Shattered

From AudioFile This novel, published shortly before Dick Francis announced his retirement, is a winner for both Francis and narrator Martin Jarvis. In it, a day at the track turns dangerous for glassblower Gerard Logan when his jockey friend dies from a fall, leaving Logan a mysterious videotape reputedly "worth millions." In his reading of the first-person tale, Jarvis expertly conveys a range of emotions--from fear and anger over a series of attacks to the pure joy of a job well done in the glassworks. Character voices, although less important here, are also handled well. Jarvis keeps the story moving briskly as he builds toward the tense final confrontation. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine Product Description The accidental death of jockey Martin Stukely implicates his friend Gerard Logan, a glassblower, in a dangerous search for a missing videotape. From Library Journal Gerard Logan is given a package containing an unlabeled videotape left to him by his friend, the late Martin Stukely, a renowned jockey who had just been killed by a fall during a trophy race at Cheltenham Races. However, before Logan can see what's on the tape, it's stolen. He thinks it was just taken when his shop was robbed, as the shop's cash was gone, too. When he finds that Stukely's house has been burglarized and every videotape there missing, he begins to wonder what was on this mysterious video. But, as the attacks on Logan continue and accelerate in violence, it looks like the only way to save himself is to find the lost tape. Excellently read by Martin Jarvis, Shattered is an entertaining mystery from start to finish, the kind of story we've come to expect from the three-time Edgar Award-winning Francis. Sure to be popular with mystery fans; highly recommended for all public libraries. Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. About the Author Dick Francis (pictured with his son Felix Francis) was born in South Wales in 1920. He was a young rider of distinction winning awards and trophies at horse shows throughout the United Kingdom. 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 became one of the most successful postwar steeplechase jockeys, winning more than 350 races and riding for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. 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.A 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 died in February 2010, at age eighty-nine, and remains among the greatest thriller writers of all time.