The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
Even Money

Even Money

Summary

Discover the classic mystery from Dick Francis, one of the greatest thriller writers of all time

'Well-researched and expertly written, it is gripping from start to finish' 5***** Reader Review
'You really feel that you are involved with the plot and feel for the characters' 5***** Reader Review
______

On Royal Ascot's first day, bookmaker Ned Talbot watches helplessly as a string of favourites come in. With the punters totting up their winnings, he counts his losses.

Then an old man steps forward with a very different claim. The father Ned never knew - believed to have been killed in a car crash long ago - is standing before him.

Barely an hour later, Ned's newly-found father is dying in Ascot's car park. Stabbed by an unknown assailant, he warns Ned: 'be very careful'.

But of whom? Of what?

Ned races to discover the truth behind his father's disappearance and sudden reappearance. It's not just money on the line now. It's lives . . .

Packed with intrigue and hair-raising suspense, Even Money is just one of the many blockbuster thrillers from legendary crime writer Dick Francis.

Praise for Dick Francis:

'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror

'The narrative is brisk and gripping and the background researched with care . . . the entire story is a pleasure to relish' Scotsman

'Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph

'A regular winner . . . as smooth, swift and lean as ever' Sunday Express

'The master of suspense and intrigue' Country Life

'Francis writing at his best' Evening Standard

'Still the master' Racing Post

About the authors

Dick Francis

Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National. On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.

During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000.

Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.
Learn More

Felix Francis

Felix Francis studied Physics and Electronics at London University and then embarked upon a seventeen-year career teaching Advanced Level Physics.

Felix Francis is the younger son of crime writer and National Hunt jockey Dick Francis, and over the past forty years Felix assisted Dick with both the research and the writing of many of his novels. Felix's love of racing, writing talent, and knowledge and experience as a physics teacher was invaluable in the father-and-son writing partnership.

Felix has written ten 'Francis' novels, the first, Under Orders, published in 2006. Then followed Dead Heat, Silks, Even Money, Crossfire, Gamble, Bloodline, Refusal, Damage and Felix's tenth novel, Front Runner.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more