Dick Francis
Dick Francis
Overview
The standard history of Dick Francis must mention that this Grand Master mystery writer officially began his sporting career after WW2 as an amateur jockey and retired in 1957 as the preferred jockey of the Queen Mum. In 1956 he came heart-breakingly close to winning the Grand National. Upon retirement at the age of 36 he turned his attention to writing, beginning as the racing correspondent for a British daily. He released his first mystery novel in 1962 and turned out about one a year for almost four decades. Our handy-dandy Benét's Reader's Encyclopedia, 3rd ed. informs me that Francis' novels, long popular in England, became so in the U.S. after a 1980 television series based on his 1965 novel Odds Against .
As stated above, Francis churned out novels at a one per year pace starting in 1962. However, about 3 weeks after the release of Shattered in 2000, Dick's wife Mary died of a heart attack at the couple's home in the Cayman Islands. Her death had a major impact on Dick's writing since she did a large part of the research and editing of the novels. Indeed, Dick Francis - A Racing Life, an unauthorized biography written by Graham Lord, alleged that she was the sole author. Lord has built a specialty of sorts with unauthorized biographies of British authors, with works on John Mortimer (author of the Rumpole books) and Alf Wight (aka country vet James Herriot). Fans of the authors are usually quick to condem Lord's bios with allegations of shoddy research and a muckracking agenda. In any case, no Dick Francis books came out for 6 years following Mary's death until, in September of 2006, Under Orders was released. Wikipedia informs me that Dick's son Felix has taken over Mary's duties as research assistant. Perusing the reviews on amazon.com for the book shows that readers are in two camps: either you love it and are so happy that Dick Francis has returned or you hate it and implicitly agree with Graham Lord.
Dead Heat was released in 2007 and included Felix as an official co-author. This practice is continued for subsequent novels.
Francis' mysteries take place against a horse racing background and I suppose that initially I shied away from his books because of this. After all, I figured, how many times can you read about some jockey who is forced by circumstances to be an amateur private eye? Luckily, however, I was wrong in my assumptions. While some of the novels (particularly the early ones) do have jockeys moonlighting as mystery solvers, many have lead characters who are involved with racing via more indirect capacities. In Reflex the hero is a photographer who shoots pictures of the racing life, in Driving Force the hero owns a horse transport firm, in Wild Horses the protagonist is a director of a film loosely based on a racing scandal  and so on. Granted, some of these heroes are ex-jockeys, but that adds to the realism. There are two sequences of novels with recurring characters: the Sid Halley series ( Under Orders , Odds Against , Whip Hand & Come To Grief ) about a jockey turned full-time private eye and the consecutive novels which feature Kit Fielding ( Break In & Bolt ). Regardless of the particulars, most Dick Francis novels consist of a first person account of some criminal matter linked to horse racing. The protagonist is always brave, sensible and calm in the face of danger.
With such constancy of characterization, Dick Francis novels might run the risk of becoming boring after you've read three or four. After all, you know that the narrator, after getting in a couple of sticky situations, is going to have everything solved by the end of the book. And the mysteries aren't head-scratching, body-in-a-locked-room affairs either. But what saves the typical DF book is the fact that you're being introduced to a new environment. Part of the fun of reading Dick Francis is that often one is introduced to a new profession. Forget about the mystery; it's entertaining to peek inside the new world and learn a little something about banking or film making or British politics. For amusement, try reading Smokescreen and Wild Horses back to back; one has an actor as the leading man while the other has a director.
In addition to the 39 novels, Francis also has written his autobiography The Sport of Queens and a biography of jockey Lester Piggot A Jockey's Life. The latter is also available as Lester: The Official Biography. Field of 13, a collection of short stories (five written for the book), came out in 1998. - wej
This page is part of the Dick Francis WebRing, a collection of about a dozen sites. Use the icon at the bottom of this page to navigate to the other sites in the ring.
When reading the reviews, please keep in mind that   I am not obsessed by DF: I don't participate in weekly chats about his novels, if in England I   wouldn't bother to visit the settings for the books, etc. Being a tad more distant than   others who have read all his books (and set up a web page!) means that I might not know some   piece of trivia. On the other hand, I believe that my distance allows me to judge   fairly and not hesitate in pointing out DF's failings.
The novels are rated relative to each other on a scale of one to five horses.
A one horse rating (i.e.,
) indicates the novel is in the lower 20% of DF's output (in my opinion)  and a five horse rating indicates one of DF's best.
Note that the reviews and ratings are only for DF's solo work. The novels he has officially co-written with    his son Felix are listed but not reviewed.
Novel
Dead Heat
2007
Chef Max Moreton has some problems. Many guests at a dinner he has   catered are stricken with food poisoning. His next gig, a racetrack luncheon, is ripped by a bomb that kills many guests.   Are the events connected? Of course they are, but only Max can prove it.
co-authored with Felix Francis
Under Orders
2006
Sid Halley is back (making it the 4th time DF has written about the one-handed investigator) and   he's investigating the murder of a jockey, the possible fixing of races and the workings of an internet gambling site.   Could it all be related?
Aaah, well at least it's better than Shattered .   Sid has a new girlfriend and now the bad guys can threaten her instead of him but other than that it's   all much the same: Sid snoops around, is chummy with his ex-father-in-law, gets into a precarious situation or two and eventually triumphs.   Francis is again weak when delving into tecnological matters (why would anyone suspect an internet gambling site of fixing races when it's making   money hand over fist running a legitimate business?) but overall it's an average novel. I guess I'm in the middle of the two camps   mentioned in my introduction to this page; I don't hate it but am not overly excited either.
Shattered
2000
Successful glass blower Gerard Logan is friends with jockey   Martin Stukely. Martin indirectly gives Gerard a videotape that becomes the object   of an intensive search by a gang of bad guys. Gerard has to deal with the ruffians on his   own because Martin has been killed in a racing accident. Gerard receives help from some unlikely   quarters as he attempts to determine why the tape is so important.
This probably will be the last DF   novel (note, this was written in 2001) so it's disappointing that Shattered is a less than average   story. There are holes in the plot large enough to ride a horse through (e.g., would   the information that makes the videotape so valuable really be put on a videotape?),   the primary villains are cartoonish   and there are many instances in which we are asked to believe that glass blowing is   so damn fascinating to all the secondary characters (see Proof for another example of the overemphasis of a character's profession). On the other   hand, Shattered is not the absolute dud I was expecting based on DF's   preceeding novel, the terrible Second Wind .   There are some good descriptions of the glass blowing process and we do get a sense of   the mind of an artist who must also be a businessman. So, a lukewarm endorsement will   have to do for this latest (and last?) Dick Francis novel.
Second Wind
1999
TV weatherman Perry Stuart is near the top of his profession   and is the prognosticator of choice for many trainers in the   racing community. A colleague offers him the chance to take part in   a hurricane chasing expedition in a small airplane. What Perry   discovers on a mysterious island in the aftermath of the storm may   well prove to be more dangerous than anything Mother Nature can   toss at him.
A major disappointment. This novel is full of hastily sketched   characters and preposterous situations. The bad guys turn out to be involved in some   international intrigues and, as the plot developed, I kept expecting to see SMERSH or   SPECTRE enter the scene. This book's link to racing is tenuous at best and it relies   too heavily on aviation (Francis' other great love) techno-babble. Coincidentally (?),   the heroes of Second Wind and the almost-as-weak Twice Shy are physicists by training. As is   Dick Francis' son Felix. I'll leave the Freudian analysis to others.
10lb Penalty
1997
Seventeen year old Benedict Juliard is enlisted into   the campaign efforts of his father as he contests a Parliamentary seat. Ben gets to   know his father as they battle political opponents and avoid the occasional murder attempt.
This is a very understated novel that has little to do with racing   of the equine variety. Instead, the emphasis is on election techniques at the basic   level: door-to-door canvassing, town hall debates and rubber chicken dinners. The   obligatory horse connections come via Ben's efforts as an amateur jockey but the central   mystery centers on who is trying to kill Ben's father. The plot proceeds with a noticeable   lack of urgency; things proceed at their own pace and no one ever appears too excited.   Despite this dearth of energy, 10lb Penalty is a better than average effort by Francis.
To The Hilt
1996
About an hour after Al Kinloch learns that his   stepfather has suffered a debilitating heart attack, he is pummeled by thugs who   then ransack his spartan hut on a remote Scottish mountain. Kinloch, the black sheep   of an extended family headed by his uncle the Earl, paints pictures for a living and   quite enjoys his remote way of life. But millions of pounds have been stolen from   his stepfather's business, forcing Al's return to civilization. Attempting to   save the business from its creditors, Al must confront a jealous family member and   suspicious business associates while dodging assorted violent efforts.
As in In The Frame ,   the hero this time is an artist and Francis describes the heartache and soul   searching that goes into the creation of a portrait. Luckily for us, To   The Hilt's plot is more believable than in the previous work. The link to   horses comes into play as Al attempts to hide both his stepfather's horse and a   valuable trophy. But the emphasis is on relationships and family honor - between Al   and his stepfather, between Al and his technically-still-wife, between Al and   his obsessive step-sister. While it doesn't have a strong horsey element, To The Hilt is an interesting novel that offers some insight into the artist's   spirit and the problems of modern day nobility.
Come To Grief
1995
This third novel to feature one-handed private   investigator Sid Halley focuses on the fallout that affects Sid after he accuses   his friend (and television personality) Ellis Quint of a heinous crime. Through flashbacks,   we learn of the series of events that force Sid to conclude that his friend has an   ugly hidden side. Despite the evidence, however, Quint seems likely to get off. Likely,   that is, unless Sid can determine why an unseen power is so anxious to have Quint   judged innocent at Halley's expense.
I've never been as enthralled by Sid Halley as   other DF fans seem to be; while he's an interesting character for a book, by the   third one I'm getting a little tired of his worrying that he'll lose his good hand   (and, not coincidentally, I'm tired of villains who love to torture the good hand).   I suppose that such tactics are instructive for the reader who has not read the two previous   works ( Odds Against being Sid's debut,   followed by Whip Hand ).   That said, Come To Grief is an average effort for Francis with   the flashbacks that take up the first half of the book proving superior to the   sometimes stretched plot twists that follow.
Wild Horses
1994
Film director Thomas Lyon is shooting a movie loosely based on a 26 year old  racing scandal when he accidentally learns of a secret that leads him into the mysteries  of the past. Lyon tries to learn the truth about the scandal while juggling production  hassles and a temperamental screenwriter.
Francis pens some of his most purple prose   in this one, with descriptions of wild horses running on a beach, dream sequences   of mystery lovers and a continuously shot courtroom scene all allegedly causing mouths   to fall open in awe. The depiction of life on a film set is technically believable; we   learn as much as we want to about camera angles, lighting and lenses. But the   complaining screenwriter scenario is implausible and the motivation behind villainous   efforts to thwart Lyons is the old "let's try to scare off the movie maker   and thus call attention to a 26 year old scandal". All the pluses and minuses sum   up to an average Francis effort.
Decider
1993
Architect/contractor Lee Morris gets sucked into the intra-family warfare concerning a race course. Navigating the turbulent family waters is complicated by the fact that he is connected by marriage to the combatants. Simultaneous with working on the course facility and determining who is willing to kill in order to close the course, Morris must also make some major decisions about the direction of his personal life.
My favorite Francis novel, primarily because we get   immersed in a complex character. Parents of six sons, Morris and his wife   stay together primarily for convenience & Morris does a fair amount of thinking about that.   Perhaps Francis' most brooding work, Decider deals with tough issues of love, lust, parental responsibility   and, dare I say it, the meaning of life. No dummy, Morris fully realizes that no matter   how he raises his children, their personalities and fates are beyond his control.   Yes, there're some nefarious goings on as well, with Morris narrowly evading death   a couple of times, but ultimately the value of Decider lies in its   examination of a human life and the choices that are presented to it.
Driving Force
1992
Ex-jockey Freddie Croft owns a fleet of vans that transports race horses across the  British Isles and the Continent. Two of his drivers pick up a  hitchhiker who ends up dying in the truck. It quickly becomes apparent that the hitcher  wasn't quite what he seemed; Freddie must then figure out what is going on before he  suffers the same fate as the hitchhiker.
I got lucky in this, the first Dick Francis book I   ever read. In terms of mystery it's probably Francis' best. Croft discovers that his   vans are being used for smuggling purposes but the contraband is unknown. Clues are   scattered throughout but only the most alert reader will have it all figured out before   the finale. Local color is added via the use of a character's rhyming cockney slang   (e.g., "what's the boil" translates into "what's the trouble" by way   of boil and bubble). Francis doesn't ignore the human factor either; Freddie Croft and   the rest of the cast are multi-dimensional. The aspirations and failings of all   involved are believable and make for an intelligent read.
Comeback
1991
Up and coming diplomat Peter Darwin takes a vacation back home   in merry ole England. He is quickly entangled in an expanding scandal centering on   a veterinary surgeon's practice gone bad. Peter finds that it's a short step from race horses dying on the   operating table to the loss of human life and he must call upon childhood memories to assist   him in determining who wants to drive the vet out of business.
Once you achieve the appropriate "suspension of disbelief" Comeback is a strong novel with a nice mix of mysterious motives and   entertaining characters. The suspension part is necessary because the whole story line   is so dependent on Peter recalling bits and pieces from his past; you expect me to believe   that this guy and his memories appear at just the crucial moments to foil the plot?   O.K., I'll suspend. On the plus side Peter does have a pickup line which works 100%   of the time (o.k., he uses it once): "How about a bonk, then?"
Longshot
1990
John Kendall is an author of travel/survival guides who aspires to be a  novelist. Needing money to pay the bills, he agrees to write the biography  of a racehorse trainer. Of course there are skeletons in the family closet and  as Kendall begins to uncover them he must utilize his survival skills to the fullest.
The happenings in Longshot are all rather   slick: Kendall immediately makes use of his survival skills in the aftermath of an auto   accident, he easily slides   into the role of family cook and novice rider, he is consulted by the police for his   opinions on a murder and so forth. Despite all that, Longshot is an   above-average Francis novel owing to the natural way that the mystery (focusing on the disappearance   and murder of a female stable "lad") unfolds. There's enough behind-the-scenes   coverage of racing and the training profession to keep horse enthusiasts entertained   and the eventual resolution of the crime is believable enough to keep mystery lovers   satisfied as well.
Straight
1989
Two days after breaking an ankle, steeplechase   jockey Derek Franklin is informed that his older brother Greville has been critically   injured in an accident. When Greville dies without ever regaining consciousness,   Derek finds that he must (temporarily) take over his semiprecious stone importing business.   Derek soon finds that among the facets of his late brother's life are a couple of race   horses, a mistress and a habit of keeping as much as possible secret.   Oh, and about a million and a half dollars of missing diamonds.
Classic Francis. There's the immersion into another   profession, there's a logical mystery, there's some racing thrown in and there's   even a bit of reflective melancholy as Derek grieves for the brother that he   never really knew. The only weak point could've been with Greville's fascination   for electronic gadgets such as the forerunner of today's PDAs; Francis sometimes   becomes over-enthusiastic over items that should be background filler. However, in   this case the fascination with gadgets doesn't seem forced but actually advances   the story line.
The Edge
1988
Tor Kelsey works undercover for the British  Jockey Club's security branch. He's on the trial of Julius Filmer, a villain who uses  blackmail and intimidation to acquire ownership of racing horses. Following Filmer  onto The Great Transcontinental Mystery Race Train, a trans-Canada junket for horse  owners, Tor must prevent further trouble while working against a backdrop of an  extended dinner theater mystery.
When I first started reading this I was thinking that I would be reminded of Murder On The Orient  Express. Not the case; although there's a bunch of rich people on a train the  focus isn't on any locked-door mystery, it's on....what exactly? There's not a lot of  dramatic tension between undercover op Kelsey and bad guy Filmer, chiefly because Filmer isn't even aware of  Kelsey's existance. For the most part Kelsey is in an observer mode and for the most  part Filmer doesn't do too much. True to life but not exciting reading.
Hot Money
1987
On the day he quits his job as an assistant trainer,   amateur jockey Ian Pembroke gets a call from his estranged father Malcolm. Malcolm is immensely rich and   he thinks somebody   is trying to bump him off. The police aren't of the same opinion; since Malcolm remains   a top suspect in the murder of his fifth wife the coppers think Malcolm is making it all up.   It doesn't take long for Ian to come round to his father's way of thinking and he then takes   on the role of bodyguard while trying to figure out which member of the extended family   is a murderer.
DF brought his version of "who shot J.R.?" to the printed   page 6 years after the television series posed the question. With ex-wifes, assorted   offspring and in-laws all in the picture there is not a shortage of suspects. There's a small table itemizing the Pembroke clan   at the beginning of the novel but typical readers won't have the inclination to refer to it; most readers   will let the offspring become a blur of miserable adults whining about not having enough income from their   trust funds (except for non-whining Ian, of course). It's all satisfactory enough, I suppose, but   it would have been nice to have a couple of sharp, nasty suspects in the mix.
Bolt
1986
Kit Fielding returns in this story of an extortionist   who is turning the screws on Princess Casilia's family. The princess, in addition to owning   the champion horses that Kit rides, is the aunt of Kit's main squeeze Danielle. While   battling the extortionist Kit finds himself allied with his chief rival for Danielle's   affections.
This followup to Break In is a weaker   effort focusing on Kit's relationship with Danielle rather than any sort of intricate   mystery. We know who the bad guy is from the beginning and there are no great   surprises in store as the bad guy does his evil bit and Kit eventually saves the day.   The majority of the novel I was wondering exactly what Kit and Danielle see in each   other; Danielle's interests are much more in line with those of Prince Litsi (the rival)   and Kit seems to be a sap (but a noble sap, of course). It would have been more interesting   if Kit had another option on the romance front as well; then DF could've   ended Bolt with a cat fight or something.
Break In
1985
Champion jockey Kit Fielding is almost   telepathically close to his twin sister Holly. So he naturally agrees to help out   when she asks for his assistance in   determining who is out to disgrace her racehorse trainer husband Bobby Allardeck; it seems someone   has been planting stories in gossip columns. However, it turns out that there's more than   just a little rumor spreading afoot and Kit must be careful to keep his name out of   the obituary column.
You get the feeling that, of   all the Dick Francis heroes, Kit Fielding is the one he'd most like to be. Certainly   he (Kit) has it all going on: he's at the peak of his profession, able to gain   the confidence and respect of all (all except for the bad guys, of course) and starts   a relationship with a beautiful and intelligent woman. There's even the legacy of an   age-old quarrel to spice things up: the Fieldings and Allardecks have been at each other's   throats with a ferocity that puts the Montague-Capulet thing to shame. No wonder that Francis immediately   penned a sequel. Break In is also strong in its racing scenes; if   there had been a little bit more thought to the plot then this one would be among   DF's very best. As is, it's pretty damn good.
Proof
1984
Wine merchant & caterer Tony Beach is present at   an outdoor gala when an 'accident' takes the lives of many guests including a horse owning Arab   Sheik. And thus begins Tony's envelopment in a case of counterfeit liquors and murder.
Once in a while DF goes overboard with the whole "let's look behind the scenes of a specialized profession" thing. The danger   in his approach lies in the over-emphasis of the profession and its place in the world.   In the case of Proof we are asked to believe that the troubles of the   world would just go away if we all had a bottle of a good Rioja. The blurbs on the cover   of the Fawcett Crest edition that I read lead me to suspect that the copywriters   were swilling too much of the vino themselves: "Fake scotch and foul murder   test the strength of one man's spirit"!! Oh well, reading this one was a little   bit educational since DF does discuss the origin of the term "proof"...
The Danger
1983
Andrew Douglas, a specialist in kidnap negotiations,   watches helplessly as local cops bungle the ransom drop in a case involving a female   Italian jockey. Working behind the scenes, Douglas strives to keep the girl safe while   assisting her family in dealing with the stressful situation. After the Italian   kidnapping is resolved, Douglas becomes involved in other cases and a pattern emerges:   the mastermind behind the kidnappings is cool, logical and linked to the racing world.   It's up to Douglas and his colleagues to stop him.
Upon my first reading of The Danger I   thought it an average Francis effort but a second reading led to my opinion being   revised downward. I didn't mind very much during either reading that narrator Douglas is rather briefly   sketched, leading to a lack of empathy on the part of the reader. But on the second   reading I started noticing (and was bothered by) Douglas' lack of professionalism,   chiefly in his establishing a post-rescue romance with a kidnapee. Stereotypical   supporting characters such as the ex-SAS man who is Andrew's colleague also get   to be annoying. Although The Danger predates it by some six years,   a comparison with Frederick Forsyth's The Negotiator is inevitable;   Francis comes out the loser in that contest.
Banker
1982
A merchant banker on his way up the corporate ladder,   Tim Ekaterin has agreed to lend a lot of money to a horse breeder in order to acquire   the prize winning race horse Sandcastle. All starts off well but of course it doesn't   stay well....
Banker develops rather slowly over   a period of almost three years; with my relatively brief description I've tried to avoid the mistake that the publishers   made in giving away plot points that don't occur until late in the novel. Let me just say that   the mystery is highly satisfactory, Tim's romantic life takes an unexpected twist or two and   you learn a lot about the making of babies. Baby horses, that is...
Twice Shy
1981
This is a dual narrative novel focusing on a computer program that can  win bets at the track and the bad guys who want it. Physics teacher (and Olympic  marksman) Jonathon Derry is the first narrator; once he is given the program he  must determine what it is and then, more importantly, what to do with it.
The dual narrations are separated by some fifteen years;  this interesting technique is the source of some major problems when  reading because the computer technology is not updated at all in  the novel (e.g., the program is still being loaded via cassette  tapes a dozen years after the PC revolution). Even if this novel were  updated I'd still have some problems with it; the bad guys are stereotypes,  they're dealt with too easily and the novel's ending is pat. The first part of the  novel does foreshadow some of the relationship themes later developed in Decider .
Reflex
1980
Philip Nore's profession is that of a jockey; his   hobby is photography. So he turns out to be the only one who can tie together   all the loose ends that arise after the death of a racetrack photographer. Seems that the   departed had a penchant for blackmail and Philip soon discovers secrets that perhaps   should be left hidden.
As in Proof DF   puts too much emphasis on technical details in this one; the explanation of color mixing   (yellow + cyan = green, etc.) made me think a color wheel was lurking on the next page and   I eventually just skimmed through whenever techno-babble arose. In this book there is also   the added distraction of Philip's search (by request of his hated grandmother) for   a sister he never knew he had. Actually, Reflex seems to be a whole   collection of distractions in 295 pages - there's not a unifying message or motif behind it all. Which is fairly typical for Francis (and I'm not complaining!) but there   was some eyebrow arching when I read the liner notes comparing Reflex to the works of John Le Carré and Graham Greene.
Whip Hand
1979
Sid Halley, the ex-jockey, now private investigator   last seen in Odds Against , is now relatively   resigned to the fact that he now has an artificial hand. The new electro-plastic mechanism   doesn't seem to be slowing him down, either, as he simultaneously takes on cases   involving corruption at the highest levels of the Jockey Club, the puzzling performances of   a trainer's top horses and a con man's ensnarement of Sid's ex-wife.
It's rather unusual that a mystery writer   would let so much time lapse between publication of novels centering on the same character.   But that's the case with the Sid Halley series; the three novels came out every 15 years or so.   So why did DF decide to revisit Sid Halley? A cynic would say that Francis was trying   to end a losing streak: 6 of the 7 novels prior to Whip Hand are   rated as below average on the reliable horse-o-meter. A romantic would say that DF   simply wanted to continue the story of a fascinating character (which begs the question   of why he waited a decade and a half). Whatever the reason, Whip Hand is a strong novel that even has a bit of uncharacteristic non-heroic behavior by   the narrator. Update, AUG 04 - Thanks to reader Jonathan Sheen who points out that DF brought back Sid because   "A British TV network -- I think it was Channel 4, rather then the BBC,  ran a TV series called 'The Racing Game' that featured adventures of Sid Halley. Francis was taken by the program, and the actor who played Sid,  and that inspired him to write another." This information is apparently in the dedication of Whip Hand.
Trial Run
1978
Randall Drew, ex-amateur steeplechase jockey,   is asked by a high ranking royal personage to determine whether a   relative should be allowed to compete in the upcoming Moscow Olympics. It seems that   the royal relative has gotten mixed up in a potentially embarassing scandal. As a   result, a certain Alyosha in Moscow is less than happy   and has promised to extract revenge. Drew eventually agrees to go to Moscow to poke around.
There're a lot of weak plot elements in Trial   Run: Drew seems to be awfully well off for being a farmer, he manages   to get information from Russians left and right (this is explained as being part of   the "bond of horses") and there is generally a lot of waltzing unimpeded through   the streets of Moscow. This book also doesn't have too much of a horse connection; one   could make Drew an ex-rower without changing very much of the story. I think what   saves this book from being an absolutely horrid effort are the exotic locations   (exotic relative to the usual foggy hills of England) and a well thought out solution   to the mystery.
Risk
1977
An hour after amateur jockey and professional accountant Roland Britten unexpectedly   wins the Cheltanham Gold Cup, he is abducted and held in isolation. Eventually making   his escape, Britten must determine why someone wants him out of circulation.
Risk is standard Dick Francis fare   with a noble hero escaping from sticky situations with body bruised   but pride intact, a plot which stretches thin in places but eventually wraps up   neatly and the usual love interest. As said, this is nothing special by DF standards   but that in itself makes for an entertaining novel.
In The Frame
1976
The hero/narrator this time is Charles Todd; he's a painter whose cousin's wife  has just been murdered during a burglary. When Todd comes across another possible  burglary he is not suspicious until he learns that both cases had Australian connections.  Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not...Todd heads to the Land Down Under to figure it all out.
This is another one which starts out strongly (the body of the murdered woman is  described in clinical details) but eventually bogs down in its  own improbabilities. Once in Australia Todd hooks up with an old college chum & the chum's new wife and then they're off on one zany adventure after another. In  most mysteries the hero manages a miraculous escape from the bad guys; In The Frame has about two miracles too many.
High Stakes
1975
Steven Scott, a successful inventor of mechanical toys, gives the sack to   the trainer of his hurdler Energize. In public Scott is seen as an ungrateful owner   uncaring about the little man. The non-public reason for the sacking is that   the trainer has been systematically fleecing   Steven for years. But the trainer does not go gently into the good night & Steven must enlist new allies in an attempt to recover his horse and honor.
Middle of the pack Francis. The hero is cut from   the usual cookie cutter mold, the new allies are duly impressed by Scott's resourcefulness   and the plot skirts but never descends into unbelievability. Well, there is an element or   two that seems rather far-fetched (when the deceived deceive the deceivers, got it?) but   that's classic DF - if you don't like it then don't start reading.
Knockdown
1974
Jonah Dereham is an independent bloodstock agent. He is engaged by a rich American woman  to buy a horse for the son of her boyfriend. All goes normally until Jonah is attacked  after the purchase and forced to relinquish the horse. It turns out that the attack was  only the opening salvo in this story of crooked characters in the world of horse purchasing.
This novel started out well enough, with the mysterious attack and a selection of  interesting characters including Jonah's alcoholic brother, the rich American, her richer intended and his rebellious  son. But Knockdown loses steam about halfway through; there's little  followup on the interesting characters, the plot becomes a little bit too far-fetched and  the novel degenerates into a series of examples of scams. The cover to my paperback edition (published by Pocket) is one of the ugliest and most inappropriate that I've seen of late;  it hints at a work by Piers Anthony, not Dick Francis.
Slayride
1973
David Cleveland, Chief Investigator of the Jockey Club (Great   Britain), is asked to provide assistance in the case of a British jockey who apparently   has made off with the receipts from a Norwegian racecourse. Cleveland finds that more than   the local diet is fishy as he delves into a scheme that involves beatings, bombs and   murder.
I'm not really sure why I don't have Slayride ranked higher. The plot proceeds along well enough, at least until the final fifth or so   of the novel. It all sort of falls apart at that point but I already wasn't thrilled   by the book. What's the reason for my lack of enthrallment?: not enough racing?   stereotypical characters? my heretofore latent hatred of all things Norwegian? Well,   maybe it's the title. Obviously the product of some over-eager editor's   desire to have a snappy short title that relates somehow to Scandinavian winters, Slayride instead only conjures up images best left to Stephen King.
Smokescreen
1972
Movie actor Edward Lincoln is asked by an old friend to find out why the horses  in her South African stable are no longer winning. In the course of his investigation  he encounters real life-or-death situations deep inside a gold mine and on the  sun-baked South African veldt.
Quite by coincidence, I bought and read my copy of this book while waiting for  a connecting flight at the international airport in Johannesburg. As a travel guide to South   Africa, Smokescreen is quite useful. I quickly learned why, despite   my visit in mid-summer, it wasn't terribly hot in Jo-burg (its 6000 ft elevation). And   the descriptions of the workings of the gold mine and the workings of a motion   picture are well done. Unfortunately, the rest of the book is lacking in both   suspense and plausibility. Not to give anything away, but it is difficult   to believe that the villain could put Lincoln in all those life-or-death situations.   My edition of the novel has a "brand new introduction by the   author"; I'm not sure if it was written post-apartheid but Francis uses it   to give some background on his 1971 visit to the country and to stress that   political matters are not addressed.
Bonecrack
1971
When a serious auto accident sidelines his father,   business analyst Neil Griffon is temporarily in charge of the training of some 85   horses including the Derby favorite. Which means that, when a ruthless crime lord   decides he wants his son Alessandro to ride on the Derby winner, the best way to achieve   such an end is to kidnap Neil & threaten him with the destruction of the stables   unless sonny is given the ride.
At the beginning of Bonecrack there's a little map of the village in which it takes place; because of it, my first thoughts were   that the novel was going to be a whodunit alá Agatha Christie. Note to worry, Bonecrack is simpler than that. The focus is on father-son relationships:   the haughty wannabe jockey's love/fear relationship with his crime boss dad, Neil's   hate/apathy feelings towards his father & the brother/mentor/father   relationship that develops between Alessandro and Neil. Everything that happens is   fairly predictable but Bonecrack is highly enjoyable for all that.
Rat Race
1970
Life has kicked pilot Matt Shore around a bit; an acrimonious   divorce and a gradual decline in his career have reduced him to living in a trailer   and counting every penny. There's no shortage of suspects when Shore and his four race going air taxi passengers narrowly avoid death via   a bomb; it's up to Matt to determine who wants whom dead.
One of several DF novels with an aviation background, Rat Race takes us behind the scenes of a air taxi service. The depiction of Shore's   decidedly non-glamorous life is well done and there's a bunch of other interesting   characters (a stereotypical hippie is not so interesting as he goes around looking for some free love). The general outline of the mystery isn't too hard to discern but trying to   figure out the details proved to be beyond my capabilties. Overall, Rat Race is a continuation of the above average DF works of the late '60s.
Enquiry
1969
We learn through flashbacks that narrator Kelly   Hughes and trainer Dexter Cranfield have just lost their licenses; an enquiry panel   was of the opinion that Kelly had held back his odds-on favorite and let another   Cranfield-trained horse win. However, there was enough inconsistent behavior   exhibited by the panel that Kelly believes he was set up. He then attempts to   clear his name and nab a villain.
Enquiry works despite the old   jockey-turned-sleuth story structure. Perhaps it works because Kelly makes a fair   number of mistakes in his investigating; he does not suddenly discover that he's   a latent Sam Spade. Enquiry is believable every step of the   way, from the feelings of self-blame at the enquiry to the descriptions of   the governors of racing to the investigative trail taken by Kelly. So yes, the   amateur sleuth story line works out quite well in this case, one of Francis' best.
Forfeit
1968
James Tyrone, sports writer for a Sunday newspaper,   hears the drunken confession of fellow writer Burt Chekov: Chekov has apparently   been writing his column according to the dictates of a blackmailer. Burt dies an "accidental" death shortly afterwards. Tyrone quickly   determines that Chekov's column was being used as part of a betting swindle.   As he leads his paper's effort to stop the swindlers, the married Tyrone must also wrestle with   his own conscience as he pursues an affair.
There are two aspects of Forfeit that lead to it being one of the top Francis novels I have read: a plausible storyline   linked to racing and a narrator with more to offer than the usual oh-so-noble   Francis hero. A racing-related plot is, of course, a requirement for a superior   Francis effort. But the multi-faceted James Tyrone is a definite (and welcome) change of   pace. Although his motivations are different, Tyrone's infidelity has its counterpart   in a few other Francis novels such as Decider and Twice Shy . But the actions in Forfeit are on another level entirely; there's even a sex scene!   Sex in a Dick Francis novel? Oh yeah, it was the 60s, man......
Blood Sport
1967
Enter Gene Hawkins, suicidal spy catcher who is   asked to track down a missing horse. After initially refusing the request, Gene   changes his mind after he foils a murder attempt directed against the horse's   owner. The search leads to the U.S. and Gene soon learns that certain types of   outlaws are still on the loose in the Wild, Wild West.
Why does Gene sleep with a Luger under his pillow?   To defend himself against enemies or to provide a daily test of his will to live? What   started Gene on the road to depression - was Gene's pregnant wife killed by a drunk driver?, was Gene's only   child kidnapped as an infant & never returned?, was Gene's collection of Picasso   drawings damaged by mildew? Nah, it turns out that things didn't work out between Gene   and the love of his life. Big deal. There's some mild philosophizing on the meaning   of life in Blood Sport; surely a weak plot and a hero that feels all   too sorry for himself can't be part of the answer.
Flying Finish
1966
Henry Grey has a desk job at a bloodstock agency   and rides as an amateur jockey when he can. Sounds like an uncomplicated existence   until you learn that he's also a weekend pilot and an earl in waiting. Henry soon   gets a new job at a firm that transports horses via air and it doesn't take him   long to notice that there's some shady business going on.
Was it Chekov who noted that, if a gun is on stage during   the first act of a play, it must be fired before the play's conclusion? No matter, the   analogy here is that the reader figures out pretty quickly that Henry is going to   get into some trouble and he's going to have to fly his way out of it. The plot of Flying   Finish is strong enough with a logical explanation behind all the shady business   and a realistic level of ruthlessness displayed by the villains. This book was voted   as the favorite DF novel in a poll on one of the other sites in the Dick Francis   Webring.
Odds Against
1965
Ex-champion jockey Sid Halley is an operative for a detective   agency; two years previously he had been in a steeplechase accident that left him with   a crippled hand and little desire to get on with his life. Still recovering from a gunshot wound,   Sid investigates the hostile takeover of a racecourse. The bad guys are quite willing   to use brutal methods and Sid finds himself on the receiving end more often than not.
As Odds Against opens narrator Sid   Halley is in a hospital bed, recovering from a ".38 slug of lead which made a pepper   shaker out of [his] intestines" and "left [him] with fire in [his] belly   in more ways than one." Thankfully, that's about it for the Mickey Spillane and the   majority of the book is spent following Sid's slow return to a state of self-respect. The   plot line is well-thought out and the comic-book depiction of evil   characters is forgiveable (although we do get started on the old "let's torture   Sid by stomping around on his hand" routine that gets tiresome by the 3rd Halley   book, Come To Grief ).
For Kicks
1965
Daniel Roke, a young owner of an Australian stud farm, agrees to go undercover in England  and investigate a horse-doping scandal. Although the monetary rewards are great, Daniel's  motivations for accepting the task lie mostly in his feelings of confinement brought  on by his many responsibilities. Once in England Daniel must overcome his natural  instincts and portray an unsavory stable lad who is open to underhanded offers.
One of Francis' best. The mystery is first rate and Francis' depiction of the  working lives of the stable lads rings with authenticity. Although not its focus, For  Kicks has a straight forward treatment of sex that I found surprising (considering  when it was written). Incidentally, it wasn't until two days after I had finished the book  that I figured out the meaning of the cover of my paperback edition (published under the  Fawcett Crest banner). A good thing too, since the cover gives away the mystery.
Nerve
1964
It's tough to be a jockey: you might shoot yourself   on the racecourse, you might have your career ruined because of allegations of   passing on insider information, you might get a reputation for habitual   tardiness, you might be thought of as someone who has lost his nerve due to an   accident..... But it's all part of the racing game, isn't it? I mean, there couldn't   be a conspiracy afoot, could there? Rob Finn, the nervous one, figures it all out.
Francis' second novel has the same basic themes   as the first: clear-headed jockey forced to turn detective, the love interest who resists his advances,   an evil presence that's behind seemingly unrelated incidents. But the plot is a little bit   less believeable this time and the romance is, to my innocent eyes, positively creepy   (Rob has the hots for his first cousin). If Dick Francis had continued down this road then   he'd be regarded as a hack. Lucky for us, Francis soon figured out how to transcend such   formulaic writing.