Shattered, by Dick Francis. (Michael Joseph, £16.99)
DICK Francis, best-selling author and ex-champion Royal jockey, had always promised the Queen Mother a novel for her centenary year.
True to his word, the master of crime has produced another gripping thriller.
Again, there is the intricately constructed plot, plenty of colourful characters (some with less than savoury habits), and enough twists and turns to give that final sting in the tail an extra tingle.
When jockey Martin Stukely dies following a fall at Cheltenham Races he accidentally embroils his friend Gerard Logan in a perilous search for a stolen videotape.
Logan is a glass-blower on the verge of widespread acclaim for the originality and ingenuity of his work. He suddenly finds himself facing terrifying threats to his livelihood, his courage and, finally, his life.
To survive he must find that videotape - before a gang of vicious criminals do.
This is another unerring classic from the pen of the Queen Mother's favourite crime writer, one that continues the author's enviable record of at least one best-selling novel a year since 1962.
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