The plot of this family-story-disguised-as-a-thriller turns on a thoroughbred called Golden Malt, the favorite to win the coveted King Alfred Gold Cup race. Is that what everyone is after?ĭick Francis is the author of 42 thrillers, mostly set in the world of horse racing.

It’s a tangible symbol of all that Al has tried to leave behind. The ‘hilt’ of the title is the solid gold, jewel-encrusted hilt of a ceremonial sword owned by none other than the would-be king of Scotland, Bonnie Prince Charlie himself. And the people he runs into are most uncivilized. An introvert to his core, he lives alone in a primitive bothy - without electricity or a telephone - where he spends his days painting canvases, playing the bagpipes, and wandering in the Highlands.īut when his stepfather is threatened with financial ruin - an assistant has absconded with the family brewery’s cash reserves - Al is forced back into society to bail out the family business. He died in February 2010, at age eighty-nine, and remains among the greatest thriller writers of all time.Our hero Alexander Kinloch, descended from Scottish nobility, wants nothing more than to be left alone to paint. After his retirement from the saddle in 1957, he published an autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write more than forty acclaimed books, including the New York Times bestsellers Even Money and Silks.Ī three-time Edgar Award winner, he also received the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger, was named Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List in 2000. He became one of the most successful postwar steeplechase jockeys, winning more than 350 races and riding for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother.

At the outbreak of World War II he joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot, flying fighter and bomber aircraft including the Spitfire and Lancaster. He was a young rider of distinction winning awards and trophies at horse shows throughout the United Kingdom. Reissue.īook Synopsis From the acclaimed master of mystery and suspense comes the story of a self-imposed outcast who must refresh his detection skills in order to save himself and his family.Ībout the Author Dick Francis (pictured with his son Felix Francis) was born in South Wales in 1920. About the Book From the acclaimed master of mystery and suspense comes the story of a self-imposed outcast who must refresh his detection skills in order to save himself and his family.

To the Hilt by Dick Francis