Pun Salad

A Dick Francis protagonist is known for resourcefulness, bravery, and the ability to handle a good deal of physical punishment. In Longshot the hero is even more of a rock-solid character than usual. John Kendall is a (temporarily) impoverished writer, waiting for the royalties for his first novel to come in. The cold London winter is tough when you don't have enough money for heat; even if you are, as John is, somewhat of a survival expert, having written a number of popular guides for people in dire straits. (Kind of like the recent "Worst-Case Scenario" series.) Against the better judgment of everyone, he wangles a gig to write a biography of a larger-than-life horse trainer, Tremayne Vickers.

Pretty soon John is enmeshed in the details, some sordid, of Vickers' extended family and his employees. He's asked to step up to the hero plate almost immediately, as the car transporting him to the Vickers estate crashes into a water-filled ditch; John, of course, saves everyone.

As John arrives, it's in the midst of a manslaughter trial: one of Vickers' jockeys is accused of the wrongful strangulation death of a young girl at a party. Shortly afterward, another young girl is found in a remote stretch of woods, also strangled. Almost against his will, John is caught up in the investigation, and it turns out that the murderer is willing to keep killing to cover up his tracks.