preventing some foul play at the track that Sid Halley began to know what being haunted really was.
What listeners say about Whip Hand
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Dennis
- 2010-02-21
Well written, very British
Having just finished this book I still feel the melancholy with which it was written. The book is a good piece of literature, I want to say that up front so as to not dissuade someone from listening to it. The dialog is good and Francis has a skill at turning a phrase, the story moves along well and is entertaining. Loss and melancholy are such a part of this story though that as the end unfolds you wish for some extra heroics, a chance to cheer for the underdog, but alas, it ends with the same vibe it carries all along, a bit of sadness, a bit of victory. I will read another Francis story sometime, I am glad I read this one, but not right now.
3 people found this helpful
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- K. Danielson
- 2011-10-06
Read this one Second
If you like one Dick Francis mystery, you will probably like them all (if you get a good reader - which is usually the case fortunately). He wrote four mysteries featuring ex-jockey Sid Halley: Odds Against (1965); Whip Hand (1979); Come to Grief (1995); and Under Orders (2006). Even though the books span 40 years, the elapsed time within/between all the stories is about 3 or 4 years. Technology advances with the times from book to book and we aren't supposed to notice that as readers. After all, it's really the mysteries and Francis' quality writing that we're here for, isn't it?
1 person found this helpful
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- Bibliopa
- 2016-10-11
Dick Francos Strikes Again!
I loved reading these books and the addition of Tony Britton makes them even better. I highly recommend to anyone who likes a great British mystery.
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- Cindy
- 2012-09-04
Another Sid Halley Success
Would you listen to Whip Hand again? Why?
Ive read it twice, it was wonderful to listen to it! Absolutely would listen to it agai
Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?
Yes!
What about Tony Britton’s performance did you like?
Brilliant narrator, however at times the audio fades in and out a bit and appears that the narrator changes
If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?
Mmmmm. No idea not my strong suit
Any additional comments?
Wished they would write another Sid Halley! I've read them all and just love them all. My absolute best of Dick Francis
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- Kimberly
- 2012-06-04
My favorite Dick Francis
Dick Francis wrote 4 novels featuring Sid Halley as the protagonist, and this is my favorite. The thing I like best about him is that there is that deep conflict between what he was as a jockey, and what he has become as an investigator. There is the love/anger feeling he feels toward his ex-wife. The character goes deeper than the usual mystery/suspense. Okay, the character is himself through all the novels, but it's his reaction or growth that grabs you.
As far as the plot, I enjoyed this one because it was smooth, in spite of some peripheral characters that don't seem to fit, but end up fitting very well.
Tony Britton is a wonderful narrator. The listener can hear the difference in class of each character, as well as how he/she relates to the world (hard, timid, brave, etc). Definitely give this Dick Francis a listen.
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- David
- 2012-04-04
galloping good yarn
Great story as you would expect from Dick Francis. Very clever narration, Tony has a very listenable voice. Having some connection with the race horse industry the story rings true and keeps you on the edge of your seat right from the start.
I listen in the car while driving and I found myself continuing to listen long after I arrived at my destination. Strongly recommended.
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- Rosemary
- 2011-10-10
Another Dick Francis Classic
Another Dick Francis Classic. Great with a fast moving engaging plot, a page turner,a great companion for anyone.