Proof

From Publishers Weekly The narrator of Francis's 26th mystery is Tony Beach, a young widower who fights his grief by keeping busy at his wine shop and by socializing. Eventually he teams up with private detective Gerard McGregor to find the hijackers of several trucks of spirits; the pair then take on a case involving the adulteration of whiskey and wine at a cafe. In rapid order the cafe's steward is brutally murdered, and Tony and Gerard just miss being killed. Tony's severest test occurs at the "stunning climax of what may be judged the best of Francis's bestsellers so far; it's a corker," PW commented. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. Product Description Tony Beach, wine merchant, knows his scotch, so to be asked to give his opinion of one particular bottle seems harmless enough. But the bottle contains firewater of a highly explosive nature - and, without intending it, Tony finds himself trapped on a one-way route into danger. From a harmless Sunday morning party at a racing stable and onwards to the edge of death, Tony comes nearer and nearer to a lethal adversary and, unexpectedly, to a fuller knowledge of his own true self. Set in the world of wine and spirits, PROOF is crafted with Dick Francis's usual high standard of drama, suspense and invention.