Proof (Paperback, New edition)

Booze, not horse-racing, is the primary focus of Francis' latest suspense tale - which, like several of his recent efforts, is rather skimpy on mystery, rather heavy on talk and violence. The novel opens, in fact, with a compelling (but almost entirely irrelevant) disaster scene: a big party at the home of horse-trainer Jack Hawthorn becomes a bloody tragedy when a heavy horse-trailer rolls down a hill and crashes into the party-tent - killing eight, wounding many more. Among the dead: a rather shady winebar-owner named Larry Trent. Among the survivors: wine-merchant Tony Beach, grieving young widower and narrator-hero. And soon Tony is helping the police (and a private-eye chum) to investigate the reported appearance - in local bars and restaurants - of low-price spirits in high-price bottles. Could this rebottling scare be connected to the theft of trailer-fuls of gardenvariety scotch? (That's the private-eye's case.) And what about the gruesome murder - head-wrapping with plaster - of the wine-steward at the late Larry Trent's bar? Or a violent attack on amateur sleuth Tony at his shop? Well, the sleuthing is fairly routine here, largely consisting of following each clue until the bad-guys appear and rough up the good-guys. But the action scenes themselves have most of Francis' visceral zip; the wine-info, though rather too chattily dispensed, covers a lot of diverting ground (label-forging, the perils of wine-tasting, the economics of catering); and Tony, if a bit soppy in his laments for dead wife Emma, develops several genuinely endearing relationships here (none of them romantic) - which helps to make this lesser Francis very likable. . . if not very gripping. (Kirkus Reviews)

Wine merchant Tony Beach is present at the annual party celebrating the success of the racing season when a runaway horsebox ploughs into the marquee. Witness to the terrible death and destruction Tony believes it is a terrible accident until he becomes involved in the investigation.

General

Imprint:	Pan Books
Country of origin:	United Kingdom
Release date:	1980
Authors:	Dick Francis
Dimensions:	178 x 120 x 26mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Mass Market
Pages:	405
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-330-29069-2
Categories:	Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Crime & mystery > General Promotions
LSN:	0-330-29069-X
Barcode:	9780330290692

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