Dick Francis Reading Group discussion

There was a guy who preferred open spaces and the solitude of living on a mountain. He was also very talented (as a good DF hero should be) and had a particular talent for hiding things. He was forced back to civilization, though, when his stepfather had a heart attack...

Are you shouting out your answer yet? Post the title here and then add your own DF plot for everyone to guess!

"To The Hilt".

A Film Director gets involved in an old crime. His investigations lead to danger and injury, but he wins through - making a great film and unmasking a villain.

Chris

Wild Horses!

I waited as long as I could to let someone else have the chance to play! Feel free to join in and answer this one:

This mystery has a character who speaks his own form of rhyming slang and says things like, "Take a butcher's at them nuns. I found a dead one in the pit last August."

Bonus point if you can name the character!

The book is "Driving Force" the character is Jogger.

Is anyone else going to play?

My question is: what colour were the flowers on the boy's grave, and in which book?

that's Jogger from Driving Force.

ok, this one has a Welshman, a train crash, and a conflict involving a jockey, the Stewards and a trainer.

darn it Chris, you beat me by 11 minutes. I stopped typing to eat my dinner.

Ok yours is from Bonecrack, and as for the flowers...
"There were pale yellow polyanthus, and blue forget-me-nots coming into flower round the edge: and all the centre was filled with pansies. Dark purple velvet pansies, shining black in the sun."

Mine is as above!

the book is to the hilt and the principal character is a painter not a film director :)

Dia9, welcome to the group! Chris was giving the answer to the clue above his post, which was To the Hilt. Then his clue for someone else to guess was to the book with the film director - Wild Horses.

Currently, we are waiting for someone to answer Valerie's clue:

ok, this one has a Welshman, a train crash, and a conflict involving a jockey, the Stewards and a trainer

Care to take a crack at it?

Sorry. I understand now. I think that the answear to this one is "in the frame".

nope, that's not it...

Hi, Valerie,
I did wait a day:
I've just re-read "Enquiry" so it's easier than might be ... and I'm Welsh

Kelly Hughes is "warned off", he's Welsh - from Pembrokeshire, his little Lotus was hit by a train and he was "sort of stretched".

Which book has an Aussie, an educationally challenged stable lad... and to make it easy, a flame thrower?

Kind regards,

Chris

In Cyprus.

That's my first and my favourite - For Kicks!

Which has a lady who was disfigured by fireworks?

Hey Chris,
It's so hard to hang back and wait for someone else to have a go when you know the answer. I'm deciding at the moment whether to answer this one or give the others a chance...

Zanna Martin was her name, and the book...

Chris

Go for it, Valerie! Other people will just have to be quicker to join the game!

Alright then. If you insist...

It was the first Sid Halley book. Odds Against.


Ok, here is mine.

This book involves several countries, a recurring theme of paternity, and a couple of explosions.

The extended family were all based around where I used to live in Berkshire!

Chris

Yay! I'll take a turn.

Hot Money - which has one of my favorite last lines for a DF book.

Okay, for this one I'm just going to give some keywords:
horse trailer, sheik, Chinese takeout restaurant, plaster of paris

Too easy. That's Proof.

One of my favourite heroes, because he is so easy to relate to. "Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of fear."

Ok, for this one I'm going to mention some of the horses' names, see if you can guess the book...

Daylight, Chainmail, Sharpener, Pamphlet.

And I tried so hard to stay away from completely obvious keywords like brandy and wine merchant! :)

Never mind! I have read them all like a million times, so I'm gonna know most of them pretty quickly.

Do you know mine, or do I need to give some more clues?

I was going to wait and see if someone else wanted to have a turn first.

I guess no one else is playing just now!

Okay, I'll play. The others are just missing out!

Very good clue! Not one I knew just off the top of my head - although I thought I could remember a horse called Daylight. I believe the horses in question are all in Reflex! :) I love the photographic puzzles Philip Nore solves in Reflex.

All right, this is probably another easy one. Which Dick Francis mystery has a hero who gives a kite as a Christmas present? Bonus if you can name which character received the present.

Yup. He bought it off a child Christmas morning for Pen. The child wanted skates or something I believe.

Anyone else wanna jump in with the name of the book?

That was Banker.
(Not a popular profession at the moment I guess!)

My turn?

In which book did the hero have a girlfriend who attended the Western School of Art.

forfeit

an easy one: which book has 2 heros?

Twice Shy. Two brothers.

Chris

Which book has a drunken brother who makes the hero's life miserable (but comes good atthe last)?

Yay, so many people came to play!

The answer is Knockdown and the brother in question is Crispin Dereham.

In which book is a Range Rover sabotaged using a candle?

it's great when lots of people play!

That is 10-pound penalty.


Which book involves lots of plain clothes policemen at the beach?

I dreamt about Mr Julliard last night (heaven forbid!)

Mr Chris

Great clue, Valerie! It didn't bring any book immediately to mind. Which makes me realize I haven't reread one of my all-time favorite Francis mysteries in much too long! I believe the answer to your clue is The Danger!

Which book has a jockey who complains about hangers?

I was gonna come back and post another clue if nobody had guessed it by tonight.

Yours is one of my favourites Luann. The whole family dynamic is very intriguing...

ok, no one else is playing now! I'll answer it.

Yours is from Decider, and the jockey who complains about the hangers is Rebecca Stratton.

I haven't double checked it cos I can't find my copy of Decider, so I won't post a new one just yet in case I'm wrong.

Back in a couple of hours...

Yep, the book is Decider and the jockey is Rebecca Stratton. My clue was originally, "Which book has a woman jockey who complains about hangers?" but I thought that would make it too easy since there aren't very many of the books with woman jockeys.

Your turn.

I agree that Decider was the book - it beat me totally, so I think that Valerie should post the next one. You're at Phd. level now!

Chris

Ok, I'm back.

Here's my clue.

Which book has a dog nearly blown up by a bomb in a car?

Hi,
That would be Slay Ride and the dog was Odin.

In which book do Col and Cotopaxi appear and what do they have in common?


Chris.

i think the book is "bolt" but i can't remember another thing that they have in common beside the fact that they are horses and i think they both belonged to princess castilia (i must reread the books ) Am i right Chris?

What Col & Cotopaxi have in common is that they were not only owned by the Princess, but also they were murdered.

thanks for remindig me that. because i didn't give the right answear it is still your turn

Correct, must be Clark's turn to post a question.

Chris

Here's one of my favorite quotations: "I inherited my brother's life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother's life, and it nearly killed me." What book is it from.

Those are the first few lines from Straight. I would like to see DF write a prequel or companion book to Straight with Greville as the hero. Even just the bits and pieces that we get to know about him reveal a very interesting character.

Next clue, more keywords: raid, collision, carrot, corkscrew

Hm, was that too difficult? Or maybe some of you are busy with Thanksgiving? Just in case, I'll wait until Friday and if no one answers by then, I'll add more to my clue.

I'm flummoxed! My guess(and it is a guess) is "Dead Heat", his first full novel co-written with son Felix. I am so grateful that we can still be entertained by 'The Master' even after his illnesses and the loss of his wife, Mary.
Chris in Cyprus (Belated Thanksgiving greetings to all in USA).

Oops - I meant to come back on Friday and add an extra clue. Thanks for the guess, Chris! Nope, it's not Dead Heat. I thought "carrot" might be the giveaway keyword on this one.

Clue: I could easily give thirteen keywords for this book. :)

Is this one really that difficult? No one even has another guess?

So far the clues have been: raid, collision, carrot, corkscrew, and the fact that there could very easily be thirteen keywords. To add to what we already know, those THIRTEEN keywords might look something like this:
raid, red, Mona, white, collision, nightmare, carrot, gift, fever, blind, corkscrew, losers, death - in that order.

I don't think I'm out in left FIELD with this one, so I will continue to wait for someone to come play the game with me! :)