It's a pleasure as rare as it is gratifying to watch an author start out well and then get steadily better with each book. This has been the case with Dick Francis; and since his second novel, "Nerves," was one of the most highly acclaimed of last year's suspense stories, it follows that his third, "For Kicks" …, must be an absolute beauty—as indeed it is.

A young Australian horse-breeder is hired to come to England and pose as a stable lad to smoke out the clever criminals who have rigged a seemingly undetectable method of fixing horse races. The detection is ingenious and detailed; the gimmick is a fine one; and the background of life among horses and trainers and stable lads (and criminals) is so real you can smell and taste it. The people, moreover, are as real as the horses (which is saying a lot...