Audiobook Review: Straight by Dick Francis

Straight
Author: Dick Francis
Narrator: Simon Prebble
Publication: Recorded Books (April 19, 2022)
Length: 11 hours and 7 minutes

Description: “I inherited my brother’s life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother’s life, and it nearly killed me.”

Thirty-four-year-old Derek Franklin, recovering from a race injury and facing an uncertain future, is thrown into familial chaos when his older brother Greville dies from a bizarre, seemingly random accident.

Filled with regret over the brother he never really knew, Derek must take over Greville’s complex gemstone business, a business of which much seems to have been left unfinished.

With little more to go on than his brother’s expensive toys and a few vague diary entries, Derek becomes more and more convinced that his very straight brother was brought down by some very crooked men.

Dick Francis is a bestselling writer who mixes mystery with horse racing for satisfying, clean well-plotted whodunits.

My Thoughts: Steeplechase jockey Derek Franklin is newly recovering from a broken ankle as a result of a fall and being stepped on by a horse when he receives a call that his much older brother Greville has suffered an accident and isn't expected to live. He rushes to his brother's side and is there when he passes away. He reflects that he doesn't know much about his brother's life and doesn't know who to contact.

He finds his brother's gem business and struggles to make sense of it. It is especially hard when he learns that his brother has secretly bought diamonds for one of his major clients. Greville's staff insists that they don't deal in diamonds and the bank is looking for its repayment of the loan. Derek needs to get into the twisty mind of his brother who loved puzzles and misdirection in order to find the diamonds. 

He also learns that his brother was a magistrate in the process of a hearing to confirm or deny a person a license to race. One of his fellow magistrates insists that Greville had testimony essential to the hearing which he asks Derek to find. 

Derek faces all sorts of attacks from a mugging when he leaves the hospital after Greville's death to a couple of burglaries to a shooting on the road that kills the car's driver and causes a massive pile-up. 

Through it all, Derek is learning more about the brother that he barely knew and more about the people he dealt with. I really enjoyed this story about a man out of his depth but not in a situation beyond his abilities. 

I bought this one using an Audible Credit. You can buy your copy here.