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Decider

dick francis

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Architect Lee Morris inherits a partial ownership in the Stratton Park racecourse--and with it, a dangerous position among the warring upper-class family trying to settle its fate. Morris would like to see the course restored to its former grandeur, but the various Stratton heirs have plans of their own. When an explosion rocks the grandstands, the disagreement turns violent--and Morris finds himself in a race to save himself and his family from an unknown culprit...

341 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 14,1993

This edition

Format
341 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
December 7, 2004 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN
9780425199381
ASIN
042519938X
Language
English

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About the author

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dick francis

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Dick Francis, CBE, FRSL (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.

Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."

Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '

Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '

Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.

On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.

During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
38(38%)
4 stars
28(28%)
3 stars
34(34%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
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kenconstantine
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I love all Dick Francis novels. I remember the people who populate his world years later. But Decider is one particularly close to my heart, as we watch Lee, the main character, go through this novel with his six sons (and we find out by the end that a seventh is on the way).

It's been years since I read this book, but there are scenes from it still vivid in my mind--trying to get his sons out of a fire, the house they live in, the warring family into which he's stumbled--and I hope to find my copy and read it again.
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nadaci901
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I think of this as a 3.75, but not quite a four. As usual any Francis novel is going to be well written and enjoyable. Our main character, Lee Morris, is decent, ethical, hard-working and smart. In addition he is a loving father to six (!) young boys. One thing I like about Francis novels in general is that the protagonist is always someone I would very much like. There's a lot of excitement, turmoil, feuding within a wealthy family and stuck up aristocrats. There is a moment though, about 3/4ths of the way through the book where it just started to drag. I was like, "oh dear, not another chapter designed to display the class differences and the unmerited anger against our pal, Lee." It just didn't seem necessary at that point and wasn't moving the plot forward. Other than that, though, the story clipped along with an Agatha Christie style denouement, a neatly resolved and most satisfying ending.
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XxohhyesxX
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A touch of Agatha Christie at the horseraces, with a twist of Cleudo thrown in for good measure. A little dated, but overall, a sedate, easy-to-read crime fiction novel.
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ProfessorCool
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Lee Morris is an architect who owns a small share in a race course.The major shareholders belong to the Stratton family,and they can't seem to agree about the future plans for the race course,whether it should be sold or restored.

Unusually for a Francis book,this one has plenty of children,the kids of Lee Morris.As he becomes embroiled in dangerous situation,so do his kids,adding to his worries.

Who is trying to kill Morris ? There are multiple suspects,just like there were in Hot Money.It is a whodunit and it is hard to guess the culprit till the end.

Decider is a top-notch Francis thriller which kept me entertained from start to finish.This is among his best books.
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Reniachii
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Lee Morris, the father of 6 sons is estranged from his wife even though they are still living together. He is owner of a few of stock in a racecourse. He finally goes to a meeting and meets the Stratton family in person. His mother had been married to one of the Strattons but he was not Lee's father. Her second husband was. Lee takes his sons on a outing to the racecourse in their "bus" and they have a great time until they run into the worst of the Strattons, Keith who was his mother's first husband. Things go downhill rapidly and plenty of trouble ensues. Lee's relationship with his sons is admirable and makes you admire him. This story is a little prolonged and ends up rather predictably. But Dick Francis books are always enjoyable.
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sofia_55
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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What an ending! Love that Lee didn’t get the young woman he was lusting after. Such a breath of fresh air. Finally a realistic story.

It was a bit weird how there was nothing about the racetrack or the boys in the last few sentences, but we were giving at least the knowledge that yet another boy would join the ranks, I suppose.

Margerie was my absolute favourite, what a woman! And loved the description that she was a hell of a woman with a touch of tycoon in her. Brilliant!
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rudra_senpai
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Lee Morris is a beginning architect and engineer who gets in the middle of a feud over a racecourse between members of a family that he is connected to. He believes that choice is preordained. When murder occurs he comes in danger himself and must make critical choices.
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Saleenseven
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This was the absolute best novel I've read by this author (of whom I've read 5 or 6 books). The Stratton family is complex and interesting. An architect, the protagonist, at the racetrack adds a new twist and his character is refreshingly open minded and creative. The usual crooked racing hijinks and then some upper class social intrigue made this delightful.
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