Saratoga Swimmer

Ex-Cop Charlie Bradshaw and the Saratoga Police Department no longer see eye to eye. So Charlie has taken a job as head of security at local rich man, Lew Ackerman's racing stables. But when Ackerman winds up dead at the bottom of the town's swimming-pool the detective in Charlie sets to work to vindicate a short-lived friendship.

"More than just a hardboiled Dick Francis, Dobyns writes real people" — Time Out

"Excellent . . . It is customary with any book combining crime with race horses for some idiot reviewer (mon frère, mon semblable) to make comparisons with Dick Francis; Mr Dobyns writes so well that for once it is fair to talk about the same league" — Daily Telegraph

"Dick Francis had better look to his laurels. An American longshot, appropriately named Dobyns, is coming up fast on the outside" — Houston Post

"This is a high class detective novel, and Saratoga is a beguiling setting . . . It's non-stop reading, and Dobyns gets it right" — Richard Ford

"His writing is honest, tough-minded and as uncompromising as his unforgettable hero"
— Lawrence Block, Washington Post

Stephen Dobyns is an ex-reporter who currently teaches creative writing in North Carolina. His other books include two other thrillers featuring Charlie Bradshaw, Saratoga Headhunter and Saratoga Longshot.

Allison & Busby
American Crime series: No. 16
Cover design by Richard Clatworthy