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    Proof
    Proof
    Proof
    Audiobook9 hours

    Proof

    Written by Dick Francis

    Narrated by Simon Prebble

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Incomparable New York Times bestselling author Dick Francis offers a compelling tale of fine living, fast horses, and shattering suspense …

    Wine merchant Tony Beach has expertly catered his latest society soiree, but the fun’s over when a team of hit men crash the party … literally. The event leaves Tony with a bitter aftertaste of suspicion—and sets off a mystery that’s an intoxicating blend of deception, intrigue, and murder.

    “[A] stunning climax … It’s a corker.”—Publishers Weekly
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateMay 6, 2011
    ISBN9781461810414
    Proof

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    Reviews for Proof

    4/5

    322 ratings18 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Francis at his best, turning the Everyman into a hero in a plot that twists and turns and speeds along to a most satisfactory ending.
    • 4/5
      Book DescriptionYoung wine merchant Tony Beach's exposure of a liquor scam sparks a brutal murder and forces the corruption in the liquor industry to spread into the realm of thoroughbred horse racing.My Review:This was my first Dick Francis book. I enjoyed learning about the different methods of making scotch. His characters were very interesting. I liked Tony and Gerard with their investigative skills and the crazy lady who shot her rifle up the chimney in order to clear the bird's nest was very humorous. I thought Francis' writing style was easy to read. My only complaint is that Dick Francis left a few things hanging in regards to the incident in the beginning of the book. Who really let the horse trailer go into the tent and why? I look forward to reading another of his books and I would recommend this book to those who love cozy mysteries about horse racing and making and distributing alcohol.
    • 5/5
      Tony Beach is a 32-uear-old widower who is a wine merchant with an in with the horsey crowd because his father was a famous amateur jockey and his mother rides in the local hunt. Because of his connections, he's hired to supply the liquor for a party hosted by one of the local trainers. He sees a horrible accident when a loaded horse trailer rumbles down a hill and crashes into the outdoor tent where the party is being held. He and some of the other guests do their best to rescue many trapped in the collapsed tent. Even so, the guest of honor, a sheik, some of his entourage, one of the trainer's best customers Larry Trent, and a few other people die in the accident.The trainer breaks a leg, and his secretary is also severely injured, but not before he has a conversation with Tony about some whiskey he had at the Trent's supper club. He is convinced that the whiskey wasn't what the bottle's label says it was. This conversation makes its way through the trainer's wife to Gerrard McGregor who helped Tony free people during the accident and who works for an investigative agency.Gerrard recruits Tony to be his expert for his current case which concerns the theft of trucks filled with whiskey, Gerrard's company has been hired to find out how the thefts are happening because the company won't be able to stay in business if the thefts continue. Meanwhile, the local police also need Tony's expertise because they have numerous complaints about alcohol being sold in local pubs that isn't what it is supposed to be. Trent's supper club is on the list and Tony quickly identifies that the whiskey and some of the wines are being misrepresented. While they are there, a man from the home office appears and seems surprised about the liquor. Shortly thereafter the wine manager at Trent's is found murdered by having his head wrapped in plaster of Paris. As Tony and Gerrard investigate, they begin to find connections between the two investigations and the tension mounts as they get closer to a solution and also closer to a killer.This is one of my favorite stories by Dick Francis. I really enjoy that the hero has self-doubts about his courage and fear that he won't be able to live up to the heroics of his father and grandfather. I also like that he isn't afraid to be grieving for the death of his young wife. I also like that he is happy in his career.The narration was expertly done by Simon Prebble who managed a variety of accents to distinguish the various characters without making the accents incomprehensible to my American ears. He also did a great job conveying the various emotions of the characters and the rising tensions in the story.
    • 4/5
      Plot not as good as some of his others, but still a solid read. I always enjoy Francis's heroes. And this one was particularly enjoyable. Tony Beach is witty, smart, capable and brave when push comes to shove. Other than the villain who was a little too broadly drawn, the other characters were nicely written. The cameo by one memorable female bar owner was a nice addition to the cast.
    • 4/5
      Wine merchant, Tony Beach, is delivering wine to a party of racing enthusiasts when a horse trailer breaks loose and kills several people in the party tent. The police question him about who he saw around the trailer and they are impressed with his ability to remember things. Eventually the police ask for his expert help in following up on complaints about false labeling on some of the Scotches and wines provided to local bars and restaurants. That then leads to him being asked to assist private detective Gerard McGregor in finding out who is responsible for a series of whiskey bottling trucks being hijacked.

      I've never been much of a Dick Francis fan because I just don't have any interest in horses and that's normally what he writes about. I'm still nursing a grudge from a nasty horse I met about forty years ago. I do love wine and this book is filled with interesting tidbits about wine, as well as Scotch whiskey. I also loved the characters in this story. Tony Beach is a widower who is devastated by grief for his recently deceased wife. He's also the son of a military hero and knows he doesn't live up to the expectations his family had for him.

      There were plenty of twists and turns and the ending was incredibly tense. It definitely wasn't predictable and even though the villain was already known to the reader, it was a very compelling novel. I really enjoyed this book, especially the character of Tony Beach and his slow realization of what sort of man he really is. I may have to reconsider Dick Francis books, even the ones that deal with horses.
    • 5/5
      There are times when I want to read a stand-alone mystery. There's no mental commitment to reading a whole series of books and no trying to remember what came before. For that sort of book, Dick Francis comes to mind. Usually there's at least a tangential link to horses and I feel like I will learn something new.This time the industry is the wine/spirit industry. Wine merchant Tony Beach is the focus and "proof" has more to do than with spirits. Is there a decent life after the sudden death of a dearly loved spouse? Will Tony find courage? Can the hero prove who the villain is? Early in the book we find out there is indeed a bad guy, but who is he? How does everything tie together? The reader and the hero take this path together.This is an excellent traditional mystery.
    • 4/5
      Over the years, I've read every one of Dick Francis' mysteries set in the world of English horse-racing. I remember how much fun I had scouring used bookstores looking for the ones that were missing from my collection, and how exciting it was to find a new one I hadn't read yet. But in my ongoing efforts to downsize my possessions, I've donated all those print copies to my library's fund-raising book sales, so I haven't actually picked up and read one these old favorites for a long time.I found Proof available in an ebook sale and didn't think twice about grabbing it, as it had always been one of my favorites. The story is narrated by Tony Beach, wine merchant in a small English town (village? I'm not sure how such designations work in the UK) smack dab in the middle of horse-racing country. Many of his customers are in the racing biz, so when he sets off one Sunday afternoon to cater an end-of-season party at a local trainer's stables, he expects just another routine business event. A terrible accident sweeps away all that's familiar in an instant and begins the slow unraveling of a tale of business fraud and murder that finds Beach having to call on reserves of courage that he isn't sure he has.
    • 4/5
      I can't say anything bad about this book. It had all the qualities for a good mystery... deception, intrigue, and murder. I guess the thing I had the most problem with was the combination of the liquor, horse racing, and the murder at the beginning of the book. When you go back and take it all in I have to admit that it was a very complex plot. The author did a commendable job of almost tying all the loose ends up and offering some excitement at the end that the book had mostly lacked throughout. If you like mysteries a little on the cozy side...you should really like this book.
    • 4/5
      Finished Proof which was quite a complex story as you tried to work out how the horse disappearing, the alcohol and the attack killing a group of people all fitted together. It was an enjoyable enough story but didn’t think it was quite as good as other Dick Francis books I read. Plenty of mystery bit this one did tend to a bit of a cosy.
    • 4/5
      At times it was slow, but overall it was a good mystery that certainly had me stumped for most of it. I learned a lot about liquor forgeries, which was interesting. I recommend, especially down those that lean more towards cozy mysteries.
    • 4/5
      Tony Beach drifted into the work of a wine merchant because he didn’t have his family’s interest in the military or horse racing and he did have the ability to identify wines and spirits based on smell and taste. He never felt he lived up to his father’s expectations of him as a leader and his fear of acting in a pressure situation. In Proof his experience with wine and spirits helps him track down stolen tankers of whiskey and in doing so he proves to himself that he can overcome the fear of acting just as his father did.I am seeing different threads as I reread Dick Francis this time. Upfront there is the story, the entertainment, always a horse or two somewhere, a little violence, sometimes romance, right versus wrong. Behind that is a theme sometimes of family, often a conflict between father and son, or the strength of friendship and what it means when the bond is broken. Interesting.
    • 4/5
      i liked the character, i liked the info about scotch(i must buy some) and wine, i liked the plot about switching but the actual chase i found boring and hard to follow.
    • 3/5
      This is a review of the audio edition with Nigel Havers playing the part of the protagonist, Tony Beach.The adapters did a good job here. The book moves right along and the discussion of whiskey and wine manufacturing and distribution is quite interesting. The sound effects are well done; scenes at the racecourses have a very open-air kind of feeling, the bottling factory is nice and echoey, etc. The voice talents are good. The book is marred by Francis's usual trite moralizing; but when the protagonist turns a hose full of cheap wine on the villain the events have a surreal quality that is surprising and not so formulaic as some of Francis's other efforts.
    • 4/5
      Wine merchant Tony Beech had life all figured out when his world caved in. Now he's marking time, selling wine and grieving the death of his young wife and unborn child. But when a routine wine delivery ends in disaster, Beech finds himself playing a deadly game of cat and mouse.Good, solid Francis - break out the wine and cheese and curl up with it today.
    • 4/5
      This was my first Dick Francis story and it started my enchantment with his characters. Tony is just an ordinary business man so how did he get into this mess and how does he get out?
    • 3/5
      Another paperback I inherited from my dad. I'd never read Dick Francis before ... this was pretty good. I'd read more. It's part of the "Horseracing Mystery Series", but it really didn't have much to do with horseracing.
    • 5/5
      One of my favorite Francis books. I like Beach - I could almost imagine being him and easily imagine knowing him. Also, only a few nasties and not a lot of time spent with them - most of the book time was spent building relationships between the good guys. I don't like it when a book spends all its time either following the bad guys around and dwelling lovingly on their actions or having the good guys deal with the bad ones (ok, relates mostly to mysteries, where good guy/bad guy is a reasonably accurate distinction in most of them). One reason I like Francis is that he does spend time developing his good guys, even the ones (the vast majority) who only appear in one book.
    • 5/5
      Another of Francis's masterful mysteries. This one starts with a terrible accident as a horse-box crashes into a marquee full of people, and continues in a tale of finding courage and tasting wine, full of twists and edge of the seat moments of tension. An enjoyable and satisfying page-turner.