Triple Crown

Bestseller Francis’s less than inspired third horse-racing mystery featuring Jefferson Hinkley (after 2015’s Front Runner) takes Jeff, who works for the Integrity Service of the British Horseracing Authority, across the pond to assist a colleague in the U.S. Tony Andretti, the deputy director of the American Federal Anti-corruption in Sport Agency, suspects that one of his racing investigators has been tipping off the bad guys. Jeff is intrigued by the assignment, which coincides with the lead-up to the Triple Crown, and soon finds ample reason to support Tony’s fears after an undercover operation goes fatally awry. In an effort to flush out the culprit, Jeff goes undercover in the stables of George Raworth, the trainer of the Kentucky Derby winner, Fire Point, who may have benefited from the sudden illness that eliminated some of the competition. The high stakes and American setting compensate only in part for a familiar story line and a lead who’s less rounded than a typical hero of a similarly themed Dick Francis novel. [em]Agent: Ed Wilson, Johnson & Alcock. (Oct.) [/em]