It was the most painful episode of Max Moreton's young life. Just as he's beginning to gain full recognition as a chef, nearly all his guests at an elegant private party fall victim to severe food poisoning. The disaster leaves his culinary reputation in tatters, but worse is yet to come. The very next day, as he's catering an exclusive racetrack luncheon, a bomb goes off in the private boxes, killing kitchen staff and patrons alike. Max begins to visualize a bull's-eye with himself at its center. A thoroughbred novel by three-time Edgar winner Dick Francis and his son, Felix. (Felix Francis was the inspiration for a major character in Dick Francis' Twice Shy.)
Marilyn Stasio
…while it doesn't feature the Francis trademarks of high-strung horses in high-stakes races, Dead Heat doesn't abandon the sport as much as turn it inside out, so we can inspect one of the many small, labor-intensive businesses that operate behind the scenes in this rarefied and utterly exotic world.
—The New York Times
Publishers Weekly
MWA Grand Master Francis's first collaboration with his son Felix, a former physics teacher who researched many of his father's previous bestsellers, introduces an engaging hero, though longtime fans may find certain plot elements, like an unlikely love interest and sinister figures somehow connected with shady racetrack doings, less than fresh. The reputation of Max Moreton, a young wunderkind chef with a restaurant in Newmarket, England, suffers after guests at an affair he caters fall ill with food poisoning. This calamity nearly jeopardizes another job-feeding several dozen attendees at a major horse race. While that meal goes off without a hitch, a terrorist's bomb decimates the crowd at the track. Despite the official theory that an unpopular Middle Eastern ruler at the event was responsible, the chef wonders whether the bombing is related to the earlier food poisoning and turns amateur sleuth. Crisp writing and well-paced action help offset the routine plotting. (Sept.)
Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information
Forbes Magazine
Here's a book for dieters that will both give them a thrill and help them resist, at least momentarily, some of those always tempting weight-inducing foods. Michelin-starred chef Max Moreton is catering a gala dinner on the eve of a major horse race. Almost all the diners--along with Moreton and his staff--are hit with food poisoning, which of course threatens the very existence of Moreton's restaurant and career. And, if that weren't enough, the next day Moreton is nearly killed in a bomb explosion that leaves more than a dozen people dead. Before the mystery is solved, Moreton--an amateur sleuth--finds himself coping with an international conspiracy involving Argentinean polo ponies and a floundering American manufacturer of farm equipment, as well as with pesky local bureaucrats and a beautiful young violist--a victim of the food poisoning--who is suing him for damages and lost wages. (25 Feb 2008)
—Steve Forbes
Library Journal
Max Moreton, chef and part owner of the Hay Net, an acclaimed restaurant in Newmarket, England, is suffering from what is apparently food poisoning. After an agonizing night, Max is alarmed when his assistant calls to say that he and several other staff members have suffered the same fate. When the Public Health Department seals the restaurant-owing to the poisoning of over 250 guests-Max fears his days as a top chef may be over, though he does have another big event to arrange. But someone has other plans for Max's Newmarket soiree-a bomb that blasts through the room-and Max will have to hone his investigative skills to discover what lies at the heart of these occurrences. As usual, Francis, joined for the first time by his son, keeps us all tuned in till the very last word. Martin Jarvis's excellent narration helps make this book another winner for Francis and his many fans. Highly recommended for all public libraries. [Books on Tape also has a version available: 9 CDs. unabridged. 10¾ hrs. 2007. ISBN
Kirkus Reviews
Legendary racing-mystery master Francis (Shattered, 2000, etc.) partners with son Felix to bring mayhem of many kinds to the Newmarket track. After a night he's spent huddled over his toilet sick as a dog, it's no consolation to restaurateur Max Moreton to learn that he hasn't been alone. Virtually everyone at the party at the Hay Net, his racing-themed restaurant, has become ill. Soon enough, longtime patrons begin to cancel their reservations; the Cambridge County Council seals his kitchen; and violist Caroline Aston, whose quartet had played at the party, announces her plans to sue him. By that time, however, Max already has bigger problems. A bomb planted in the stands at the 2,000 Guineas, a high-profile race run the day after the debacle at the Hay Net, has killed 19 and sent dozens more to the hospital. Are the two incidents connected, and if so, how? It doesn't take Max long to satisfy himself that his meal was sabotaged by the unboiled kidney beans someone introduced into a sauce that didn't call for them. But why would anyone seek to poison 250 diners the night before detonating a bomb? Working with Caroline Aston, who's morphed rapidly and improbably from legal antagonist to lover, Max focuses on the people who attended the party but not the race. Soon enough, some conscientious sleuthing and lucky breaks reveal an ingenious smuggling plot Max is determined to end-that is, if the powers arrayed against him don't succeed in killing him first by means of arson or a car crash or a polo mallet or another bomb. Clunky expository dialogue tells you more than you probably want to know about food preparation and concertizing. But the mystery is engaging, and durable Max is a worthyaddition to Francis's gallery of racetrack detectives.
DEC 07/JAN 08 - AudioFile
Surprisingly, for a Dick Francis novel, horses feature here only peripherally. Max Moreton is a superstar chef whose life gets complicated when more than 200 people get sick after eating a dinner he catered at a racetrack. The next day, while he’s serving lunch at another race, the glass-fronted box of the grandstand explodes. Max turns sleuth to save his reputation and his restaurant. Martin Jarvis perfectly depicts Max—young, determined, and newly in love. Jarvis’s flexibility is remarkable. He creates different voices and accents for supporting characters ranging from Max’s girlfriend, Caroline, to an elderly neighbor, a Wisconsin concierge, and a Russian importer. A.B. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
