Felix Francis goes solo in Gamble after his father Dick Francis’s death. He has co authored four novels with the stalwart. Nicholas Foxton, aka Foxy, is a former steeplechase jockey. Former because he was injured seven years ago, breaking his neck, and the doctors insist that he ought to stay away from any equine related activity in the saddle.
Foxy is now a financial adviser, a job he has little interest in, but one he pursues with equal commitment. His calm existence is about to once again be jolted; on a day when all was well with the riding world, Nick and his friend – Herb Kovak (who is employed with the firm Lyall & Black, a financial advising firm) are waiting to witness the Grand National, when the most heinous crime unfolds right before Nick’s eyes. Herb is killed mercilessly - three shots fired at close range.
Nick is plunged into sorrow over his friend’s untimely and cruel death, he is also dragged unwittingly into the handling of Herb’s worldly life - becoming executor and sole heir and beneficiary of his late friend’s earthy estate, leaving Nick both touched and surprised. No hallowed place this, it is a cesspool of poor management and intriguing business deals.
Herb was an expat American. And like most of his countrymen, plastic was his weakness - he left his earthy abode neck deep in debt and meager savings. Sherri, Herb’s twin sister, lends Nick a helping hand, and they unravel an alternative source of income that kept her brother afloat - an income source that was cleverly not recorded in any of his financial statements or books. It seems to Foxy that Herb was involved in gambling activities over the Internet which sustained his lifestyle, leaving Nick wondering how the authorities hadn’t caught up with Herb for as long!
As he delves deeper into Herb’s moonlighting activities, he becomes the target of enemies of his late friend, who had him murdered in cold blood. There seems to be no one he can trust, and he is plunged into isolation, knowing full well that he has only his insight and experience to fall back on in hard times. A client of the firm, Bobby Searle meets Nick and in desperation demands that his financial portfolio be sold, so that he can pay off a debt of a hundred thousand pounds; when Foxton is unable to liquidate Bobby’s funds soon, Searle is almost killed in a hit and run accident.
Meanwhile, a client of Lyall & Black – Col. Roberts - has asked Nick to advise him with regard to a trust fund set up by his family for the Roberts Family Trust Hospital, in Bulgaria. The Colonel’s nephew claims that the hospital is a hoax - it does not even exist. The man had visited the site where the buildings were supposed to have been constructed - nothing has come up as yet. When Nick investigates further, he discovers discrepancies in the Trust, conveying this to Roberts, who dies thereafter under mysterious circumstances.
On the personal front, Nick’s girlfriend, Claudia, who is an artist of some repute, is suddenly cold and seems distant. His world in turmoil, Nick is trying hard to balance his work, personal life and the sorting of his late friend’s affairs. In typical Francis style, there are a number of red herrings liberally strewn over the place, and the hero Nick, is the quintessential Francis character - upright, integral and hardy. Felix has taken on Dick’s mantel with grace and smoothness, perhaps lacking his late father’s ringside insight into the world of steeple-chases and horses, but nevertheless, keeping the reader enthralled!
+-+Authored+by+Felix+Francis,+son+of+Dick+Francis.jpg "Gamble (published in 2011) - Authored by Felix Francis, son of Dick Francis")
Foxy is now a financial adviser, a job he has little interest in, but one he pursues with equal commitment. His calm existence is about to once again be jolted; on a day when all was well with the riding world, Nick and his friend – Herb Kovak (who is employed with the firm Lyall & Black, a financial advising firm) are waiting to witness the Grand National, when the most heinous crime unfolds right before Nick’s eyes. Herb is killed mercilessly - three shots fired at close range.
Nick is plunged into sorrow over his friend’s untimely and cruel death, he is also dragged unwittingly into the handling of Herb’s worldly life - becoming executor and sole heir and beneficiary of his late friend’s earthy estate, leaving Nick both touched and surprised. No hallowed place this, it is a cesspool of poor management and intriguing business deals.
Herb was an expat American. And like most of his countrymen, plastic was his weakness - he left his earthy abode neck deep in debt and meager savings. Sherri, Herb’s twin sister, lends Nick a helping hand, and they unravel an alternative source of income that kept her brother afloat - an income source that was cleverly not recorded in any of his financial statements or books. It seems to Foxy that Herb was involved in gambling activities over the Internet which sustained his lifestyle, leaving Nick wondering how the authorities hadn’t caught up with Herb for as long!
As he delves deeper into Herb’s moonlighting activities, he becomes the target of enemies of his late friend, who had him murdered in cold blood. There seems to be no one he can trust, and he is plunged into isolation, knowing full well that he has only his insight and experience to fall back on in hard times. A client of the firm, Bobby Searle meets Nick and in desperation demands that his financial portfolio be sold, so that he can pay off a debt of a hundred thousand pounds; when Foxton is unable to liquidate Bobby’s funds soon, Searle is almost killed in a hit and run accident.
Meanwhile, a client of Lyall & Black – Col. Roberts - has asked Nick to advise him with regard to a trust fund set up by his family for the Roberts Family Trust Hospital, in Bulgaria. The Colonel’s nephew claims that the hospital is a hoax - it does not even exist. The man had visited the site where the buildings were supposed to have been constructed - nothing has come up as yet. When Nick investigates further, he discovers discrepancies in the Trust, conveying this to Roberts, who dies thereafter under mysterious circumstances.
On the personal front, Nick’s girlfriend, Claudia, who is an artist of some repute, is suddenly cold and seems distant. His world in turmoil, Nick is trying hard to balance his work, personal life and the sorting of his late friend’s affairs. In typical Francis style, there are a number of red herrings liberally strewn over the place, and the hero Nick, is the quintessential Francis character - upright, integral and hardy. Felix has taken on Dick’s mantel with grace and smoothness, perhaps lacking his late father’s ringside insight into the world of steeple-chases and horses, but nevertheless, keeping the reader enthralled!
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