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Summary
Summary
After a six-year absence from the bestseller lists, Dick Francis roared out of the gate with 2006's Under Orders, demonstrating once again every ounce of his famed narrative drive, brilliant plotting, and simmering suspense. Hard on the heels of that triumph comes Dead Heat, set against the backdrop of Britain's famed Two Thousand Guineas Stakes. 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. Scrambling to meet his next obligation, an exclusive luncheon for forty in the glass-fronted private boxes at the Two Thousand Guineas, Max must overcome the previous evening's disaster and provide the new American sponsors of the year's first classic race with a day to remember. Then a bomb blast rips through the private boxes, killing some of Max's trusted staff as well as many of the guests. As survivors are rushed to the hospital, Max is left to survey the ruins of the grandstand-and of his career. Two close calls are too close for comfort, and Max vows to protect his name-and himself-before it's too late.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
MWA Grand Master Francis's first collaboration with his son Felix, a former physics teacher who researched many of his father's previous bestsellers, introduces an engaging hero, though longtime fans may find certain plot elements, like an unlikely love interest and sinister figures somehow connected with shady racetrack doings, less than fresh. The reputation of Max Moreton, a young wunderkind chef with a restaurant in Newmarket, England, suffers after guests at an affair he caters fall ill with food poisoning. This calamity nearly jeopardizes another job-feeding several dozen attendees at a major horse race. While that meal goes off without a hitch, a terrorist's bomb decimates the crowd at the track. Despite the official theory that an unpopular Middle Eastern ruler at the event was responsible, the chef wonders whether the bombing is related to the earlier food poisoning and turns amateur sleuth. Crisp writing and well-paced action help offset the routine plotting. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Legendary racing-mystery master Francis (Shattered, 2000, etc.) partners with son Felix to bring mayhem of many kinds to the Newmarket track. After a night he's spent huddled over his toilet sick as a dog, it's no consolation to restaurateur Max Moreton to learn that he hasn't been alone. Virtually everyone at the party at the Hay Net, his racing-themed restaurant, has become ill. Soon enough, longtime patrons begin to cancel their reservations; the Cambridge County Council seals his kitchen; and violist Caroline Aston, whose quartet had played at the party, announces her plans to sue him. By that time, however, Max already has bigger problems. A bomb planted in the stands at the 2,000 Guineas, a high-profile race run the day after the debacle at the Hay Net, has killed 19 and sent dozens more to the hospital. Are the two incidents connected, and if so, how? It doesn't take Max long to satisfy himself that his meal was sabotaged by the unboiled kidney beans someone introduced into a sauce that didn't call for them. But why would anyone seek to poison 250 diners the night before detonating a bomb? Working with Caroline Aston, who's morphed rapidly and improbably from legal antagonist to lover, Max focuses on the people who attended the party but not the race. Soon enough, some conscientious sleuthing and lucky breaks reveal an ingenious smuggling plot Max is determined to end--that is, if the powers arrayed against him don't succeed in killing him first by means of arson or a car crash or a polo mallet or another bomb. Clunky expository dialogue tells you more than you probably want to know about food preparation and concertizing. But the mystery is engaging, and durable Max is a worthy addition to Francis's gallery of racetrack detectives. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
After a silence of six years, Francis made a triumphant return last year, bringing back the ever-intriguing series hero Sid Halley in Under Orders. Now, Francis introduces a new hero, chef Max Moreton, who runs a thriving restaurant near the Newmarket racetrack. Moreton has a complex background; he's afraid of horses yet fascinated by the world of horse racing (his father was a steeplechase jockey and racehorse trainer). Francis is, as always, completely convincing when it comes to the track, but his efforts at depicting the challenges and delights of cooking seem labored and secondhand (his son, Felix, is credited with the research for this book). Unfortunately, the cookery details often seem pasted on and unnecessary. The action, however, is first-rate Francis. It centers on Moreton's travails as chef. First, food poisoning hits his guests and staff at a racing gala. The next day, a bomb shatters the grandstand box where Moreton has catered a lunch. And as Moreton struggles to decipher the cause of the food poisoning and whether it was connected to the bombing, he suffers the prospect of financial ruin and emotional trauma from the bombing. Then he discovers that someone is out to kill him. This mix of cooking and racetrack isn't close enough to horse racing to be completely satisfying Francis, but the action and the hero's struggles deliver a solid punch.--Fletcher, Connie Copyright 2007 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
There are no daredevil steeplechase races in DEAD HEAT (Putnam, $25.95), no close-ups of quivering horseflesh, no heroic jockey to vanquish those villains who would corrupt the sport of kings. Rather, this new novel by Dick Francis, written with his son Felix, focuses on the restaurant business, even to the point of tossing in some cooking tips. Max Moreton, the personable young master chef who narrates this thriller, may care less about the ponies than he does about pied de cochon; but his restaurant, the Hay Net, is located near Newmarket and is a favorite with the owners and trainers. His giddy success skids to a halt when guests at a black-tie dinner he catered for "250 of the great and the good of the racing world" come down with food poisoning. And there's worse to follow. The next day, a bomb goes off at the gala luncheon Max is serving in two of the glass-fronted boxes of the grandstand, for the American sponsors of the prestigious 2,000 Guineas stakes. "Carnage was not too strong a word" for the devastation, which the authors take care to render in vivid color. Aside from taking a detour to address the seemingly obligatory specter of Middle East terrorism (barely examined and quickly dispelled), the sure-footed plot closely follows the increasingly dangerous steps Max is forced to take to salvage his business, restore his reputation and unmask the architect of the bombing - all the while falling in chaste love with a nice English girl. Like other Francis heroes, Max is cool under pressure and a stoic about physical punishment. But for someone who isn't a jockey or a trainer, he also has a solid feel for the politics of the racing world; because he depends on the good will of this moneyed crowd, he knows as much about their business as he does about his own. So while it doesn't feature the Francis trademarks of high-strung horses in high-stakes races, "Dead Heat" doesn't abandon the sport as much as turn it inside out, so we can inspect one of the many small, labor-intensive businesses that operate behind the scenes in this rarefied and utterly exotic world. Scholars can be such cutups when they put their minds to it. Jennifer Lee Carrell, who holds degrees in English and literature from Harvard, Oxford and Stanford, really kicks up her heels in her first novel, INTERRED WITH THEIR BONES (Dutton, $25.95), a weighty piece of scholarship packed into a feverishly paced action adventure. The heroine of this brainy romp is Kate Stanley, an American authority on Shakespeare who has come to London to direct "Hamlet" at the reconstructed Globe Theater - which promptly burns down around her. That's only the first of many disasters that befall Kate once she accepts a murdered mentor's challenge to search for the manuscript of a lost Shakespeare play. And oh, while she's at it, could she kindly resolve the nagging question of the playwright's true identity? Carrell nimbly dramatizes various Shakespearean academic theories, cuckoo and otherwise, although the methods of operation she assigns to Kate are ludicrously facile, and her speculative resolution is sure to startle Bardolators of all persuasions. In fact, the most imaginative scholarship goes into Kate's pursuit of the lost play across the landscape of the American West, where Shakespeare was once popular with cowboys, miners and gamblers, and where the author's wild storytelling style finally clicks with the dashing Indiana Jones spirit of the adventure. Jeff Lindsay's bad boy is back in DEXTER IN THE DARK (Double-day, $23.95), and what a relief it is to find the amiable serial killer unspoiled by his success as the hero of the Showtime TV series he inspired. True, this heartless, soulless self-described "monster," who has made it his mission to stalk and kill other predators (but only those who "truly needed it"), doesn't personally commit much mayhem here. And the two homicidally inclined tykes he hopes to train after he marries their unsuspecting mother have barely gotten around to stringing up a neighbor's cat. There's good reason, though, for all this restraint. Dexter's animating force, the insane killer he holds within and has christened his "Dark Passenger," has fled in the face of a far more potent and evil force that's orchestrating the mischief of other killers in Miami. "What was Dexter without Darkness?" the paralyzed antihero laments. What indeed? After toying unmercifully with his pathetic psychopath, Lindsay takes relish in resolving Dexter's existential crisis in his own cruel, perversely funny way. Stanley Hastings, the hangdog hero of Parnell Hall's droll mystery series, is a private eye who would be more fulfilled teaching linguistics. It seems entirely appropriate, then, that in his latest outing, HITMAN (Pegasus Books, $24.95), Stanley is hired by an English teacher who wants to retire from his sideline profession as a contract killer. The shamus and his new client mix it up at their first meeting, at odds over whether "hit man" should be one word or two - and what distinguishes a sentence fragment from a phrase. The more important issue, yet to be addressed, is whether Stanley can see the weary killer safely into retirement. Fans of this offbeat series already know that the chances of Stanley's getting anything right are fairly slim. But the fun of having him around again, if just to ponder the modern-day failure of the Socratic method, is worth the agony of watching him trip over his own feet or lose yet another intellectual argument with his wife. "Hitman" is the kind of pithy, clever, modestly erudite mystery that was once a genre staple. It's nice to know somebody still has the knack. Dick Francis's new thriller, written with his son Felix, is narrated by the chef of a fancy Newmarket restaurant.
Library Journal Review
Max Moreton, chef and part owner of the Hay Net, an acclaimed restaurant in Newmarket, England, is suffering from what is apparently food poisoning. After an agonizing night, Max is alarmed when his assistant calls to say that he and several other staff members have suffered the same fate. When the Public Health Department seals the restaurant--owing to the poisoning of over 250 guests--Max fears his days as a top chef may be over, though he does have another big event to arrange. But someone has other plans for Max's Newmarket soiree--a bomb that blasts through the room--and Max will have to hone his investigative skills to discover what lies at the heart of these occurrences. As usual, Francis, joined for the first time by his son, keeps us all tuned in till the very last word. Martin Jarvis's excellent narration helps make this book another winner for Francis and his many fans. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [Books on Tape also has a version available: 9 CDs. unabridged. 10¾ hrs. 2007. ISBN 978-1-4159-4521-6. $90.--Ed.]--Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.