Mark Daniel

The Bold Thing

Barrie & Jenkins, London, 1990, hb, 256 pp.

Arrow, London, pb, 1991, 244 pp.

Little, Brown, Boston, 1994, 279 pp.

Micky Brennan was once a champion jockey, and now he has just come out of prison.  Cathy Kramer believes in
him and hires him to manage her stud in Ireland.  However, the IRA soon realise the stud’s top stallion, Sansovino,
is the perfect target for blackmail.

Mark Daniel (1954- ) is the son of a Lambourn trainer and a painter of horses.  His biography on the Timewell Press site (they have published his French Letters and the English Canon) describes him as a “novelist, journalist, reluctant Ripperologist and crusading cook, as well as a larger-than life character with a colourful past.” He rode as soon as he could walk, and was a frequent visitor to the racecourse.  He was educated at Ampleforth and Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he read French.  When funds at university and afterwards, were short, he would earn money by cooking, but gradually earned money by writing rather than cookery.  He has written several compilations of poetry for children, and other children’s books including the junior horror Thingz series.  

He drew on his racing background for his six racing novels, but none for at least a decade as far as I can see.  

Finding the books:  all seem widely available on both sides of the Atlantic.

Links and sources:

The Timewell Press on Mark Daniel

Bibliography - horse books only

The Devil to Pay

Michael Joseph, London, 1992, 249 pp.

Little, Brown, Boston, 1992, 260 pp.

Signet, London, 1993, pb, 318 pp.

Magna Large Print, 1995

Avon, New York, 1995, pb

Nick Storr is the son of a leading trainer, and is to ride the talented Ibn Saud in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.  On the
day of the race, Nick is faced with a terrible truth.

Pity the Sinner

Michael Joseph, London, 1993, hb, 278 pp.

St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1996, 278 pp.

Magna, Large Print, 1994

Signet, London, 1994, pb

Neil Munrow, a jockey in the middle of negoiating an expensive divorce, finds an unexpected, and large, sum in his bank
account.  It disappears just as suddenly, and Neil filnds himself blackmailed by the person who put the money there.

Sleek Bodies

Michael Joseph, London, 1994, hb, 343 pp.

St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1995, 343 pp.

Signet Books, London, 1995, pb

When Philip is in France he is told that his brother has an an asthma attack and is now in hospital, in a coma.  
Philip has to return to England to run the family’s stables during the flat racing season.  He soon realises the stables
are deep in trouble.

A Killing Joke

Michael Joseph, London, 1995

Signet, London, pb, 1995 & 1996, 405 pp.

Jago van Zeller thought he had a chance in Czechoslovakia’s Grand National, the Pardubice.  The horse he wanted to
race in it was the only thing he’d kept when his business went bust.  However, he became involved in smuggling family
heirlooms out of the country...

Under Orders

Barrie & Jenkins, London,1989, hb, 256 pp.

Arrow, London, pb, 1990, 291 pp.

USA:  Unbridled

Ticknor & Fields,  New York, 1990, 223 pp.

Avon Books, New York, 1992, pb

Georgie has always relied on his charm to get him out of trouble, but when the National Hunt stewards enlist him to
help them, he becomes involved in a deadly game.