The Significant Seven

Jack Doyle Mysteries #3

by John McEvoy

Seven lifelong friends and racing fans from their student days at the University of Wisconsin strike it lucky at Saratoga Race Track when they combine to win a plus million dollar Pick Six. They subsequently use some of those profits to buy race horses, one of which, The Badger Express, turns out to be a sensational runner, stallion, and money maker. Seven years later, the men become targets of a professional assassin, an ex-Navy SEAL and Iraq private security guard named Orth. They begin dying, one by one. Jack Doyle returns to the race track, volunteering to aid FBI agents in a search for criminals fixing races. Doyle then becomes involved in protecting Rene Rison, the favored daughter of the Significant Seven's leader Arnie Rison. Jack Doyle, as always irreverent, observant, opinionated, sometimes mistaken but always persistent, eventually manages to find answers to the questions of who is fixing the races and who is having members of the Significant Seven killed off.

Genres: Mystery, Animals, Fiction, Horse Racing

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

John McEvoy, former editor and senior correspondent for Daily Racing Form, is the author of five non-fiction books on thorougbred horse racing, including the award-winning Great Horse Racing Mysteries. Photo Finish is his fifth mystery novel and fourth featuring the adventurous Jack Doyle. One of McEvoy's earlier novels, Riders Down, won a Ben Franklin Award. He and his wife Judy live in Evanston, Illinois.

Reviews

[Kim]

Just didn't engage or hold my interest. I'm not a huge fan of horse racing or the life, and have no background in the area, and that might make the difference, as that is the core to the series, it seems.

[P.D. Workman]

Not quite a legal thriller, police procedural, or private investigator mystery, but close to all three. Fans of Dick Francis might enjoy the racing world setting. Can you figure it out before Jack Doyle? He nearly doesn't solve it in time!

[Joan Colby]

“The Significant Seven” is John McEvoy’s third racing mystery featuring his iconoclastic hero Jack Doyle. Doyle was introduced in McEvoy’s first book “Blind Switch” and returned in “Close Call” where he helped save a struggling racetrack from extinction. Now he’s back recruited to go undercover at the track to discover who is sponging horses to fix races.

An alternate plot follows the fortunes of seven college friends who hit a big Pick Six at Saratoga and used their lucre to enable a lifelong dream of racehorse ownership. The guys luck out again purchasing a horse they name The Badger Express who goes on to win over $3 million for their stable named “The Significant Seven.” After an injury, The Badger Express is retired to stud and his owners sign an agreement that as each individual dies all the stallion’s earnings as a sire will accrue to the syndicate . This sets up a scenario for suspicious deaths and Doyle becomes concerned as one after another the members die unexpectedly. Add in a couple of ex Navy-Seal Blackwater mercenary types and the plots thicken.

McEvoy cleverly combines plots and presents chapters fluctuating from past to present to heighten suspense. His expertise in all things racehorse stems from his long-time career as Midwest editor of the Daily Racing Form. For local readers, McEvoy includes some “inside jabs” –if you are involved in racing here, you may find a character named similarly to yourself which adds to the fun.

Every one of McEvoy’s mysteries deals with true life situations—the killing of horses for insurance, race fixing, a track hard put to compete with the casinos, the lucky winners of big pots, the sponging of horses—an old time ploy recently revived, and more. Apart from the mystery aspect, McEvoy’s book includes various vignettes that illustrate the nature of racetrack life and the characters that inhabit it; these insights frequently raise “The Significant Seven” above the level of thriller and into the realm of documentary.

While Dick Francis’ notable mysteries focused on steeplechase racing in Europe, McEvoy’s series is centered in the often gritty world of American flat racing. With Francis sadly deceased, McEvoy is a fine heir to the tradition of suspenseful, accurate and crisp writing that made the former’s books best sellers. McEvoy deserves no less. Critics have already bestowed accolades on the series naming “Riders Down” (another racing mystery with a different protagonist) as winner of the 2008 Ben Franklin Award.


McEvoy who resides in Evanston, Illinois is also the author of five non-fiction books on thoroughbred racing including the award-winning “Great Horse Racing Mysteries.”

[Kathy KS]

2 1/2 stars...

This was an easy, quick read with some likeable characters (and some not-so-likeable), but I don't think I'll read any more of the series at this time.

Although billed as "A Jack Doyle mystery" and having some "mystery" to the story, there wasn't much detective work or action until about the last 30 pages. Even then, the wrap-up of the two main mystery-elements was rather simplistic. There are some truly bad guys that do some murders, but I really see this more as a "cozy with male protagonist."

We readers spend most of our reading time just following Jack around day-to-day. We're entertained by many factoids and anecdotes related to him by his rather colorful friends and associates.

So, many may enjoy the story. Although I enjoy mysteries/suspense set in the racing world (think Francis, Francome, etc.),it just isn't enough to pull me back and I have too many other books waiting to be read!

[Susan]

There's a particularly nasty way of hobbling race horses prevalent at the thoroughbred track, and Jack Doyle's FBI acquaintances ask him to investigate. Out of work since his last problem was settled, he agrees to work for honest trainer Ralph Tenuta as a cover. But Jack can't focus on his investigation because he keeps wondering about the sudden, inexplicable deaths among seven lucky horseplayers turned owners. Tenuta has trained the group's horses and regards all of them as good guys, healthy and in their fifties. So why are they dying in such a short time? The reader is ahead of law enforcement in realizing what is happening, but it takes Jack and his sometimes shady pals to find out why.

[Jennifer McDonnell]

Great story and interesting characters. Pretty easy read. Several grammer errors and typos, but nothing that takes away from the story.

[Robert Van Tuyl]

Winner of the Ben Franklin Award? Always a treat.