Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.life From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Thoroughbred style proves 'Driving Force' for mystery Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 17:03:26 EST Message-ID: \SE D;LIFE;THE READ \HD Thoroughbred style proves 'Driving Force' for mystery \BY Judith Kreiner \CR THE WASHINGTON TIMES Sooner or later Dick Francis is going to write a mystery from the viewpoint of the little guy who picks up his pitchfork and mucks out the horse's stall. It's just a matter of time as this gifted writer works his way through the convoluted world of racing horses and the people who make their lives around them. "Driving Force," Mr. Francis' latest, is a mystery set in a moving van. Ex-jockey Freddie Croft owns a fleet of trucks that move racehorses from stable to track and home again. Racehorses, whether they run on the flat or over hurdles, are remarkably fragile and frightfully valuable, and Freddie has an iron-clad dictum: no hitchhikers. So Freddie is none too pleased when one of his vans returns to the yard with a passenger, and a dead passenger at that. As the driver and his helper averred, they didn't know what else to do with him. They couldn't just dump him, could they? "So they'd brought him to my doorstep, like cats bringing home a dead bird." And a very troublesome dead bird he proves to be. He is dead of natural causes. On the other hand, Jogger, the trusted mechanic who inspected the van and discovered an odd hiding place, was not the kind to die of a misstep into a grease pit. And so it proves; he has been murdered. Could his death have something to do with the dark-clad uninvited visitor seen searching the truck late one night? Freddie had warned Jogger to keep quiet about his discovery, but Jogger liked his pint down at the local pub. And Jogger liked to talk. The odd receptacle added to the bodywork of the van could have held just about anything, and this van travels freely into France and back with its load of racehorses. If Freddie tells the police what's been found, he's likely to have his vans delayed for hours at border crossings as customs agents search for contraband. But he's too conscientious to ignore the situation. He goes instead to the racing authorities, who assign a secret agent. Think Honor Blackman. Think Diana Rigg. Think one of the most interesting women created by this author, who usually does a better job with horses. She's something of a mystery, a supremely attractive upper-class woman who nevertheless knows how to drive a horse van (she's been transporting her own show animals, you see) and who can show up for undercover work looking downright unremarkable. A convenient epidemic of flu has thinned the ranks so effectively that Freddie can slip her in as a ringer. Mr. Francis highlights the drama by describing the more mundane aspects of moving fragile, valuable and not very intelligent animals from one place to another in safety. The mystery develops as broodmares go to Gloucestershire, mares in season go to a stud in Surrey and steeplechasers go to Cheltenham. This trainer doesn't want that driver; that driver won't accept horses from this trainer. And so the headaches go. Then the computer goes down, or is sabotaged by a virus. With all this research, it's not surprising that Mr. Francis turns out only one book a year. His explanation of the virus makes the situation clear even to the most computer illiterate. And yes, the virus does play a role in solving the mystery. The odd containers did not hold drugs, they held rabbits, which are central to the plot. And you still won't guess the ending before Mr. Francis works it all out in print in this latest in a continuing series of successful gallops to the finish line. Judith Kreiner is deputy chief of the copy desk of The Washington Times. ***** DRIVING FORCE By Dick Francis Putnam's, $21.95, 320 pages This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM