Three Winners: Dead Cert: Nerve: For Kicks

by Dick Francis

"Dead Cert" concerns an amateur jockey who finds himself tangling dangerously with racecourse crooks. "Nerve" is about an ambitious young jockey who finds himself facing the same evil forces that have already driven a fellow jockey to suicide and "For Kicks" is a racing spy story.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery

544 pages, Hardcover

Published July 24, 1992

About the author

Dick Francis, CBE, FRSL (born Richard Stanley Francis) was a popular British horse racing crime writer and retired jockey.

Dick Francis worked on his books with his wife, Mary, before her death. Dick considered his wife to be his co-writer - as he is quoted in the book, "The Dick Francis Companion", released in 2003:
"Mary and I worked as a team. ... I have often said that I would have been happy to have both our names on the cover. Mary's family always called me Richard due to having another Dick in the family. I am Richard, Mary was Mary, and Dick Francis was the two of us together."

Praise for Dick Francis: 'As a jockey, Dick Francis was unbeatable when he got into his stride. The same is true of his crime writing' Daily Mirror '

Dick Francis's fiction has a secret ingredient - his inimitable knack of grabbing the reader's attention on page one and holding it tight until the very end' Sunday Telegraph '

Dick Francis was one of the most successful post-war National Hunt jockeys. The winner of over 350 races, he was champion jockey in 1953/1954 and rode for HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, most famously on Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National.

On his retirement from the saddle, he published his autobiography, The Sport of Queens, before going on to write forty-three bestselling novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), and the biography of Lester Piggott.

During his lifetime Dick Francis received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre, and three 'best novel' Edgar Allan Poe awards from The Mystery Writers of America. In 1996 he was named by them as Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement. In 1998 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours List of 2000. Dick Francis died in February 2010, at the age of eighty-nine, but he remains one of the greatest thriller writers of all time.

Series:
* Sid Halley Mystery
* Kit Fielding Mystery

Reviews

[E.P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Francis train gets off to a roaring start here in this paperback collection of his first three novels, "Dead Cert," "Nerve," and "For Kicks." Although I consider "Dead Cert" to be not quite *as* good as some of his later work, it's still highly readable, and "Nerve" and "For Kicks" continue to hold their own down the years as exciting thrillers that are also surprisingly profound psychological studies, "Nerve" of someone who has to come face to face with his own fears and breaking point, and "For Kicks" of someone who realizes he'll never be able to live a "normal" life. Plus there's plenty of atmospheric gallops through the wintry English countryside. Francis fans will be well served by this compact collection.

[Aurel Mihai · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable light reading. Dead Cert and Nerve are more mystery. For Kicks is more drama. The plots are all clever and the characters mostly interesting if not particularly memorable.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well so far, only the first story in this collection. I knew I was going to be waiting at the doctor’s for two appointments, so grabbed a paperback from my collection for reading material. And, of course, as usual for me when reading Francis, once I started it was impossible not to keep reading. I will continue to read the other true stories as well. In a way, it is a treat for me to return to some of his early books and rediscover what a hand he was at drawing the reader into the story…and not letting go. Will always be one of my favorite writers.
Went on and read the other two novels in this collection: Nerve and For Kicks on March 14 and 15. Again engrossing reads, and has given me the appetite to read more of his books.