Field of Thirteen. Dick Francis
Field of Thirteen. Dick Francis
Field of 13
Dick Francis
A bomb scare at Aintree halted the Grand National in 1997 and the racecourse was evacuated; twenty-two years earlier, Dick Francis had written a short story describing such an event at another course.
In 1998, for the first time, the "most outstanding thriller writer of the age" (Daily Mail) compiled a volume of short stories, the settings ranging from the National Hunt Festival at Cheltenham, where a middle-aged owner falls hopelessly in love with her jockey, to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, where the demon drink and wilting willpower take their toll. There are diverse characters from bookmakers to news editors, from crooked lawyers to contract killers.
With his remarkable blend of unrelenting suspense, finely tuned narrative, and lean, stylish prose, Dick Francis' thrillers have led readers to the winner's enclosure year after year.
From his very first novel to his recent death, the award winning "Master of Crime" has treated his fans to a world of equine thrills and human frailty in a string of best sellers of unparalleled excellence.
Field of Thirteen' is a great treat for fans of Dick Francis; thirteen great plots to marvel at, thirteen sets of characters to admire, and thirteen stings in the tail to gasp over.
This collection of thrills shows that Francis is as much a master of the short story as he is of the novel.
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The Author.
Dick Francis was born in Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, on the 31st October 1920. He was the son of a jockey and grew up in Berkshire, England. He left school at fifteen without any qualifications, served his apprenticeship, and became a jockey.
During World War 2, he served in the Royal Air Force, piloting fighter and bomber aircraft, including Spitfire and Hurricane.
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After leaving the RAF in 1946, Dick Francis returned to horse racing and became a celebrity in the world of British National Hunt Racing. He won over 350 races, becoming champion jockey in the 1953/54 season.
From 1953 to 1957, he was jockey to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. His most famous moment as a jockey came while riding the Queen Mother's horse, Devon Loch, in the 1956 Grand National when the horse inexplicably fell within sight of the winning post and about to win the world's greatest race. In 1957, he was forced to retire from racing as a result of a serious fall.
Dick wrote more than 40 international best-sellers. His first book, written in 1957, was his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, which led him to become the racing correspondent for London's Sunday Express', a job he held for 16 years. In 1962, he published his first thriller, Dead Cert', set in the world of racing. Subsequently he regularly produced a novel a year for the next 38 years.
Dick Francis is the only three-time recipient of the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Award for Best Novel, winning for Forfeit' in 1970, Whip Hand' in 1981, and Come to Grief' in 1996. Britain's Crime Writers Association awarded him its Gold Dagger Award for fiction in 1979 and the Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award in 1989.
In 1996, he was given the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master Award, the highest honour bestowed by the MWA. He was awarded a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2000. In 2003, he was honoured by being awarded the Gumshoe Awards' Gumshoe Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1947, Dick married Mary Margaret Brenchley and they had two sons Merrick and Felix. In the 1980s, he and his wife moved to Florida and in 1992 they moved to the Cayman Islands. Mary died of a heart attack in 2000. In 2006, Dick had a heart bypass operation, and in 2007 he had his right leg amputated. He died on 14th February 2010 at his Caribbean home in Grand Cayman
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