Author: FRANCIS, DICK
Title: Straight (Author Signed)
Description: Putnam, 1989. First Edition; First Printing. Hardcover. ISBN: 0399134700. Inscribed by Author "Bill and Debbie, Hi. Dick Francis". Dust Jacket now in Mylar Protective Cover. Beautiful scarce collectors grade copy of this book.Ex-jockey, Derek Franklin, inherits his brother's jewellery business, mistress and some shadowy business associates. When expensive diamonds go missing, his only hope of survival is to identify his brother's enemies. From the author of "The Edge" and "Odds Against".From the authors obit: Richard Stanley Francis, jockey and writer, born 31 October 1920; died 14 February 2010. Dick Francis, who has died aged 89, was a unique figure, a champion steeplechase jockey who, without any previous apparent literary bent, became an international bestselling writer, the author of 42 crime novels, selling more than 60m copies in 35 languages. Right from the start, with Dead Cert in 1962, the Dick Francis thriller showed a mastery of lean, witty genre prose reminiscent – sometimes to the point of comic parody – of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. It was an American style that many clever people in England had attempted to reproduce without much success, and it was a wonder how a barely educated former jump jockey was able to do the trick with such effortless ease. People said his highly educated wife wrote the books for him. It was a mystery that was never satisfactorily solved. However, After his wifes death in 2000, when no new crime novels appeared, it looked as if Mary might have written them. But then, six years later, Francis came out of retirement to produce Under Orders, which had all the old Francis flavour. The next year, 2007, he published Dead Heat, then Silks (2008) and Even Money (2009).The most dramatic incident in his racing career was also a mystery. In the Grand National at Aintree in 1956, his mount Devon Loch, the Queen Mother's horse trained by Peter Cazalet, had jumped all the fences and, well ahead, only 50 yards from the finish, without another horse near him, suddenly collapsed and was unable to continue. The plots (of Francis' books, too, ran to a formula. Some reviewers protested that racing could not be as crooked as depicted in the Francis novels, but real life (as in the case of the Shergar kidnapping) came in to prove how realistic his stories were. Born at Coedcanlas Farm in the Pembrokeshire village of Lawrenny, Francis came from a line of farming gentry and horsemen. His father was a show rider and manager of hunting stables, his grandfather a farmer and gentleman jockey. Uncles on both sides of his family were Masters of Foxhounds. The family home was a beautiful old farmhouse but it had neither gas nor electricity and was lit by candlelight. As well as the thrillers, he wrote his autobiography, The Sport of Queens (1957), and Lester (1986), a biography of Lester Piggott.. From the authors obit: Richard Stanley Francis, jockey and writer, born 31 October 1920; died 14 February 2010. Dick Francis, who has died aged 89, was a unique figure, a champion steeplechase jockey who, without any previous apparent literary bent, became an international bestselling writer, the author of 42 crime novels, selling more than 60m copies in 35 languages. Right from the start, with Dead Cert in 1962, the Dick Francis thriller showed a mastery of lean, witty genre prose reminiscent – sometimes to the point of comic parody – of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. It was an American style that many clever people in England had attempted to reproduce without much success, and it was a wonder how a barely educated former jump jockey was able to do the trick with such effortless ease. People said his highly educated wife wrote the books for him. It was a mystery that was never satisfactorily solved. However, After his wifes death in 2000, when no new crime novels appeared, it looked as if Mary might have written them. But then, six years later, Francis came out of retirement to produce Under Orders, which had all the old Francis flavour. The next year, 2007, he published Dead Heat, then Silks (2008) and Even Money (2009).The most dramatic incident in his racing career was also a mystery. In the Grand National at Aintree in 1956, his mount Devon Loch, the Queen Mother's horse trained by Peter Cazalet, had jumped all the fences and, well ahead, only 50 yards from the finish, without another horse near him, suddenly collapsed and was unable to continue. The plots (of Francis' books, too, ran to a formula. Some reviewers protested that racing could not be as crooked as depicted in the Francis novels, but real life (as in the case of the Shergar kidnapping) came in to prove how realistic his stories were. Born at Coedcanlas Farm in the Pembrokeshire village of Lawrenny, Francis came from a line of farming gentry and horsemen. His father was a show rider and manager of hunting stables, his grandfather a farmer and gentleman jockey. Uncles on both sides of his family were Masters of Foxhounds. The family home was a beautiful old farmhouse but it had neither gas nor electricity and was lit by candlelight. As well as the thrillers, he wrote his autobiography, The Sport of Queens (1957), and Lester (1986), a biography of Lester Piggott.; 1.6 x 9.3 x 6.3 Inches; 323 pages; Ex-jockey, Derek Franklin, inherits his brother's jewellery business, mistress and some shadowy business associates. When expensive diamonds go missing, his only hope of survival is to identify his brother's enemies. From the author of "The Edge" and "Odds Against".; Signed by Author. Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket .

Keywords: Horse Racing Jockey Horse Track Mystery Crime


See more books from our catalog: Novel: : Author Signed