4 Stars

"As jockey Alan York looked at the back of Bill Davidson astride the great horse Admiral, one thing was different. Before his rival reached the last hurdle, he was dead. Alan knew racing was dangerous; he also knew Bill's death was no accident. It was the kind of knowledge that could get a man killed...."
Dead Cert by Dick Francis is a well-woven tale of deception, hit men, murder, agendas, suspicion, secrets, action, tension, mystery, suspense, horse racing, and dramatic developments- which made for an intriguing read.
->2023 Reading Challenge.
->Glennie's Collection
Dick Francis novels were a familiar fixture in our household when I was growing up, as both my parents loved his books. He was amongst the first ‘adult’ reads that I explored at the time, and over the years I have read everything he’s written. I remember every time my mother read one of his books, she'd tell me about him and how he'd gone from being an RAF pilot to being the Queen Mother's favourite jockey, before retiring to become a journalist/writer.
Since my mother passed away over a year ago, I have been making my way through her book collection, finally. I decided to make reading her entire collection a part of my reading challenge for the next couple of years (she has a HUGE collection), as well as a way to pay tribute to my mum, who was such a voracious reader..... Reading her collection of books has stirred up a lot of memories, mostly of our shared love of reading. I am forever grateful that she passed on her love of reading to me.

This is Francis' first mystery, and even though it's terribly dated (in it, taxis with radios are a recent innovation and are used plotwise to great effect), it's still a very good read. Alan York, the first person hero, is a rich young man who rides as an amateur jockey simply because he loves it. Although he has an expensive car, he rarely mentions his wealth and never uses it to gain advantage for himself and in fact, refuses to mention it to his new girlfriend's relatives because one of his friends, who isn't rich, is competing for the attention of the same woman. That's fairness in spades.

The plot is a common one -- when his best friend is killed, Alan is compelled to figure out how and why. But as I've mentioned many times before, it's all about execution. The mystery is strong, the characters are interesting, and there's a fairly nice romantic interest. My favorite bit, though, features a horse named Admiral. Francis often included horses as characters in his books, and Admiral, his first, is one of his most memorable.

Critics have said that Francis got better as he became more experienced, that his later novels were more complex and better written than his earlier ones, and I won't deny that. But Dead Cert has always been one of my favorites. If you've always wanted to try Francis and would like to begin with an early one, Dead Cert is definitely a good place to start.

An author I started reading when I was young, predominantly because he was one of my Dad’s favourite authors and I just picked them up off his bookshelves. I’ve not picked one of his books up for a few decades, but I knew I’d still enjoy his portrayal of an England from nearly sixty years ago.

I have no particular interest in horses or horse racing (and neither did my Dad) but that’s always just the background canvas for good old, if slightly dated, crime stories.

I decided to start my re-discovery with his first book from 1962, and it’s as good as any that I can remember.

Another of the old Francis books, not as good as High Stakes, but well worth the read. Even a little romance thrown in which is unusual for his books.