One of the most successful mystery/adventure

writers of the twentieth century, Dick Francis

produces a best-seller nearly every year. The

hallmark of a Dick Francis novel is its setting:

the world of horse racing provides the backdrop

for his best-loved stories, including Dead Cert,

For Kicks, Reflex, and Bolt. In his novels, alive

with the scents and sounds of the horse stables

and the excitement of the big race, Francis, a

former jockey and lifelong lover of horse racing,

describes the world he knows best.

The basis for Francis s remarkable popularity

has finally been addressed in this entertaining

study by J. Madison Davis, himself a writer of

fiction. Probing beneath the deceptive simplic-

ity of the Francis style, Davis reveals a master of

themes and variations who avoids the pitfalls of

the merely formulaic. In an analysis of more

than two dozen novels and a considerable num-

ber of short stories, Davis explores Francis s

brilliant ability to extend the possibilities of the

hard-boiled detective story while adhering to the

time-honored disciplines established by prede-

cessors like Dashiell Hammett and Raymond

Chandler.

Dick Francis is the first full-length study of this

master storyteller. Along with perceptive discus-

sions of the novels, it contains extensive bio-

graphical information and lengthy and informa-

tive interviews with the author and his wife,

which serve to highlight the close connection

between Francis s life and work. Recurring fa-