@clowniform
Ah, well, Le Carré is very plotty. I do like A Murder of Quality, and it is a bit more of a straightforward crime story, a bit like Call for the Dead. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is not too long, though, and is absolutely cracking.
Dick Francis basically wrote the same book over and over again (you can see the formula begin to creak in the later novels) so if you like one, there's a good chance you might like them all, and if you read the first few chapters and don't enjoy them, then they are probably not for you.
I would go for Nerve if you want an early jockey one, but my favourites are Reflex (jockey photographer), Flying Finish (jockey pilot), High Stakes (horse-owning inventor) or The Danger (kidnapping in the horsey world). And be warned, they can be a little brutal - but they are very pacey, and such easy reads.
Have you ever read The Swish of the Curtain? It's a children's book, but oh so satisfying, even as an adult. I Capture the Castle? I came to that later in life but what a pleasure.
Susan Hill's Simon Serrailler off-beat police procedurals? I've enjoyed Jane Casey's Maeve Kerrigan books if you fancy something straightforward.
May I recommend again Mary Stewart's mid century romances - plucky girl finds a mystery in a beautiful setting? She writes with a marvellous sense of place. Someone on MN suggested them to me, and I ripped through them.
Oh! Lois McMaster Bujold! Please tell me you have read her sci-fi, because if not you must start Shards of Honor immediately. Well-written, lovely characters, not too much world-building, and not at all demanding.