This was a book of short stories - some good most not.

Imagine an entire issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine written by Dick Francis and you'll have the spirit of this book.

The crimes in a Dick Francis short story are rarely murder. His patch is the pick-pocket, the swindler, the fixer of races, usually (but not always in this collection) in the steeplechase crowd of Merry Olde England. Francis always grants you a bit of insight and often elicits a touch of sympathy, even in the most unpleasant scoundrel on the page. I never pass on a Dick Francis book.

Fun collection of short stories that don’t always stick to the racetrack. Lots of plot reversals and surprises. I’ll always prefer his full length stories however.

Really good stories with the complexities and character flaws and strengths of those in Dick Francis’s novels and many cases the outcome of a horse race bringing the consequences of the plot together. I especially enjoyed the last three by sequence “Corkscrew,” “Day of the Losers” and “Haig’s Death.”

A delightful group of short stories all related to horse racing of some sort. The author was a retired steeplechase jockey.

I enjoyed these 13 short stories, very different from the novels which follow a well-worn formula. These short stories often seemed to have a darker side or a more whimsical view.

The Francis team was so clever. Always a treat to read.

I'm shelving this short story collection in 'Mystery', even though this isn't really a collection of mysteries, but rather of morality tales.
I'd never noticed before how much Dick Francis believes in right and wrong. In this collection, all loosely held together by horse racing, he tells tales of evil doers, ordinary unpleasantness, and good triumphing over bad. The retribution is sometimes karmic, sometimes law, sometimes almost divine, but there is always a comeuppance.
I rather prefer his mysteries, which had a chance to expand and breath a bit more than these short stories, which end just as they are beginning to feel fleshed out, but this little volume made a couple of nice days of reading.
We could all use a little good triumphing over evil, these days.

Not a fan of the short story in general, unless very well written, which these weren't. Typically, they lacked an end/middle, leaving me wondering what the point of the story was.

Short stories are not my favourite - I prefer something to get my teath into. However, these stories do give some insight into the racing communities

I have had lots of pleasure from Francis’s novels, but Field of Thirteen was my first look into his short stories. The collection is pretty solid and makes an enjoyable read even if I do prefer his novels. Francis has a knack for developing solid likeable heroes and there wasn’t enough time to do that in these stories. Still and all, some great stories here and it's definitely worth the time.

3.5*
13 short stories. Some new, some from previous publications. I am not a fan of short stories, therefore not a full 4*. Dick Francis does have a way of developing great characters even in a short story.