Edgar Award Winning Novel: Come To Grief
Friday, July 6, 2007 by Bellezza
I've never read anything by Dick Francis before even though he's a well known mystery writer. I suppose the picture of a horse, on almost all of his covers, was a major deterrent. I am not a horse lover, although I do love good mysteries.This book was very well written: beautiful British phrases, intricately woven details of the plot, fine character development. But the premise, discovering the person who was cutting off colts' feet and why, was less than exciting to me. I'm still not quite sure why it won an Edgar Award, even though I did admire the ex-jockey turned investigator (Sid Halley) very much as our hero.
Overall, I finished the book with the same opinion in which I had begun it; Dick Francis is a mystery writer for horse lovers, not me.
I've always wondered about his books. I'll probably wait awhile before trying one.
Thanks for the review.
I read that book in the spring and didn't think much of it either. I blogged about it here. I agree with your question about winning the Edgar. Why _did_ it win?
Reviewedbyliz.blogspot.com said I should definitely not start with this one. But, as I received her comment when I was halfway through, I went ahead. She recommended starting with "Enquiry" which is where Sid Halley (jockey/detective) is introduced. I'm not saying it was a bad book, by any means, only that it seems particularly for people who enjoy horses.