Dick Francis' first novel: featuring Alan York, an amateur steeplechase jockey. A friend of his is killed by an "accident" that was most certainly engineered. But when he talked the police into investigating, the evidence was gone, and the police start asking him leading questions! Next he is beaten up and told to lay off the investigation. They thought they were anonymous, but Alan recognized them, and this only increases his resolve to push on. But he is chasing after an organized and dangerous group, and Alan winds up being the subject of a manhunt across the Sussex countryside. For a first novel, this is remarkably well done. Small wonder that Dick Francis became such a success.