Dick Francis was off to a flying start with American mystery fans from the time he published his first book, Dead Cert, in 1962. He writes of steeplechasing in his cliffhangers and this time the narrator is Henry, Lord Grey, who slips the family bloodline to take a job as a groom on import/export stud flights. A lot of personnel disappear in various counteries, but Grey doesn't think much of it until he finds out enough to get himself killed too.