Field of Thirteen by Dick Francis | eBook

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Philadelphia Inquirer

Dick Francis has the knack. Which, clearly, is never going to desert him. It's the seemingly simple, most-writers-would-kill-for knack.

Nikki Amdur

This mesmerizing collection of short stories shows the literary jockey at the top of his game. . . . Whether it's an elegy for a sportswriter on the skids or the ballad of a Welsh groom and her social-climbing daughter, the stories linger long after you turn the page.
— Entertainment Weekly

San Francisco Chronicle

You can always depend on Dick Francis for a rousing good story.

Phoebe-Lou Adams

The thefts and scams are. . .admirable; a couple are . . .enticingly plausible. . . —The Atlantic Monthly

San Diego Union-Tribune

Dick Francis remains one of the most inventive and entertaining storytellers of our time, that rare performer who can both satisfy his audience and leave them hungry for more. Francis never fails to boot home a winner.

People Magazine

[Francis] once again saddles up a winner in this fast-paced collection of stories set in the racing world.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's 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. (Sept.)

Phoebe-Lou Adams

The thefts and scams are. . .admirable; a couple are . . .enticingly plausible. . . -- The Atlantic Monthly

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Dick Francis has the knack. Which, clearly, is never going to desert him. It's the seemingly simple, most-writers-would-kill-for knack.

Union-Tribune San Diego

Kirkus Reviews

In lieu of his annual novel (10 Lb. Penalty), horseracing's gift to the mystery offers his fans his first collection of shorts, including five colts appearing in their first event and eight fillies who've been around the track once or twice. Most of the new stories are horsey parables of revenge. A small-town newspaper editor plots against the restaurant that humiliated his guests; a mild expatriate Brit patiently pursues legal remedies against the lawyer who swindled him out of the bail money he put up for an acquaintance; a couple of means gets even with the social-climbing daughter who neglected her mother, their faithful groom; a timely accident puts paid to the plans of a hit man and the jockey who hired him. The last story, 'Haig's Death,' about the effects of a race judge's fatal heart attack on the owners of the entrants, is the most original.

From the Publisher

"[Field of Thirteen] starts with a gallop and remains strong throughout." -USA Today

"Mesmerizing...shows the literary jockey at the top of his game." -Entertainment Weekly

	Notes on the Racecard
	Raid at Kingdom Hill	1
	Dead on Red	13
	Song for Mona	40
	Bright White Star	68
	Collision Course	80
	Nightmare	111
	Carrot for a Chestnut	122
	The Gift	146
	Spring Fever	172
	Blind Chance	190
	Corkscrew	208
	The Day of the Losers	239
	Haig's Death	254

Field of Thirteen

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Field of Thirteen

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