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In the Frame
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Charles Todd—a renowned painter of horses—is shocked when he turns up at his cousin Donald’s house for a weekend visit to find his cousin’s young wife dead on the floor—and Donald the police’s prime suspect. Determined to prove Donald’s innocence, Todd trails a set of clues from England to Australia to New Zealand, only to realize that someone is trailing him. Someone with every intention of taking him out of the picture for good…
304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1,1976
This edition
- Format
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304 pages, Mass Market Paperback
- Published
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September 5, 2006 by G.P. Putnam's Sons
- ISBN
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9780425209585
- ASIN
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042520958X
- Language
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English
About the author
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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
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%)
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The best early Francis I’ve read
A good mystery with great characters. The added details about painting and Australia are really interesting. I know a book is good when I finish and think “wow.” That’s what happened with the final page of “In the Frame.”
A good mystery with great characters. The added details about painting and Australia are really interesting. I know a book is good when I finish and think “wow.” That’s what happened with the final page of “In the Frame.”
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I stood on the outside of disaster, looking in.
Sometimes you know right from the opening phrase that you're in for a treat and that you will probably abandon all other pursuits around the house until you turn the last page of the latest Dick Francis thriller. As I've already read about two dozen of his books, this isn't really a surprise, and what others may call predictable and repetitive in his characterization and plotting I call reliable, dependable and comfortably familiar.
But Francis does like to use again and again certain techniques and certain types of heroes and villains, so the best way to differentiate between his stories is by the profession of the main character and by the sometimes touristical trivia of his chosen location, when the action moves overseas. By this metric, In the Frame is about painting, and of course the main area of interest for Charles Todd is the painting of horses.
With his usual thorough research, Francis offers interesting bits about pigments, brush techniques, famous exponents of the art - Stubbs, Munnings. As for the travel trivia, Todd starts on his quest in England, but has to follow leads to Australia and New Zealand, where you can almost see the author taking down notes on the Ayers Rock, men only bars, Maori or volcanic terrains.
With the connection betwen painting and racing established, the book includes some very good scenes around the racing track, from the small venues in the Home Counties to the extraordinary popularity of the sport at the Antipodes:
Jump racing at Plumpton, and the familiar swelling of excitement at the liquid movement of racehorses. Paintings could never do justice for them: never. The moment caught on canvas was always second best.
The story itself is a murder investigation, with Mr. Todd thrown into an unfamiliar role as private investigator in trying to help his cousin Donald who loses his wife in a brutal burglary in the opening sequence. Despite an improbable coincidence early on Todd immediately stumbles upon a second burglary in an unrelated incident and some really stupid moves on the part of his adversaries, the action moves at a lively pace and the pages turn almost by themselves. While Todd is the usual competent professional with a quiet presence hiding a quick mind and unrelenting drive, obstinacy and physical endurance, I found the presence of his Australian friend provides a welcome balance. Jik is another painter, as loud and outgoing as Todd is introverted and self reliant. In the absence of a romantic interest for the main character, the story makes do with two tangential ones, subtly understated but just as powerful and authentic as I have come to expect from mr. Francis.
In conclusion, as good a point as any other for readers unfamiliar with the author, and a decent addition to the collection of the fans.
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I listened to the audiobook from the library. This murder mystery novel has art, murder, theft, and travel. Charles Todd is an artist of horses, but he travels the world to prove his cousin innocent of murder. Recommended.
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3.5 stars, rounding down. I liked this, this was a reasonably entertaining although slightly dated 1970s style mystery that you can read comfortably over the course of a quiet weekend. I had never read Dick Francis before, so figured I'd start with what most consider one of this better efforts. It probably was a bit of a barn-burner back in the 1970s when this came out, but I've read enough more recent and very compelling mystery/suspense thrillers that this one was merely "pretty good" by today's standards.
It's funny that I just recently watched the movie "Knives Out" which is as send-up of overly elaborate plots of mystery books from the 70s and 80s. The central crime in this book was a bit elaborate and unrealistic, so I couldn't help but think of Knives Out when reading this. Still, this overall was descent. I liked the lengthy stretch down in Australia, a semi-travelogue of the way things were there in the mid-70s - a country I have a fondness, having spent the better part of a year down there from 1996 to '97. Fun stuff, it almost makes me want to bump this up to 4 stars.
It's funny that I just recently watched the movie "Knives Out" which is as send-up of overly elaborate plots of mystery books from the 70s and 80s. The central crime in this book was a bit elaborate and unrealistic, so I couldn't help but think of Knives Out when reading this. Still, this overall was descent. I liked the lengthy stretch down in Australia, a semi-travelogue of the way things were there in the mid-70s - a country I have a fondness, having spent the better part of a year down there from 1996 to '97. Fun stuff, it almost makes me want to bump this up to 4 stars.
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Any Dick Francis book gets five stars from me.
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Ahh, Dick Francis, my secret indulgence. I like his books, the characters and the locations are always well drawn and the books come to a satisfying conclusion. This one was no different, except I've been to many of the places in the novel, Melbourne, Sydney, Wellington and Auckland, so that was a nice change.
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I enjoyed this one. Our hero was impossible to stop, once he was on the scent. It had a lot of travel, wine, art, painting info, and of course racing :-).
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