Like all Dick Francis books, based in the horse racing industry of England but that is not the total focal point . A jockey looses his brother is what seems to be a horrible accident and is surprised to be his sole heir even though they were not close. This is a well developed mystery as the death of the brother is investigated while jockey takes over his brothers business, horse races and mystress. It is a good summer read, hard to put down.

I'm really digging these Dick Francis mystery books. Granted, they are easy reading and not the deepest literature but they are well crafted and really give this anglophile a great sense of atmosphere and plot. Two down and 38 to go.

Jockey Derek Franklin inherits his brother business and all the troubles that come with it– missing diamonds, a possible horse doping, and a beautiful woman. Full of excitement and lots of puzzles to solve, this is probably one of the best Francis novels I have read so far. It was only marred by the strange inclusion of his brother’s lover that distracted from all that was going on. I wasn’t quite sure what she was doing in the plot and less understood the strange ‘agreement’ between her and the hero-–tonight for him tomorrow for us? Solid and entertaining with more tidbits about horses and horse racing.

Dick Francis is one of only a few male mystery writers I really love. I don’t know why there aren’t more, but I can give you several reasons why Francis is terrific. First, his mystery/thrillers are carefully plotted and always baffling. Second, the pacing is usually spot-on, with calmer scenes interspersed with scenes of tension in just the right proportions. Third, his protagonists are all decent men trying to do their best; they have an inner strength that comes out when they’re tested, and they don’t back down in the face of evil. They’re practical, cool under fire, rational and reasonable (though enormously stubborn.) They’re not unemotional, but they don’t put their feelings out there for everyone to see, either; we experience their feelings because we’re inside the protagonists’ heads due to Francis’s use of first person narration. And finally, Francis’s protagonists, and apparently Francis himself, think of women as human beings, and treat them with respect–something that can’t be said about some other male mystery writers. (Francis seems to have had the same respect for his wife, who was in many ways his collaborator on most of his books, doing much of the hands-on research.)

The author also knows how to grab you from the start. Straight's opening lines pull you in even while they tell you exactly what to expect:

I inherited my brother’s life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother’s life, and it nearly killed me.

From there, the narrator plunges immediately into the story: his brother’s accident and death, the discovery that he is Greville’s executor and responsible for his gemstone importing and wholesale business, the dawning realization that something is seriously wrong, and his determination to solve not only the puzzles his brother left behind but the mystery linked to them.

Another thing I appreciate about Francis is that his secondary characters are three-dimensional. Even if they don’t get much page time, they seem as real as the protagonist, if less well known and understood. Which is as it should be, since all of Francis’s novels are written in first person. In Straight, several characters come vividly to life: June, one of Greville’s employees; Clarissa, the woman he loved; Prospero Jenks, a brilliant jewelry designer and artist. Even the late-middle-aged Ostermyers, owners of a horse they want Derek to ride, are believable and real. Francis excels at creating not just a character but a whole personality in a few perceptive sentences. He’s equally good with settings, although he keeps description to a minimum wherever it is unnecessary, and deftly conjures the necessary details almost without you noticing, enhancing rather than slowing the flow of the narrative.

I’ve read Straight at least four or five times over the last 28 years*, and it remains just as good each time, even though I already know exactly whodunnit and why. And despite being slightly dated in the details (many of Greville’s gadgets would today be contained in a smartphone, for instance), the mystery and its protagonist hold up remarkably well. My one sadness is that there won’t be any more of them; Dick Francis died in 2010, and while his son Felix has continued writing novels in a similar vein, it’s never quite the same when another author takes over.

Most of Dick Francis’s mysteries are stand-alones, but there is a four-volume series featuring former jockey-turned-investigator Sid Halley, and a two-book series starring jockey Kit Fielding. All of his books have some connection with the horse-racing world, or at least with horses, though not all his protagonists are jockeys. If you love mysteries and you haven’t read Dick Francis, I highly recommend you make his acquaintance.

* I tend to do a lot of rereading, a result of a childhood as a fast reader with limited library access. To this day, I enjoy returning to favorite books.

Review originally published at The Bookwyrm's Hoard.