''Whip Hand'' is a

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Ca ...

novel by

Dick Francis Richard Stanley Francis (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010) was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer whose novels centre on horse racing in England. After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, wi ...

, the second novel in the

Sid Halley Sid Halley (John Sidney Halley) is a fictional character in four Dick Francis novels, ''Odds Against'', '' Whip Hand'', ''Come to Grief'', ''Under Orders'' and one follow-up book by Felix Francis, ''Refusal''. He is a former British jump racing Ch ...

series. The novel received the

Gold Dagger The Gold Dagger is an award given annually by the Crime Writers' Association of the United Kingdom since 1960 for the best crime novel of the year. From 1955 to 1959, the organization named their top honor as the Crossed Red Herring Award. From ...

Award for Best Novel of 1979, as well as the Edgar Award for Best Novel of 1980. ''Whip Hand'' is one of only two novels to have received both awards (the other being John le Carré's '' The Spy Who Came in from the Cold''). The cover of the first edition features actor

Mike Gwilym Mike Gwilym (born 5 March 1949) is a Welsh actor. Early life Born in Neath, Gwilym is the brother of actor Robert Gwilym, son of Arthur Aubrey Remington Gwilym and Renée Mathilde Eugénie Léonce Dupont. His parents were the proprietors of a ...

, who played Halley in the

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

adaptation '' The Dick Francis Thriller: The Racing Game'', in costume as Halley.

Plot

The protagonist Sid Halley is an ex-jockey turned detective who lost his left hand due to an earlier racing accident and subsequent beating by thugs. He is approached by Rosemary Caspar, a trainer's wife, to look into problems at her husband's racing stables. Horses which did extremely well as two-year-olds are unexpectedly failing as three-year-olds. In addition, Sid Halley's ex-father-in-law, Charles, asks Sid to try to find a man who has conned Sid's ex-wife Jenny and left her facing a possible jail sentence over a fake charity. Sid is also approached by both Lord Friarly, a racehorse owner and syndicate member, and Lucas Wainwright, the head of the security service at the Jockey Club, to look into certain syndicates and how they got through the Jockey Club's checking process.

Publication history

*1979, London: Michael Joseph , Pub date 8 October 1979, Hardback

References

* Jean Swanson and Dean James, ''The Dick Francis Companion'' USA: Berkley Publishing (2003) 1979 British novels Novels by Dick Francis Edgar Award-winning works Horse racing novels British sports novels British crime novels Michael Joseph books {{1970s-crime-novel-stub