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dick francis

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"Delightful...A tense, fast-paced new mystery...boasting a resolute, resourceful, and modest hero and lots of racetrack characters and color."
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
Transporting racehorses to the course is big business for ex-jockey Freddie Croft. But when a driver breaks a cardinal rule and picks up a hitchhiker, the results are fatal...for the hitchhiker. Freddie knows that a corpse is bad for business, especially when its trail leads to corpse number two --- and to strange nighttime stalkers and unseen conspirators who are weaving a web of deceit and danger that Freddie might never escape....

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,1992

This edition

Format
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
December 29, 1993 by Fawcett
ISBN
9780449221396
ASIN
0449221393
Language
English
Characters More characters

More editions

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
35(35%)
4 stars
28(28%)
3 stars
37(37%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
cBuny
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A well executed whodunnit centred around horse racing. Freddie Croft, owner of an equestrian transport company, finds problems starting when a hitch-hiker picked up by one of his drivers dies in the cab. The author, an ex-jockey, knows the industry well. Written in 1991/2 it is very much of the time. Boot discs, floppy back-up discs and the Michelangelo virus evoke some nostalgia, as do the menus. Interesting inclusion of tick borne diseases. It is well worth a read.
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MajinJew
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I enjoyed this one even though it's not a favourite. Freddie runs a horse-transport business but when dead bodies start turning up at his business he has to solve what's going on before it ruins him. It's got a cracking biological science-related mystery, lots of actual horse stuff, some great characters
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PersonaSimon
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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See Shorty's and Linda's reviews. Published in in 1994.

I think people's dislike (if you can call it that) of this book is over the lack of caring in Freddie Croft's part. Sure, he's great at scheduling, booking, etc. and he used to ride horses, being an ex-jockey. But there is just too much detail about how to get from one venue to another. Do I care how many miles from point A to point B or whether the trailer is a 8-horse or a 4 horse? How does he FEEL when Jogger, who had been with him how many years, is murdered? Did he even shed a tear at the funeral? What about poor Peterman, who was NOT at all well taken care of; didn't Freddie, a groomsman or someone at his farm, and the phone works both ways, WHAT ABOUT THIS OLD ANIMAL IN PAIN??? I know I'm a softie, but I almost stopped reading and gave up on this book!!
Then when Tessa, who had seemed reasonable up to that point, at the last minute, went crazy and broke up anything in sight, well. The characters are well-drawn, and the ending is a bit of a surprise, but this is not Mr. Francis best book.

Interesting to me on P 52: "Hi ho Silver" [Freddie] said cheerfully, "we've got another couple of lone rangers". There are several other humorous references to lone ranger(s) throughout the book.
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Pokitaru
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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typical Dick Francis

Fast, fun, interesting. Always a plot with interest divulged about something, this time it’s keeping a fleet of lorries in the road and transporting viruses. DF is always a good holiday or duvet day read
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arielphf
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Excellent

Started as a quick read at lunchtime. Finished the book in time for late tea. Really enjoyable. Thank you Mr. Francis.
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ewot
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Five stars for a Dick Francis?! I know, I'm surprised too. There are definitely a few dodgy moments but they are infrequent and principally are passing outdated ways the hero describes a female character on first appearance.

Otherwise this is one of his better mysteries and if it felt a little obvious in places that's only because I've read so many of his I see the tropes.

This phrase regarding using a Yellow Pages amused me "a bit of yellow-fingers walking" because I'd guess it makes absolutely no sense to anyone under 25.
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