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Saturday, November 23, 2024

Continuation of the Sid Halley Book Series

Sid Halley is a continuing character in a series of six books begun by Dick Francis and continued by his writer son, Felix Francis. This fictional character became so popular that he has his own page on Wikipedia!

Image of jockeys on race horses during a horse race

Dick Francis wrote numerous books in the horse-racing mystery genre in conjunction with his wife, Mary. Mary insisted on remaining in the background, but she did a tremendous amount of research for each novel, plus assisting in the development of characters.

After Mary Francis died in 2000 at age 76, Dick lost interest in writing and virtually retired. Five years later, his son, Felix, agreed to help revive interest in the popular Dick Francis series of books, beginning with a new book featuring the legacy character, Sid Halley. (See Keeping a Legacy Character Alive by Felix Francis).

Sid Halley Series Continuation by Felix Francis - Synopses

Image Source: Pixabay

Here are brief reviews of the second set of three books, written by Felix Francis, starring Sid Halley.

Under Orders (2006)

Last seen in 1995 in Come to Grief, Sid Halley, former champion jockey turned super-sleuth, returns in a new novel.

The plot centers around three deaths which occur on Cheltenham Gold Cup Day. Sadly, death at the races isn’t that uncommon; however, finding a jockey who had just won the top race of the day dead from three bullet wounds to the chest is unusual enough to raise more than one question.

Moments before finding the dead jockey, Sid had been asked by Lord Enstone to investigate why his horses suddenly appeared to be on a permanent losing streak.

Halley sets out to find answers to a darker side of the race game; that of race fixing. Are the bookies involved? How about the trainers and the jockeys?

The results of his investigations push Halley to his limits, both professionally and personally.

Dick Francis’ Refusal (2013)

As the story in Refusal begins, we find that Sid Halley has retired from the field of Private Investigator. His work was rather dangerous at times, resulting in him being harassed, beaten and shot. Now Sid is married and has a daughter, so he gave up his former life. He thought nothing would ever lure him back. He thought wrong.

Sid refuses a request from an old friend (Sir Richard) to investigate a series of dodgy races. The next day, Sir Richard is found dead under suspicious circumstances. Then he receives threats and warnings from a man with an Irish accent of dire consequences if Sid doesn’t deliver a white-washed report to the racing authorities about the suspected race-fixing.

Sid at first ignores these warnings, but the intimidation escalates, placing his family under threat. Sid now realizes he must meet his enemy head-on – or pay the ultimate price for his refusal.

Hands Down (2022)

Felix Francis returns once again with Book number 6 in the Sid Halley series.

As the story begins, we find Sid Halley having had a transplant of a new left hand since his last appearance in Refusal.

An ex-jockey friend calls Sid for help after receiving death threats, But Sid is busy coping with his own problems of recovering from surgery, plus saving his crumbling marriage.

Then, his friend’s stable yard is torched, horses are killed, and the friend is found dead. Sid now blames himself for not helping sooner. The police think it’s suicide, but Sid is not convinced after his friend’s terrified phone calls. As Sid begins to investigate, he finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy involving the integrity of British horse racing.

Summary

Therein concludes this series of novels featuring popular fictional character, Sid Halley. Will there be more? We will have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Felix Francis continues to write in a genre fans of Dick Francis enjoyed and has become a successful crime writer in his own right.

*One interesting side note about the Sid Halley series relates to the time periods they were written. Dick Francis began the series with Odds Against in 1965. Dick's son Felix began the continuation of the series in 2006. These two authors' styles were similar, but the difference is in technology. In 1965 there were no personal computers, cell phones, or the Internet. All of those things come into play in the second three Sid Halley books written by Felix Francis. If you read all six books in the series back-to-back, you will see how technology changes many things.

Related Reviews:

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Under Orders (Sid Halley series Book 4)

Dick Francis's Refusal (Sid Halley series Book 5)

Hands Down: A Novel (A Dick Francis Novel)

*Sid Halley Books Part II reviewed by Wednesday Elf

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN) and/or Esty (Awin) Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Thursday, April 1, 2021

Crisis by Felix Francis – Book Review

The title given to a book often reflects what the story is about. And sometimes the meaning of the title only becomes clear as you read further into the story.

In Crisis, a horse-racing thriller by Felix Francis, we learn in the opening paragraph that the main character, Harrison Foster (known as Harry), is a legal consultant and that his specialty is crisis management.

And today's crisis involved a murder – not that anyone knew it at the time.

Synopsis

Harry is sent by his London firm to Newmarket, the well-known center of thoroughbred horse racing in England, to investigate a fire which destroyed a stable block in the Chadwick family's stables and killed seven very valuable horses. One of the horses – Prince of Troy – was the odds-on favorite for the Derby. Turns out that there is far more to the 'simple' fire than initially thought when human remains are found in the burned out shell of the stable. Since all the stable staff are accounted for, who is the mystery victim?

Harry knows almost nothing about horses; indeed, he actively dislikes them. But since he represents Prince of Troy's Middle Eastern owner who wishes to learn the circumstances surrounding his prize horse's death, Harry is thrust unwillingly into the world of thoroughbred racing.

Soon it is clear to Harry that the Chadwick family who own the stables where the horses died in the fire is a dysfunctional racing dynasty. There is deep resentment between the generations and sibling rivalry is rife beneath a thin crust of respectability. As Harry delves deeper into the unanswered questions surrounding the fire, and as he learns more about the secrets held by the Chadwick family, his life is put in danger. Can he solve the riddle before he is bumped off by the fallout?

Author Felix Francis

Felix Francis is a British author, son of the famed author Dick Francis (former steeplechase jockey for the Queen of England and fictional crime writer of numerous horse-racing mysteries). Felix co-authored with his famous father on the last four of his novels. Since Dick Francis' death in 2010, Felix has continued writing Dick Francis Novels in the same vein, with 9 current books to date. Number 10 (Iced) will be published in 2021.

Summary

Crisis is available in
several formats on Amazon

Crisis by Felix Francis is an edge-of-your-seat horse-racing thriller in the Dick Francis tradition.

Saturday, May 11, 2019

Book Review of Straight – A Horse Racing Mystery

A collage of the Book Straight, a row of books on a shelf and an image of the authors

Collage created on Fotojet

by Dick Francis

I have been a fan of the books by Dick Francis since the 1970s. I own them all and now am collecting them for my daughter, who has also become a huge fan.

The Dick Francis books revolve around horse racing in England. Most of the books are stand-alone stories (not continuing), although there are 3 short sets of continuing characters among the Francis collection. The main character and narrator of each story is somehow associated with horse racing. He may be a jockey, a trainer, a racehorse owner, or someone in another profession somehow linked to racing.

I love each and every one of the 40+ books Dick Francis wrote and re-read them frequently. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to name a favorite.

That said, I would like to review for you now one I just finished re-reading that is among those of my top favorites of the Francis collection ~ entitled Straight. As with all of the stories, it deals with crime in the horse racing world.

Synopsis of Straight

Available on Amazon

Straight, published in 1989, features a steeplechase jockey, Derek Franklin, as the main character and narrator of the story. While recovering from an injury, Derek receives news that his older brother, Greville, has died in an accident. Greville was a successful gemstone importer in London. He did not import diamonds, but recently did so for one specific customer who creates beautiful pieces studded with gems.

Therein, lies the problem. Derek has no idea where the 100 diamonds are, due to his brother's need for secrecy, and it soon becomes apparent that unscrupulous others are also looking for them. The bank holds a loan of $1.5 million dollars for the diamonds and the gemstone business Derek has inherited and is now trying to run is in jeopardy if the diamonds cannot be found. Danger suddenly surrounds Derek on all fronts and his only hope of survival is to identify the enemy.

Derek says: “I inherited my brother's desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother's life, and it nearly killed me.”

Author Dick Francis

Dick Francis was a pilot with the RAF (Royal Air Force) during World War II and after the war became a highly successful professional jockey. In fact, he was a jockey for The Queen Mother's (Queen Elizabeth) horse, the story of which is outlined in “The Sport of Queens”, an autobiography published in 1957.

After retiring from racing as a jockey, Francis worked as a racing correspondent for a newspaper, and also began to write his horse racing mystery stories. A nearly unknown fact is that his wife, Mary, was his researcher and a major contributor to his stories. In fact, during the many and varied subjects she researched, Mary became a pilot (3 novels feature a pilot) and a photographer for a book about a race course photographer.

Author, Dick Francis and his son and co-author, Felix Francis

Dick Francis with son Felix Francis

Near the end of his writing career, and after Mary's death in 2000, his son, Felix, became his writing partner.

Dick Francis was born on Halloween in 1910 and died on Valentine's Day in 2010 at age 89. His son, Felix Francis has continued writing the Dick Francis Mysteries ever since. I am delighted that my favorite series of books continues to this day. The subject matter is still about horse racing, mainly in England, and involves a mystery to be solved. Felix's writing style is very similar to that of his dad and just as enjoyable to read.

Summary

Personal library of Dick & Felix Francis books

My Dick Francis Book Collection
(c) Wednesday Elf

I highly recommend Straight, or any of the other Dick Francis and Felix Francis horse racing mysteries. You don't even have to like horses or be a fan of racing to enjoy these stories, as the writing is superb, the characters interesting, and the stories fascinating.

(c) Wednesday Elf - 5/11/2019

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Saturday, December 10, 2022

ICED by Felix Francis – Book Review

ICED is the latest horseracing mystery by Felix Francis, son of the British crime writer Dick Francis.

Synopsis

Miles Pussett grew up wanting more than anything to be a championship steeplechase jockey like his father. He loved riding horses and dreamed of following in his father's footsteps.

When his dad is killed in an automobile accident when Miles is 12, he devotes himself to learning to ride like his famous father. He is given his first opportunity while still in his teens to compete in a point-to-point event, his first horse race, albeit as an amateur. When his mother dies, he becomes a jockey for a training stable.

Although Miles tries his best, he endures many setbacks as he pursues his dream. He is treated badly by fellow jockeys as they all think he is only given rides in horse races because of who is father was. Therefore he has no friends. He wins a few races, but 'being the best' eludes him as there are more losses than wins and his confidence level gets lower and lower.

Miles ends up drinking as a way to 'forget' his failures and eventually he hits rock-bottom. With the help of the trainer's wife, who sees the problem and wants to help Miles, he ends up seeing a psychiatrist. Turns out that Miles has been suffering from PTSD going back to his childhood. He always thought that PTSD was only a veteran's condition. Not so. Anyone can suffer from it given enough trauma that has gone unrecognized.

Until the psychiatrist explains it to him, Miles had no idea that his dad's death had affected him so strongly (because 12-year-old Miles was in the car with his dad the day of the accident). And his mother's death when he was only 17 was due to suicide and Miles blamed himself. All this trauma before he ever grew up with no one helping him understand it led to his PTSD.

Now it is 7 years later and Miles has left the horse racing world and is doing fine. Instead, he enjoys riding headfirst down the Cresta Run, a three-quarter-mile Swiss ice chute, reaching speeds of up to eighty miles per hour.

Horses racing at Cresta Run in St. Moritz Switzerland

While at St. Moritz for the Cresta Run, Miles discovers it is the same weekend as the White Turf – an event featuring high-class horseracing taking place on a frozen lake. Against his better judgment, he gets talked into helping out with the horses. But then he discovers something suspicious going on at the races.

Miles begins to search for answers, because the 'something suspicious' many have a profound impact on his future. But someone is adamant about stopping him – and they will go to any lengths to do it.

Summary

The horseracing mystery involved in ICED is, as always, an interesting read for fans of the Dick Frances and Felix Francis stories. But it is also a look into how Post-traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD) can affect not only those who have fought in wars, but anyone who has had to endure a series of traumas in their life.

Book cover of the horseracing mystery Iced by Felix Francis

Available on Amazon

Saturday, March 2, 2024

No Reserve by Felix Francis – Book Review

A Dick Francis Novel

Author Felix Francis continues following in his father's footsteps with the series of books which are always placed in the horse racing world in Great Britain. Each main character in these books written first by Dick Francis, and then continued on by his son, Felix Francis, is related in some way to horse racing. The character may be a jockey, a horse trainer or owner, or in some way work in a related field.

In this latest book, No Reserve, the reader gets to follow the actions and adventures of an auctioneer in Newmarket at the bloodstock yearling sales.

Synopsis of No Reserve

The higher the stakes, the greater the risk....

No Reserve (A Dick Francis Novel)

Theo Jennings has been working for a bloodstock sales company these past three years, hoping to continue climbing the ladder in his chosen field. On Day 1 of the Newmarket October sales he makes his first-ever multimillion-dollar sale of a yearling colt. A few days after the sale, Theo finds out that the colt has died. After having accidentally overhearing a conversation about that colt and insurance, he becomes suspicious that foul play was involved.

Theo begins to investigate the death of the colt, with the help of a young woman friend who works in the accounting department of the sales company. But no one really wants to talk to him or answer any questions. Then a person's body is found in the same stable where the colt was found dead.

Suddenly, Theo finds fingers pointed at him and his world turns upside down with the accusations. The only way to clear his name is to find the real murderer.

Summary

Another exciting adventure in the English world of race horses by mystery writer, Felix Francis. A thoroughbred thriller for sure!

Saturday, November 16, 2024

Reviews of the First Three Books in the Sid Halley Series

Dick Francis was a well-known British steeple-chase jockey who, after retiring from one profession, became an internationally known author of horse-racing mysteries.

Dick Francis wrote more than 40 novels, which were mainly stand-alone stories with a single central character. The main characters in each book were not repeated in other books. There was one exception due to one character becoming so popular that Francis’ readers asked for more. Thus, the author began the Sid Halley series.

Character Sid Halley was a steeplechase jockey until an injury left him with a crippled hand. He subsequently became a one-handed private investigator after discovering he had a natural affinity for the work. His specialty, due to his considerable knowledge of the horse racing industry, becomes centered around crimes related to racing. Dick Francis featured him in three novels.

Review of the First Three Novels Featuring Sid Halley

Odds Against (1965)

Former jockey Sid Halley landed a position with a detective agency following a career-ending injury. While setting a trap to catch a penny-ante thug, Sid lets down his guard and ends up getting shot.

While recovering from his bullet wound at the home of his former father-in-law, Charles, he is intrigued to learn that some invited weekend guests are planning a takeover of a famous race course with the intent of selling the land for housing and making a bundle. Charles wants Sid to prevent this from happening, but these criminals are experts and have gotten away with similar situations in the past.

Halley goes up against them, and finds the odds are against him succeeding, or even surviving.

Whip Hand (1979)

Sid Halley, ex-jockey turned detective, returns in the second book in the Sid Halley series. Sid lost his left hand due to an earlier racing accident and subsequent beating by thugs. Now he is spending his time working as an investigator, specializing in racing crimes, helped by fellow detective Chico Barnes.

Sid & Chico suddenly find themselves in the middle of investigating three different horse racing problems at the same time.

First, a trainer’s wife wants them to look into problems in her husband’s racing stables involving horses whose 2-year-old form are failing as 3-year-olds.

Then, Charles, Sid’s ex-father-in-law, asks Sid to find a man who has conned Sid’s ex-wife Jenny and left her in police trouble over a fake charity.

Finally, Sid & Chico are approached by both a racehorse owner and Lucas Wainwright, head of the Jockey Club’s security service, to look into certain syndicates which should not have gotten through the checking process.

A fascinating Dick Francis thriller.

Come to Grief (1995)

Sid Halley returns in book #3 in the series.

Still continuing to work as a private investigator, Sid goes to help solve the problem of who could have maimed a pony belonging to a little girl suffering from leukemia. While investigating, Sid discovers that there have been several shocking violent acts against horses left unattended overnight in fields.

Sid eventually becomes convinced that the perpetrator is one of racing’s most beloved figures - and a personal close friend. The case thus becomes the most troubling of his career.

Summary

These first three books in the Sid Halley series set the stage for a continuation of the series by Dick Francis’ son Felix. The rest of the series will be found in another review coming soon.