Francis gallops back in championship fashion

IN addition to the sinister-smart whodunit at the heart of Dick Francis’ new novel, “Under Orders,” there is another mystery worth perusing. Six years ago, after the author’s wife and acknowledged collaborator, Mary, passed away, he stated that “Shattered,” his 38th thriller in that many years, would be his last. He explained his change of mind in a recent interview in USA Today: “[M]y family has talked me back into the literary saddle.”

What isn’t explained is how, after a few less-than-wonderful “final” books and after being away from the game for several years, Francis has returned in such prize-winning form. “Under Orders” is as cleanly crafted, cleverly twisted and totally satisfying as the racetrack-based tales that he penned in his prime. It includes most, if not all, of the Francis touches that fans have come to expect, beginning with an opening calculated to intrigue: “Sadly, death at the races is not uncommon. However, three in a single afternoon was sufficiently unusual to raise more than an eyebrow.”

Two of the fatalities are due to natural causes -- massive heart attacks suffered by a punter in the stands and a legendary horse on its way to the winner’s circle. The third death is the result of multiple bullets entering the chest of a jockey. Expressing a bit more cynicism than usual, the author has his narrator note that, of the three, the crowd’s sympathy was clearly with the animal.

About that narrator: Possibly to facilitate his return to form, Francis has called upon his most reliable and popular protagonist, Sid Halley, a character with a fully developed history. When first met in “Odds Against” (1965), the remarkably resilient hero was in hospital, barely recovering from a gunshot wound suffered as a novice private investigator. His no-less-dangerous previous occupation, steeplechase jockey, resulted in his left hand getting crushed under a horse’s hoof. Before the novel’s end, he’d lost not only his wife but also that battered hand and wrist (courtesy of a sadistic villain).

Halley returned in “Whip Hand” (1970), sporting a bionic limb, only to confront another sadist who beat him with a chain and threatened to destroy his other hand. In “Come to Grief” (1995), one more wrongo set his sights on removing Halley’s good hand.

What these books displayed, along with their protagonist’s durability, was his imperviousness to bodily harm. Recognizing this, and possibly intending to shift things around a bit, Francis has his latest forces of darkness attempt to stop Halley’s snooping by brutalizing his fiancee, a brainy Dutch beauty named Marina. Violence has long been part of the Francis suspense package, but here it occurs with almost jarring abruptness. When, after several witty and romantic sequences with Halley, Marina is discovered, beaten and bleeding, the effect is the same as if Nora Charles had been suddenly mugged while exiting the Astor bar.

Along with the unexpected, Francis makes good use of such familiar topics as family dysfunction, unbridled (and some bridled) greed, overworked coppers, sensational journalism and the arrogance of powerful men. There are, of course, his patented insider notes on the racing game, including a method of illegally altering a horse without leaving a chemical trace. The action is salted with bits of British lore: “Everything in the Lords’ end of the Palace of Westminster was red. The commoners’ end was green.”

And Francis seems pleased to show he’s as au courant as any freshman crime writer by providing fascinating peeks into such diverse contemporary activities as cutting-edge cancer research and Internet betting, not to mention a brief discourse on filching confidential purchase records from the Jimmy Choo boutique in New Bond Street.

But the sheer reading joy of “Under Orders” comes from the old master’s championship storytelling. Right from the jump he grabs our attention with Halley digging into the jockey’s murder. And we remain enthralled as detection, romance, male and female bonding, danger and an achingly suspenseful finale add up to one of this year’s most entertaining mysteries.

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Dick Lochte is the author of the Nero Wolfe award-winning “Sleeping Dog” and the forthcoming novel “Croaked!”