First, a critique of Dick Francis the author. Then a review of his first book.
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I love Dick Francis’s books for the intelligent writing; he’s just plain an excellent writer and superb storyteller. He sets up a good mystery and maintains suspense. The horse jump-racing culture that his books explore is thrilling. Even when most of the activity is in another field, it still is tangentially involved with horse racing.

Each book has its own main character — only 4 of the 30 I’ve read have had the same main character (2 each). In one book the main character was a horse painter and the story involved forgeries (In the Frame); another was an insurance man (Risk); the way jockeys use (or don’t use) their whips (Whip Hand) — yes, an entire book and every page fascinating. Another involved the use of the old-fashioned humane killer (Bolt); injuries endured by jockeys, and which are career-ending (Bonecrack); breeding (Blood Sport); cheating by jockeys, trainers or owners (Enquiry); betting and unscrupulous trainers (Forfeit), and so on.

Nearly every book has detailed descriptions of English jump racing, courses from Cheltenham to Plumpton, jockeys’ weighing rooms, stable life, etc. It is surprising how many people are engaged in racing, from reporters, judges, touts, pilots, stable hands, exercise grooms, physicians and veterinarians, to drug firms, labs for routine or excessive-seeming testing, jockeys, race course officials, weighing room personnel, (take a breath!) insurance salesmen, breeders, owners, artists, announcers, maintenance crews, on and on.

A New York Times Book Review comment about his work says that “because of the lore you collect as you go, it feels like a field trip with the perfect guide.” I couldn’t agree more. His description alone of the horses parading through the streets of Newmarket on a foggy morning on the way to the gallops inspired me to go there to see for myself. Thank you, Mr Francis!
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Dead Cert, published in 1962, was his first book. I read it some time around 2007.


As he rode through the thick English fog, jockey Alan York was looking at an all-too-familiar sight: the back of champion rider Bill Davidson astride the great racehorse Admiral. But this was one race York was destined to win: Before Admiral jumped the last fence Bill Davidson would be dead. Alan knew racing was a dangerous sport, but he also knew this had been no accident.

Like his other books, this one rates 5 stars from me for suspense and character development. I was hooked.

I decided to look up all of the Dick Francis books and realized I had never actually read the first one. I was very pleased to have found it and enjoyed it immensely. I love how he has the jockeys talking to each other while they are racing. I cannot imagine forming a thought much less a sentence while trying to stay onboard.

5 stars for the narration, 4 for the book

My first time reading/listening to Dick Francis, but narrator Simon Prebble can read anything to me. As always, his narration was superb. I was pleasantly surprised by the book as well. I very much enjoyed listening to it and learning about steeple chasing. Narrator Alan York found himself in a few tight situations and it was fun to hear how he worked his way out of them amid the escalating violence of the shady organization asking for protection money and paying jockeys to "stop horses." I also liked Alan's touching relationship with his father.

My one complaint is in the resolution of the romance. Everything about the romance, really. I would not predict long-term success for that relationship.

Perfect hero, great plot, one of Francis' best

Steeplechase jockey Alan York knows that the fall that his best friend, Bill Davidson, took in the race was not the accident it seemed. Something was very wrong. When his friend died of his injuries, leaving behind a devastated widow, Alan is determined to find who was behind the plan to cause the fall. He finds a plot more complicated and sinister than he suspected, and a villain prepared to kill rather than be exposed. 
   One of Dick Francis's most admirable heroes, plus a delightful love story makes this book one of my favorites. I highly recommend it.

DAME AGATHA CHRISTIE AND HER PEERS
Book #47
Francis has a go-to formula that I believe he returns to often, but the thing is there is SO MUCH about the sport of horse racing for me to learn that it seems Francis has an endless supply of good stories.
CAST = 3 stars: Bill Davidson is a young jockey hot on the track, but is killed in the opening chapter. His best friend, Alan York, is also a jockey and in the same race, and thinks he sees how the accident/murder takes place. Alan is out for justice...oh, and for Kate (instantaneous love: Francis does not write of lovers pining away), of course. His friends, Sandy and Dane, may or may not stick with Alan, especially given that all the jockeys are head over heels in love with the miraculous Kate (whose Uncle George and Aunt Deb are a bit on the suspicious side). But this novel is more about atmosphere (and a full throttle finish) than characters.
ATMOSPHERE = 3: Chock full of info about horse racing/steeple-chasing: Francis shows us the rules instead of telling us. That said, there are some comments/terms I had to research to get a full understanding of the on-and-off track shenanigans.
CRIME = 3 stars: I've read 4 novels by this author and I found this crime/murder the ugliest and most intense thus far. I'd never have thought such a thing could happen, so there is originality, but it's a bit dark for me. I like this genre more on the cozy side - the crime is relatively unseen.
INVESTIGATION = 3: Alan is very young and has no idea what kind of people he is up against. People who kill people - and horses - for a few bucks. And he is on his own for most of the story. I kept thinking "Alan, call the cops. Call them RIGHT NOW. Call anyone!" But Alan is too much of a hot shot to listen to me.
RESOLUTION = 5: A master class double-climax beautifully rendered. Here are the kind of final chapters that can make an author famous overnight. And did.
SUMMARY = 3.4. I can't believe I passed up this author for over 50 years. 1960's Francis is definitely as good as Dame Christie in the 1960s, although they are about impossible to compare. Still, a 'who-done-it' is a 'who-done-it', whether in a country house manor or on a racetrack as we have a victim(s), villains, and a cast ready to come to the rescue, if needed.

Although I quite enjoy the books by Dick Francis, I always feel that I have read them before. A good read all the same.

Dead Cert is the first of Dick Francis’ published novels and is a brilliant read with a good mix of suspense, mystery and enough keys to the puzzle to intrigue the mind without giving it all away. It is statements such as these, at the end of chapter 6, that make Dick Francis such an amazing writer.

“And how could I guess, as I cut the cards for Polly and helped William straighten up his leaning tower of chips, that Henry already held in his sharp eight-year-old brain the key to the puzzle of his father’s death. He didn’t know it himself.”

One would think this could make the story predictable, but in fact the opposite is true and makes the reader even more confused and intrigued to find out what is happening. Francis has such a gift for story telling and giving just enough detail so as to keep readers engaged, and yet not enough to spoil what will happen next.

Predictability wise I did hazard a guess at one of the main culprits by about half way through the book. However there were also enough other red herrings to make it a far from certain conclusion.

Sadly, for me, the ending of the novel left much to be desired and I couldn’t quite believe as I turned the page that in fact that was the end of the book and there were no more pages. Still, if that is the worst I can say of Francis’ first novel it says a great deal about the excellence of this book and what a good author Dick Francis was. I look forward to reading more of his writing.

I have gone back to some old favorites. Dead Cert was first published in 1962, and it was the book that began the writing career of Dick Francis, after years of riding - as a successful steeple chase jockey.

It is quite a short novel but the basic plot is great and it is refreshing to read a mystery that was written before the age of laptops/computers, mobile phones, and forensic testing. There are no wasted words; there are interesting characters, plenty of suspense, and a very knowledgeable insight into the world of steeplechase horse racing in England that work together to create a great story, ideal for a good weekend read.

The main protagonist is Alan York, born in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) but living in England. He is an amateur jockey, in addition to looking after his father’s successful shipping firm in from London a couple of days a week. The story begins with Alan riding well in a race but coming a close second to his good friend Bill Davidson and the favorite, Admiral. The race is panning out the way everyone predicted until Bill’s horse falls in front of him and Alan finishes first.
The victory is a hollow one because Bill has been seriously injured and later dies in hospital. When Alan thinks back over the race he has a feeling that there was something wrong about the way Admiral took the jump. He goes back to the course to investigate the fatal jump and finds a coil of wire. This is irrefutable proof that the race/jump was sabotaged. However, by the time reports his findings to the police and he convinces them to investigate, the wire has gone. Alan decides to begin investigating why someone would want to hurt his friend and finds that things are much more sinister and the corruption goes beyond the world of racing.

There is enough suspense to keep the reader interested and no unexpected tricks from the author and, when all the different strands of the story start coming together, the denouement always makes absolute sense. It is an enjoyable classic British mystery.

Wealthy Rhodesian (and narrator) Alan York, rides in England for fun until his best friend, family man Bill Davidson fulfills a "dead certain" win on Admiral, ignoring a warning to lose, and dies from a wire across the last jump, then cheating Joe Nantwich is knifed. Another pal, poor but honest and handsome Dane, competes romantically, for novice owner hot Kate. An angry whisper masterminds racetrack fraud, and a protection racket conducted by Marconicar radio taxis. Blue Duck's new innkeeper Thomkins was a soldier, now organizing local resistance, including guard dogs. Who is leaking secrets?

Typical Francis hero with pluck, physical and moral strength, gets beaten up cracked ribs and collarbone p223, walks into the lion's mouth, not a believable move to me, despite his motives to shield typically innocent female. Subtle romance and humor, he does not want a sisterly kiss p192, is better than crude. Maybe tough-guys are as dated as pennies for the phone p330.

He knows the criminal from the first. Teasers vary in importance, but effectively hang us over a cliff at the end of chapters, such as "a lot of things became clear to me. But not enough" p208 Eight-year old Henry Davidson, son of Davidson, does not hold the answer p115 in either his habit of overheard phone calls p237, or betting slip collection, so why the wide-eyes? Stopping for lunch at the Blue Duck p172 provides a clue early, but the mass countryside chase would have given the cabs involvement away eventually.

(Spoilers:
Especially when expecting an attack, I did not need to recognize a stolen custom tie to know the pickup police were fake p287. When Alan remembers who kicked him unconscious, and takes revenge, the step outside the law is troubling; the reunited friendship with romantic competitor hopefully permanent.)

This mystery/thriller book is set firmly in the world of British steeplechase horse racing as it is about a jockey investigating something that happened to a fellow jockey during a race. Many of the familiar patterns from other Dick Francis books are here.......a nice-guy protagonist who is brave and well off, the bad guys give a warning to the protagonist which does not stop him, an almost over the top group of bad guys, and of course the heavy focus on horse racing which is very strong here. Overall a very decent story though I have mixed feelings about the ending involving the romantic interest as well as some payback to one of the bad guys.

Corruption, conspiracy, protection and murder is uncovered in the world of racing by millionaire jockey Alan York. After awhile these books just become clones of each other. 3 out of 12. My love of horse racing at this point in my life didn't bleed over to horse racing literature.

When Alan York discovers the death of his good friend from a fall during a race was caused by a trip wire, he decides to investigate. Alan, an amateur jockey himself, was riding just behind Bill Davidson when the accident occurred. Who could have reason to plot the death of the mild-mannered, likable Bill Davidson?

"Dead Cert" was not too violent or stomach churning (some of the author's books can be a bit much for the hero to take, and the reader also!), just a treat all the way through. The author has a talent for contriving heroes with admirable qualities and a unique ability to withstand the most difficult situations and come out on top. Intelligence and resourceful, his characters interact with fault-ridden villains and the plot contains enough intrigue to keep the reader guessing.

"... it was comforting to realize that my adversary was not a man of superhuman intelligence. He could make mistakes. His biggest so far, I thought, was to go to great lengths to deliver an unnecessary warning whose sole effect was to stir me to greater action."

Dead Cert is another of Dick Francis' racing mysteries with a surprise ending. Although I had guessed the identity of one of the criminals, I found I could not guess the identity of the second one. The plot of 'Dead Cert' cleverly and suspensefully unfolds to give a satisfying conclusion.