Whip Hand - Misplaced Pages

For the film, see The Whip Hand.

Crime novel by Dick Francis

Whip Hand
First edition cover
Author	Dick Francis
Language	English
Series	Sid Halley series
Genre	crime novel
Publisher	Michael Joseph
Publication date	8 October 1979
Publication place	United Kingdom
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	253
ISBN	0-7181-1845-6
OCLC	8552143
Dewey Decimal	823/.914 19
LC Class	PR6056.R27 W5
Preceded by	Odds Against
Followed by	Come to Grief

Whip Hand is a crime novel by Dick Francis, the second novel in the Sid Halley series. The novel received the Gold Dagger 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, who played Halley in the Yorkshire Television 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 ISBN 0-7181-1845-6, Pub date 8 October 1979, Hardback

References

"Category List – Best Novel". Edgar Awards. Retrieved 21 November 2023.

Jean Swanson and Dean James, The Dick Francis Companion USA: Berkley Publishing (2003) ISBN 0-425-18187-1

v t e Gold Dagger Award
1955–1959	The Little Walls by Winston Graham (1955) The Second Man by Edward Grierson (1956) The Colour of Murder by Julian Symons (1957) Someone from the Past by Margot Bennett (1958) Passage of Arms by Eric Ambler (1959)
1960–1969	The Night of Wenceslas by Lionel Davidson (1960) The Spoilt Kill by Mary Kelly (1961) When I Grow Rich by Joan Fleming (1962) The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré (1963) The Perfect Murder by H. R. F. Keating (1964) The Far Side of the Dollar by Ross Macdonald (1965) A Long Way to Shiloh by Lionel Davidson (1966) Murder Against the Grain by Emma Lathen (1967) Skin Deep by Peter Dickinson (1968) A Pride of Heroes by Peter Dickinson (1969)
1970–1979	Young Man I Think You're Dying by Joan Fleming (1970) The Steam Pig by James H. McClure (1971) The Levanter by Eric Ambler (1972) The Defection of A. J. Lewinter by Robert Littell (1973) Other Paths to Glory by Anthony Price (1974) The Seven-Per-Cent Solution by Nicholas Meyer (1975) A Demon in My View by Ruth Rendell (1976) The Honourable Schoolboy by John le Carré (1977) The Chelsea Murders by Lionel Davidson (1978) Whip Hand by Dick Francis (1979)
1980–1989	The Murder of the Maharaja by H. R. F. Keating (1980) Gorky Park by Martin Cruz Smith (1981) The False Inspector Dew by Peter Lovesey (1982) Accidental Crimes by John Hutton (1983) The Twelfth Juror by B. M. Gill (1984) Monkey Puzzle by Paula Gosling (1985) Live Flesh by Ruth Rendell (1986) A Fatal Inversion by Barbara Vine (1987) Ratking by Michael Dibdin (1988) The Wench Is Dead by Colin Dexter (1989)
1990–1999	Bones and Silence by Reginald Hill (1990) King Solomon's Carpet by Barbara Vine (1991) The Way Through the Woods by Colin Dexter (1992) Cruel and Unusual by Patricia Cornwell (1993) The Scold's Bridle by Minette Walters (1994) The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid (1995) Popcorn by Ben Elton (1996) Black & Blue by Ian Rankin (1997) Sunset Limited by James Lee Burke (1998) A Small Death in Lisbon by Robert Wilson (1999)
2000–2009	Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem (2000) Sidetracked by Henning Mankell (2001) The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza (2002) Fox Evil by Minette Walters (2003) Blacklist by Sara Paretsky (2004) Silence of the Grave by Arnaldur Indriðason (2005) Raven Black by Ann Cleeves (2006) The Broken Shore by Peter Temple (2007) Blood from Stone by Frances Fyfield (2008) A Whispered Name by William Brodrick (2009)
2010–present	Blacklands by Belinda Bauer (2010) Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin (2011) The Rage by Gene Kerrigan (2012) Dead Lions by Mick Herron (2013) This Dark Road to Mercy by Wiley Cash (2014) Life or Death by Michael Robotham (2015) Dodgers by Bill Beverly (2016) The Dry by Jane Harper (2017) The Liar by Steve Cavanagh (2018) The Puppet Show by M. W. Craven (2019) Good Girl Bad Girl by Michael Robotham (2020) We Begin at the End by Chris Whitaker (2021) Sunset Swing by Ray Celestin (2022) The Kingdoms of Savannah by George Dawes Green (2023)

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