- Hardcover: 224 pages
- Publisher: Michael Joseph; First Edition edition (Sep 21 1998)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0718143515
- ISBN-13: 978-0718143510
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 14.5 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 567 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,366,673 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
This first collection of short stories by Dick Francis (author of 10 Lb. Penalty and more than 30 other horseracing mysteries) pulls together five new tales with eight that have appeared scattered in periodicals over the last three decades. One of the pleasures of his stories is witnessing the breadth and variety within Francis's racetrack milieu. In "Dead on Red," a jealous jockey named Davey Rockman hires Emil Jacques, a French assassin and gun collector, to kill the famed rider who stole his job; but Rockman is haunted by his deed much in the same way as is the protagonist in Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." "Raid at Kingdom Hill" tells of Tricksy Wilcox's scheme for a not-so-bright bomb scare, a plan that still might yield the payoff of a lifetime. "Collision Course" is free of murder but frames a delightful conflict between an out-of-work newspaperman and a bounder whose faux manners threaten to bring him down at the peak of his racing syndicate career. The Kentucky Derby story, "The Gift," follows Fred Collyer, a drunken writer who overhears plans for a major racing swindle and struggles against alcohol to publish the story by his deadline. And the collection ends with a what-if story called "Haig's Death" that examines the consequences of the sudden passing of Christopher Haig, an animal feed consultant and race-meeting judge.
Poe, who most historians of literature credit as the creator of the short story, declared that a good short story should have nothing extraneous. Francis's stories, for the most part, obey Poe's dictum. Each character and description fits tightly into an unfolding plan so that the mystery or twist is revealed with a satisfying economy of words. While Field of 13 will appeal to Francis loyalists, newcomers, too, will find much to relish in the short fiction of this mystery grand master. --Patrick O'Kelley --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Though nearly two score of his novels have come to print, Francis has published only eight short stories in his 41 years as a bestselling author. That octet, composed mostly in the 1970s and initially appearing in various journals (Sports Illustrated, the Times of London, etc.), is reprinted here, along with five new tales, each introduced in brief by Francis. There's not a slacker among them, though few champions either. The earliest yarn, "Carrot for a Chestnut," dating from 1970 (eight years after Francis's first novel), is typical, presenting a morally ordered universe in which malefactors get their due, albeit commonly through indirect means. Here, a jockey who bends a race by feeding a horse a drugged carrot receives his comeuppance by losing his concentration as a result of his crime and getting involved in a nasty accident; as in most of the stories, there's a light twist to the ending. Horse racing figures in every entry, of course. Sometimes it's the focus of a crime?as in "Blind Chance," in which a blind boy picks up on how bettors are getting inside info on races with photo finishes. Sometimes, it's only background, as in "Collision Course," about how a fired newspaper editor hoists poetic justice upon a horrid restaurateur/horse trainer. Most of the stories are superficially clever, but below the quick plotting there's emotional depth; in "Spring Fever," for instance, Francis plumbs the innocent desperation of unrequited December-May love. And throughout there is Francis's voice, strong, smart, ironic, developed even at the beginning but maturing in timbre as he hones his skill. Even more than the horse racing, this voice is the tie that binds these 13 tales into a charmed entertainment.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Classic Dick Francis--With a Twist,
By
This review is from: Field of Thirteen (School & Library Binding)
I highly recommend this book to both new Dick Francis readers and old. For the longtime reader of Francis' work, this is a refreshing reminder of another side of the author, too often played down in favor of plot excitement: subtlety and wit. The classic Francis protagonist is the principled loner (sometimes jaded, sometimes not) who stumbles onto a mystery and into trouble, then follows through to the bitter (and successful) end, usually with numerous bruises, a couple of sprains, and probably at least one fairly serious broken bone or other bloody inconvenience. More often than not (at least in the first three decades of his books), the narrator finds love, as well. Throughout four decades of writing, Francis' stoic narrators have become a bit predictable (though still fun), which makes the unpredictability of this collection all the more enjoyable. Relying more on irony and wit than in any other book, Francis has concocted a series of clever plots with interesting characters (really different from his usual heroes). These stories are very enjoyable and even a bit droll. They move quickly, surprise, and reward. By all means pick this one up. At a time when Mr. Francis may be winding down his career, this collection is a real gold mine, and one last glimpse at a great mystery writer's talent.
1.0 out of 5 stars
13 Reasons Not To Read this Book,
By
This review is from: Field Of Thirteen (Hardcover)
If you type in "Field of 13" in Amazon you get about 20 books from the US Department of the Interior talking about grassland studies and the effectiveness of different pesticides. If I were you I would pick one of those documents over this book. It really is that bad, I almost thought I saw this as an episode of Simon and Simon - quick, easy plot that takes no brain power at all to comprehend. To be fair I only got to page 100 so maybe it did a 180 and got better but I doubt it.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Average Francis collection,
By
This review is from: Field of Thirteen (Mass Market Paperback)
THE PLOT OR PREMISE:A collection of thirteen short stories, eight of which were published previously in various magazines. WHAT I LIKED: b) Dead on Red -- A contract killer kills a jockey for another jockey, but the results are not quite what the surviving jockey had desired. (4.00/5.00) c) Song for Mona -- A snobbish daughter is ashamed of her mother's life and history while others find her charming and praise her. (4.00/5.00) e) Collision Course -- An editor loses his job and runs into snobs who won't let him park his boat at their restaurant while he has dinner with three publishers. Turns out the owner is a up-and-comer who needs to win an upcoming race in order to attract horses to his farm. An interesting battle develops. (4.00/5.00) g) Carrot for a Chestnut -- Fixing a race by doping the horse with a doctored carrot. With a great twist at the end. (3.50/5.00) j) Blind Chance -- A man has a perfect way to know the outcomes of photo-finish races, and to make money on it. Until disaster strikes. (4.00/5.00) k) Corkscrew -- An honest man is charged with a crime and his lawyer swindles his parents out of the bail money. He doesn't count on the road to justice being somewhat long and windy. (3.75/5.00) l) The Day of the Losers -- Money from an old robbery is the glue that holds this story together as the police attempt to fix a race in order to catch a crook. There are twists all around at the end. (3.50/5.00) m) Haig's Death -- All the people who have their fates resting on the outcome of a race are all affected when the decision falls to the judge, whose fate has already been decided. Multiple storylines all leading to a combined finish. (3.50/5.00) WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: a) Raid at Kingdom Hill -- A bomb scare at the racetrack, and money goes missing during the chaos. (2.00/5.00) d) Bright White Star -- The theft of a horse from an auction and a wandering tramp who is displaced from his home on the land...includes a great set-up/intro though -- "Write us a story," they said. I asked, "What about?" "About three thousand words," they replied. (2.00/5.00) f) Nightmare -- A horse thief is running from his past where his father was killed during a theft. (2.50/5.00) h) The Gift -- A down-and-out alcoholic journalist finds the horseracing story of the century, but may be too drunk to write it. (2.00/5.00) i) Spring Fever -- A woman falls in love with her jockey and is taken advantage of, at first. (2.50/5.00) THE BOTTOM LINE: A couple of stories are pretty good, but an average collection overall. 3.00 lilypads out of 5.00. Other Information: - Source: New - Original date of review: March 2001, updated 2011. - Tags: Action, Adventure, Amateur Detective, Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Prose, Sports
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