The Edge doesn't have as much action along the tracks and courses as many of the books Francis writes. Most of it isn't set in England, but in Canada on a special racing excursion train that is also a train running one of the mystery adventures with actors. I found it interesting to see behind the scenes for both the train crew (mostly the wait staff) and the actors. And of course there is a real-life mystery -- just what foul deed is rich sociopath Filmer planning. Can our hero Tor Kelsey thwart that plan? I read the book quickly as I wanted to know the answers.

In some ways, the theme in this book is summed up in this quotation: What made one man good, I wondered, and another man bad: one man to seek to build, the other to frighten and destroy. The acid irony was that the bad might feel more satisfied and fulfilled than the good.

If you like mysteries that have horse racing as an integral part of the story, Dick Francis should be right up your avenue. If you also like mysteries that take place on trains, then The Edge should be your cup of tea. ( )

I enjoy all of the books by Dick Francis and have read almost all of them. This one involves a cross-Canadian train ride and there is so much interesting information about the "downstairs" part of train travel. ( )

PLOT OR PREMISE:
An arrogant horse-owner in England joins The Great Transcontinental Mystery Race Train across Canada, with the train stopping at several sites along the way for horseraces, with an actors troupe on the train posing as real passengers.
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WHAT I LIKED:
Francis is a master at moving players around in the story and having them interact in interesting ways. His descriptive prose, and his keep-it-simple style, make it easy to both imagine the scene and understand the characters. The sports element is there, as it is in all of Francis' books, but he again shows his mastery in leaving it as the backdrop against all the other characters' interactions.
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WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:
The overall feel of the book is that similar to a play or film with an ensemble cast -- no one is really well done, but most are sufficiently interesting to hold our attention for awhile. Some characters are still left hiding in the background as mere caricatures. As for the villain and the protagonist, both needed to be better developed, and I never felt the villain was particularly evil nor the protagonist particularly interesting -- too much on actions and not enough of his own thoughts to reveal his true character. Unfortunately, I also figured out the plot fairly early, although there was one character at the end who was slightly different than expected. I also saw three or four points in the story where Francis could have easily taken the reader down a darker or more interesting path, yet the opportunities were left abandoned alongside the tracks in the story.
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BOTTOM-LINE:
Another good mystery from Francis
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DISCLOSURE:
I received no compensation, not even a free copy, in exchange for this review. I am not personal friends with the author, nor do I follow him / her on social media. ( )

Very fun. Richard and Mary keep all their balls in the air. Great to be back on the train in late 1970s Canada, as well. ( )

I am starting to like Dick Francis as a writer. This is my third book and I will read many more.

To be honest, I chose this book because of the cover. I come from a railway family and a story about a mystery where travel across Canada on the "Canadian" was too much to resist. Actually it was on a train similar to the Canadian except it was a private train for horse owners. I recognized the CPR diesel on the front cover and when I saw that there was to be a race at Assiniboia Downs in my home town of Winnipeg... I had to read it.

Actually the book as far as description of the journey was reasonably accurate. He did not go into great detail of the places but added just enough snippets to make it real to me. Also life on a Via Train was well done.

As a mystery goes, it was confusing to me as to what the reason was for the shadowing of the main bad guy. You don't find out until the last 1/4 of the book and that is the reason for the lower rating. I do like his character development though the constant "eh" in the language of the conductor was a bit over the top. I am Canadian and while it is commonly part of our language... it is not in every second sentence :)

Overall it was a decent read. ( )