Geoffrey Mason is a defence barrister and, in his spare time, he is also an amateur jockey. Geoffrey loses his defence in a case for Julian Trent. Trent is found guilty on eight counts - four for causing actual bodily harm, three for inflicting grievous bodily harm and one for attempted murder. He is given a prison sentence of eight years. Within a very short time he is released from prison on appeal.
Riding as an amateur jockey Geoffrey shares the changing rooms with the professional jockeys and over time gets to know them. One jockey is found brutally murdered and Steve Mitchell, a rival jockey, is the prime suspect. Steve does not have, or will not give, an alibi for the time of the murder. He asks Geoffrey to provide his defence and continually claims he is innocent and is being set up.
Julian Trent makes contact with Geoffrey, he is very threatening and insists he must take on the defence for Steve Mitchell and he must lose the case. Although Geoffrey is quite scared and intimidated by Trent he wants to know why Steve Mitchell is being set up, who the real murderer is and why it is so important that Steve Mitchell be found guilty.
This is the first ever Dick Francis book I have read. I had heard of him and knew he was an ex-jockey who wrote books about horses and racing. This book was written jointly with his son Felix. I found this to be a very enjoyable story with an ending I had not expected.
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