Whip Hand is a mystery novel by Dick Francis, which won the Edgar Award, the most prestigious award for mysteries. It is the second novel featuring Sid Halley, a former champion steeplechase jockey who lost his left hand after a horse fell on him during a race. Unable to race, and fitted with a prosthetic hand, Sid has become a private detective along with his partner in the agency, Chico Barnes. He investigates cases involving England’s horse racing world. This is a world that Francis, as a former jockey, knew extremely well. Whip Hand is the first Dick Francis novel that I’ve read, but I am sure it won’t be my last. It’s a wonderful novel, actually more a thriller than a mystery.
Most of Francis’ novels were not part of a series, and not many of his characters appeared in more than one book. Sid Halley is an exception. In fact, he’s the only one of Francis’ characters who appeared in more than two novels. I am sure he is somewhat of an autobiographical character, since Francis himself was forced to retire from racing at a young age, after a dramatic fall during a race, and he had some serious injuries, but nothing as horrible as losing a hand.
Sid Halley came from the back streets of Liverpool and lived a very hard life until he became a jockey. Whip Hand doesn’t give us all the details, and I haven’t read the previous Sid Halley novel, Odds Against, so I don’t know if we learned more in that book, but Whip Hand tells first-time readers of the series just enough to be intrigued, and to want to learn more about Sid’s background. Sid had been married to Jenny Roland, the daughter of a retired admiral, and had been very happy at first, but Jenny wanted him to give up racing, and he wouldn’t. The marriage broke up and the couple divorced, but Sid is still on good terms with his father-in-law, Charles Roland.
At the beginning of the novel, Rosemary Caspar, the wife of a trainer for whom Sid had ridden in the past, goes in disguise to visit Sid and asks him to investigate what’s happening to three of her husband’s horses. They were champions as two-year-olds but have inexplicably failed as three-year-olds and have developed heart murmurs, even though drug tests have been unable to come up with anything wrong. One horse has died recently, and Rosemary is worried about the other two. She is convinced someone tampered with the horses. A fourth horse is about to run in one of England’s most prestigious races, and Rosemary is convinced that whoever harmed the other horses will hurt this one before the race. Sid agrees to find out what happened, and to protect the horse that’s about to race. Rosemary insists, however, that her husband should never find out about the investigation, which limits what Sid can do.
Sid’s father-in-law Charles approaches him for an unrelated investigation. After the divorce, Jenny became involved with Nicholas Ashe, a young man who turned out to be a con artist. Ashe led Jenny into a fraudulent investment scam involving a fake charity, and has vanished, leaving Jenny to take the blame. Charles wants Sid to find Ashe before Jenny goes to jail for fraud, and Sid agrees to help. It is obvious that Sid still has feelings for Jenny, even though she has moved on and he has tried to. He spends a night with Jenny’s roommate Louise, but it does not seem to be the beginning of anything lasting.
Jenny is quite an unsympathetic character, and I never hoped that she and Sid would get back together. She never expresses any sympathy for Sid over the loss of his hand, only telling him that, if she’d listened to him and stopped racing, he’d still have his hand. Her father is much more likeable, and I think his continuing friendship with Sid is one of the best parts of the novel. Interestingly, even though Sid is something of an autobiographical character, his relationship with Jenny is nothing like Francis’ own marriage, which I have heard was very happy. In fact, his wife was a close collaborator on his novels. Sources differ about the extent of her contribution, but certainly they worked together on the books.
In a third case, Sid is asked separately by Lord Friarly, an aristocratic horse owner, and Lucas Wainwright, head of security for the Jockey Club, the most powerful establishment in England’s horse racing world, to investigate possible illegal activities of syndicates that have been set up in Lord Friarly’s name. Sid, accompanied by his detective partner Chico Barnes, uncovers evidence of corruption in high places.
I would say that Whip Hand is a thriller rather than a mystery. We learn the identity of at least one of the villains early on, and, in a horrifying scene, the villain and his hired bullies threaten Sid’s right hand if he doesn’t drop the investigation. Sid is full of fear and self-doubt ever since he lost his left hand, and this is one thing that makes him such an interesting, complex character. Several times, he thinks about giving up the investigating business and starting a “safe” job, but Chico encourages him to go on. Chico is a very likeable character. His cheerful attitude to life is a great contrast to Sid’s tendency to brood. Sid, of course, goes on with the investigation. The question is not so much who committed the crimes, but how it was done, and if Sid will survive with his right hand intact.
I will not give away how the crimes were committed, but I will say that the method, once it’s explained, makes for fascinating reading. Whip Hand is very well written and suspenseful, with at least one turn that I never saw coming. Francis provides excellent insight into the horse racing world, including its corruption and the abuse of horses. One of the best scenes in the book, though, doesn’t involve horse racing at all. Sid escapes from another pair of hired bullies, besides the ones who threatened his right hand, by going for a ride in a hot-air balloon with a daredevil balloonist who flies higher than he’s supposed to. I also loved a scene that isn’t central to the plot, where Sid gets on a horse again, and you can see how much he still loves to ride, and how he feels at one with the horse, even though he can no longer ride competitively.
I highly recommend this novel, and I would like to read more of Francis’ novels, especially the ones about Sid Halley. After Francis’ death in 2010, his son Felix continued the series, writing at least two more Sid Halley books. If you haven’t read one of Francis’ books before, as I hadn’t, this is certainly a good place to start. I have read that some of his books contain graphic violence and detailed descriptions of injuries. This one does not, at least the way I see it. There are a lot of descriptions of how Sid’s prosthetic hand works, but the violence is more threatened than actual, except in one scene where Sid and Chico get beaten up, and even that is not described in a terribly graphic way. Sid does have to show his injuries to the Jockey Club leaders, but even there, more is left to the imagination than is actually shown. This is an excellent novel, deserving of the award that it won.
Whip Hand is available from the Hatcher Graduate Library. Please be aware that, even though the record in Library Search calls it "Children's Literature," it is not for children, even though I'm sure older teens would enjoy it.