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Decider
A smash hit novel now in tradefrom “a rare and magical talent… who never writes the same story twice.”(San Diego Union-Tribune)
In Decider, inheriting a small share in a successful racetrack means trouble for architect Lee Morris, especially when he finds himself in the middle of a family feudand the target of a ruthless killer…
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First published September 2, 1993
209 people are currently reading
922 people want to read
About the author
Dick Francis
535 books1,251 followersDick 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 294 reviews
December 1, 2020
Lee Morris is an architect who owns a small share in a race course.The major shareholders belong to the Stratton family,and they can't seem to agree about the future plans for the race course,whether it should be sold or restored.
Unusually for a Francis book,this one has plenty of children,the kids of Lee Morris.As he becomes embroiled in dangerous situation,so do his kids,adding to his worries.
Who is trying to kill Morris ? There are multiple suspects,just like there were in Hot Money.It is a whodunit and it is hard to guess the culprit till the end.
Decider is a top-notch Francis thriller which kept me entertained from start to finish.This is among his best books.
Unusually for a Francis book,this one has plenty of children,the kids of Lee Morris.As he becomes embroiled in dangerous situation,so do his kids,adding to his worries.
Who is trying to kill Morris ? There are multiple suspects,just like there were in Hot Money.It is a whodunit and it is hard to guess the culprit till the end.
Decider is a top-notch Francis thriller which kept me entertained from start to finish.This is among his best books.
August 4, 2012
What is there to say about Dick Francis? As I think about all of his books (yes, this review covers all of his books, and yes I've read them all) I think about a moral ethical hero, steeped in intelligence and goodness embroiled in evil machinations within British horse racing society - either directly or indirectly. The heroes aren't always horse jockies, they can be film producers, or involve heroes engaged in peripheral professions that somehow always touch the horse racing world.
But more than that, Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while his actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice.
Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story (usually the character of Mr. Douglas). The hero is personable, like able, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would think of normal persons living in British society.
You will come to love the world of Steeple Chase racing, you will grow a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. You will read the books, devouring one after the other and trust me Dick Francis has a lot of novels (over 40 by my last count).
There are several series woven into the fabric of Francis's work: notably the Sid Halley and Kit Fielding series.
Assessment: Dick Francis is one of my favorite writers. I read his books with a fierce hunger that remains insatiable and I mourn his death.
But more than that, Francis's heroes are rational human beings. The choices made are rational choices directed by a firm objective philosophy that belies all of Francis's novels. The dialogue is clear and touched with humor no matter the intensity of evil that the hero faces. The hero's thoughts reveal a vulnerability that is touching, while his actions are always based on doing the right thing to achieve justice.
Causing the reader to deeply care about the characters in a novel is a difficult thing to do. No such worries in a Francis novel. The point of view is first person, you are the main character as you read the story (usually the character of Mr. Douglas). The hero is personable, like able, non-violent but delivering swift justice with his mind rather than through physical means. This is not to say that violence is a stranger to our hero. Some of it staggering and often delivered by what we would think of normal persons living in British society.
You will come to love the world of Steeple Chase racing, you will grow a fondness for horses, stables, trainers and the people who live in that world. You will read the books, devouring one after the other and trust me Dick Francis has a lot of novels (over 40 by my last count).
There are several series woven into the fabric of Francis's work: notably the Sid Halley and Kit Fielding series.
Assessment: Dick Francis is one of my favorite writers. I read his books with a fierce hunger that remains insatiable and I mourn his death.
March 5, 2009
Lee Morris is the kind of guy you’d want for a friend. He’s self-assured in many ways, physically strong and mentally at the top of his game. Lee makes a living by prowling around Britain scouting out old ruined buildings and businesses he can remodel, restore, and revitalize.
Lee shares his house with his wife, Amanda, and six boys. He’s a good dad despite the coldness and apathetic distance of the marriage, which is crumbling and dying not from verbal abuse so much as from a lack of love and compassion.
As this book opens, Lee has just finished restoration of an old barn, turning it into the house he, Amanda, and the boys now share. It’s a remarkable structure, a real attention getter to any visitor. And Lee indeed has some visitors as this book begins. Too officials from a nearby racetrack come to beg for his help. It seems the track’s owner has died, leaving in his wake a family tearing itself apart over what should be done with the aging track and grandstands. But why would the visitors come to Lee Morris? Because many years ago, before Lee was born, his mother was married briefly to one of the hyper-abusive sons of the wealthy racetrack owner. He regularly beat Lee’s mother and once impregnated her against her will. So traumatized was she by that event that she couldn’t raise the resulting child—a girl. She left the home, but the family quickly closed ranks around the son, and she agreed to never mention the abuse and marital rape as long as she could simply be left alone. The racetrack owner, a kindly enough man, recognized that his son was inherently evil, and gave Lee’s mom several shares in the track, assuming she could sell them to gain enough money to start anew. Instead, she kept the shares, and they eventually reverted to her son, Lee, upon her death. He’s paid little attention to them over the years, simply going about his business remodeling old buildings and selling them. But on a particular spring day just before Easter, two gentlemen from the track arrive at Lee’s home to plead with him to assist in preserving the track and its grandstands. His eight votes, they feel, could make a difference in terms of the track’s preservation.
Lee initially declines their offer, but a series of events cause him to change his mind and actually show up at a board of directors meeting wherein all of the family factions with their naked hatred for one another are in full bloom.
Amanda wants Lee and the boys out of the house for a week, so she insists they go with him to the track during the boys’ spring break. While there, they witness a horrible racing accident that kills a rider and horse. And on Good Friday, one of Lee’s sons notices what look to be wires connecting plastic explosive charges together running throughout the grandstands. He quickly alerts his father, and the boy and his father must now rescue the other boys who are playing in the grandstands. All but one boy leaves the area, and while Lee searches for his 9-year-old son, the stands explode in a horrific manner. Lee and the boy are reunited just seconds before the grandstands blow, and while the boy is spared, Lee sustains injuries on his back and legs as some of the structure falls in on him.
The remainder of this book focuses on Lee’s efforts at revealing some of the destructive family secrets that prevent its members from working together. Lee is in constant danger from family members who want him dead, including his half sister, the girl born as a result of the forced sexual assault and the man once briefly married to his mother.
You may be able to predict how this one turns out, but it’s a thrilling action-packed mystery just the same. Dick Francis does a magnificent job as usual with this plot. You’ll learn fascinating things about British architecture, but not to such a degree that you will glaze over and lose interest.
What singularly strikes me about this book is Francis’s way of developing his characters. Even Lee’s sons are beautifully developed and super-realistic. Their differences and strengths and weaknesses are used by this author to move the plot along nicely. So vivid is the description of Lee and Amanda’s crumbling atrophying marriage that your very heart hurts for both of them.
The Stratton family, who are so hateful to one another and so divided as to the future of the racetrack, are also masterfully developed. This book ends very satisfactorily in one sense, and somewhat sadly in another, but I won’t go into that here lest by some means I spoil it for you.
If you’re looking for that perfect action mystery thriller to serve as the soundtrack for your spring cleaning efforts or even to hang onto for that first trip to the beach or the mountains, this one really fills that niche. There aren’t so many characters that you’ll get confused trying to figure out who’s who. The plot is consistently fast and constantly interesting. You’ll marvel at Francis’s economy of words—saying so much with so little. This is a rather short book, but long on character development and excitement. You’ll see the basic decency in both Lee and Amanda and yearn for them both to find the best solution that works for them. You’ll cheer for those boys, too. So detailed are their descriptions that you feel as if you know each one of them individually.
Lee shares his house with his wife, Amanda, and six boys. He’s a good dad despite the coldness and apathetic distance of the marriage, which is crumbling and dying not from verbal abuse so much as from a lack of love and compassion.
As this book opens, Lee has just finished restoration of an old barn, turning it into the house he, Amanda, and the boys now share. It’s a remarkable structure, a real attention getter to any visitor. And Lee indeed has some visitors as this book begins. Too officials from a nearby racetrack come to beg for his help. It seems the track’s owner has died, leaving in his wake a family tearing itself apart over what should be done with the aging track and grandstands. But why would the visitors come to Lee Morris? Because many years ago, before Lee was born, his mother was married briefly to one of the hyper-abusive sons of the wealthy racetrack owner. He regularly beat Lee’s mother and once impregnated her against her will. So traumatized was she by that event that she couldn’t raise the resulting child—a girl. She left the home, but the family quickly closed ranks around the son, and she agreed to never mention the abuse and marital rape as long as she could simply be left alone. The racetrack owner, a kindly enough man, recognized that his son was inherently evil, and gave Lee’s mom several shares in the track, assuming she could sell them to gain enough money to start anew. Instead, she kept the shares, and they eventually reverted to her son, Lee, upon her death. He’s paid little attention to them over the years, simply going about his business remodeling old buildings and selling them. But on a particular spring day just before Easter, two gentlemen from the track arrive at Lee’s home to plead with him to assist in preserving the track and its grandstands. His eight votes, they feel, could make a difference in terms of the track’s preservation.
Lee initially declines their offer, but a series of events cause him to change his mind and actually show up at a board of directors meeting wherein all of the family factions with their naked hatred for one another are in full bloom.
Amanda wants Lee and the boys out of the house for a week, so she insists they go with him to the track during the boys’ spring break. While there, they witness a horrible racing accident that kills a rider and horse. And on Good Friday, one of Lee’s sons notices what look to be wires connecting plastic explosive charges together running throughout the grandstands. He quickly alerts his father, and the boy and his father must now rescue the other boys who are playing in the grandstands. All but one boy leaves the area, and while Lee searches for his 9-year-old son, the stands explode in a horrific manner. Lee and the boy are reunited just seconds before the grandstands blow, and while the boy is spared, Lee sustains injuries on his back and legs as some of the structure falls in on him.
The remainder of this book focuses on Lee’s efforts at revealing some of the destructive family secrets that prevent its members from working together. Lee is in constant danger from family members who want him dead, including his half sister, the girl born as a result of the forced sexual assault and the man once briefly married to his mother.
You may be able to predict how this one turns out, but it’s a thrilling action-packed mystery just the same. Dick Francis does a magnificent job as usual with this plot. You’ll learn fascinating things about British architecture, but not to such a degree that you will glaze over and lose interest.
What singularly strikes me about this book is Francis’s way of developing his characters. Even Lee’s sons are beautifully developed and super-realistic. Their differences and strengths and weaknesses are used by this author to move the plot along nicely. So vivid is the description of Lee and Amanda’s crumbling atrophying marriage that your very heart hurts for both of them.
The Stratton family, who are so hateful to one another and so divided as to the future of the racetrack, are also masterfully developed. This book ends very satisfactorily in one sense, and somewhat sadly in another, but I won’t go into that here lest by some means I spoil it for you.
If you’re looking for that perfect action mystery thriller to serve as the soundtrack for your spring cleaning efforts or even to hang onto for that first trip to the beach or the mountains, this one really fills that niche. There aren’t so many characters that you’ll get confused trying to figure out who’s who. The plot is consistently fast and constantly interesting. You’ll marvel at Francis’s economy of words—saying so much with so little. This is a rather short book, but long on character development and excitement. You’ll see the basic decency in both Lee and Amanda and yearn for them both to find the best solution that works for them. You’ll cheer for those boys, too. So detailed are their descriptions that you feel as if you know each one of them individually.
November 20, 2022
I love this one. It's the first mystery he's ever written where the hero had kids, so he gave him seven. All boys. On the other hand, he went back to the unhappy marriage theme letting the wife have an affair and the hero long to have one. Can't have everything. A great example of the history factor where it is only by learning what characters have done that the hero can blackmail his way to safety. Also a fine example of psychological detection, since the hero must consider the various members of a large family to figure out who is the criminal. Compounding the difficulty of figuring it out, there are multiple crimes and criminals. More stock Francis: the older iron-willed woman, wealthy, capable of graciousness that the hero comes to like and admire (the Queen Mother I can't help but wonder?) and the angelic mother (now dead in this case). He deals with topical issues again, namely domestic and sexual violence, and I love the architecture stuff. Best of all, the hero lives in a barn with his brood.
1 Jan 1998
1 Jan 1998
March 18, 2022
All Dick Francis books are related to horse racing (sometimes, very remotely, but there is atleast a mention of horses). The heroes are all the same, loveable, resilient, loyal, clever and humble, someone whom you would want as a friend. Yet, the mysteries featured in his books are non formulaic. In every book, we find a unique mystery and an additional trade (apart from horse racing ) which we can learn about. In this book it is architecture - the protagonist Lee Morris in an architect who restores ruins, make them habitable and sell them.
Lee Morris is slightly different from other Dick Francis's heroes - he is not single, he has a big family with 6 sons (and he is only 35 yrs old) . He is huge but doesn't use his physical stature to intimidate people. He might as well be a psychiatric counsellor. Everyone is ready to pour their troubles in front of him and then wonder why are they even telling him their inner-most secrets.
Apart from the mystery, Lee and his sons's interactions made interesting read. The way he turned around the disaster after the bomb blast was ingenious. The race course manager calls it a miracle many times.
The characterization was great. Each one in the Stratton family and their motivations was insightful. But I found Lee's wife Amanda quite weird. Even if she didn't love her husband, she was not at all worried about her sons who were in the stadium when the bomb blast occurred. She insists that Lee keep them with him for a few more days !
I thought it would have been better if the wife was dead. She didn't add anything to the plot other than more children ( I don't think she even loves her children)
This is an enjoyable mystery and highly recommended. There are many more in Dick Francis's stables and I might be bingeing on them this year.
Lee Morris is slightly different from other Dick Francis's heroes - he is not single, he has a big family with 6 sons (and he is only 35 yrs old) . He is huge but doesn't use his physical stature to intimidate people. He might as well be a psychiatric counsellor. Everyone is ready to pour their troubles in front of him and then wonder why are they even telling him their inner-most secrets.
Apart from the mystery, Lee and his sons's interactions made interesting read. The way he turned around the disaster after the bomb blast was ingenious. The race course manager calls it a miracle many times.
The characterization was great. Each one in the Stratton family and their motivations was insightful. But I found Lee's wife Amanda quite weird. Even if she didn't love her husband, she was not at all worried about her sons who were in the stadium when the bomb blast occurred. She insists that Lee keep them with him for a few more days !
I thought it would have been better if the wife was dead. She didn't add anything to the plot other than more children ( I don't think she even loves her children)
This is an enjoyable mystery and highly recommended. There are many more in Dick Francis's stables and I might be bingeing on them this year.
October 20, 2021
One of these days I’m going to list out my favorite Dick Francis stories and I think that Decider will rank number three on the list. It’s a wonderful mystery and an even more wonderful story of a father and his young sons. Through a complicated series of events, Lee Morris has come to own an eight percent share of a racecourse and that share drags him into the highly complicated politics of the uber rich Stratton family. The Stratton’s are a highly dysfunctional family with dozens of secrets some of which are worth killing over.
But in addition to the classic mystery, you get the story of Lee and his sons and it is both heartwarming and critical to the development of the plot. Add in that Lee is a builder—a restorer of wrecked homes—and you get two score interesting pieces of trivia about the building trade and what it takes to run a successful business like a pub. And of course, there is racetrack lore aplenty as you will always find in a Francis book.
The only thing wrong with this novel is that the mystery gets solved and the book comes to an end.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
But in addition to the classic mystery, you get the story of Lee and his sons and it is both heartwarming and critical to the development of the plot. Add in that Lee is a builder—a restorer of wrecked homes—and you get two score interesting pieces of trivia about the building trade and what it takes to run a successful business like a pub. And of course, there is racetrack lore aplenty as you will always find in a Francis book.
The only thing wrong with this novel is that the mystery gets solved and the book comes to an end.
If you liked this review, you can find more at www.gilbertstack.com/reviews.
May 26, 2013
This novel stands out because Lee is one of the few Francis characters to have children. And Lee’s love for his children is very strong. It’s strange because the character does not have a good relationship with his wife and the romance, if you wish to call it that seems to occur with a character that really isn’t an entity. In fact, Lee’s wife Amanda seems to be a Disney mother – not there but supposedly a good one.
That said Lee and his children are extremely well drawn. One wonders if Francis was making some comment on marriage, divorce and children. Or perhaps this is an experiment of a protagonist with children, just in case Francis had decided to take Kit or Sid there.
That said Lee and his children are extremely well drawn. One wonders if Francis was making some comment on marriage, divorce and children. Or perhaps this is an experiment of a protagonist with children, just in case Francis had decided to take Kit or Sid there.
November 23, 2016
Francis writes about horse racing, that’s well known. But his recipe for a book is to also mix in one or two other topics, like glass blowing or computer viruses or movie making. These extra topics flesh out the characters and differentiate the stories, and I’m sure Francis enjoyed researching these extra bits. Sometimes it takes some reflection to figure out the topics, often it doesn’t. This one certainly had the role of an architect/builder as a key part of the story. The architect is our protagonist, and unlike many Francis books, you get more of a surface view of the life of the architect without getting much detail in his work. The detail that was there (regarding explosives and design) was not that compelling, and I missed that depth here. The book seemed to be much more about relationships, and the second topic was managing families. Lee, our architect, manages this entire episode with his brood of sons with him. I was worried this might turn into a mystery episode of “The Brady Bunch”, but Francis writes the boys as prototypical Boy Scouts – well behaved and adventurous. And the work Lee does in the story is related to a dysfunctional and rich family of racecourse owners. I’ve read a few Francis books that deal with families, like “Hot Money” and “Longshot”, and I like them best. Francis has a way with navigating family politics and dealing with family trauma that he only touches on occasionally in his books. I think his writing about families give him the ability to bring some interesting characters to life, such as the grandson here trying to cure his baldness. Francis also, as he likes to do, includes a beating scene here. I’ve read more than a dozen scenes in Francis’ various books where the protagonist is beat up. They are always very cringe-inducing. Just once I’d like to see the good guy beat up the bad guy without getting his own clock cleaned first. I suspect that’s not in the Francis story formula. Overall, one of the better ones.
August 24, 2007
I love Dick Francis' characters. They are very philosophical and good-natured, able to survive the most horrible calamities with a sense of humor. The hero of this book is in a rather depressing marriage, but as usual is a very likable guy. Fast-paced and tense, as most of his books are.
March 1, 2018
I probably would have given this one five stars but was so disappointed in the ending!
Lee Morris is an architect with six sons (all young). It is obvious from his story that he is very proud of them and loves each one but sadly, his marriage is struggling. However he is committed to his family, and is about to prove his commitment when his family is introduced to danger at the racetrack.
Lee is (through marraige) distantly related to a family of shareholders and because of a tragic past, has never attended the meetings. However, learning that the racetrack is faced with either a permanent closing, or pointless renovations (Lee's field), he decides to attend a meeting. The hostility of the family is perhaps a little overdone but has the reader pulling for Lee all the way.
When one of Lee's boys discovers a trail of hidden wire at the racetrack, the danger begins and as always, the hero of the novel will have to prove his mettle.
Another fast-paced Dick Francis mystery that kept my interest all the way.
Lee Morris is an architect with six sons (all young). It is obvious from his story that he is very proud of them and loves each one but sadly, his marriage is struggling. However he is committed to his family, and is about to prove his commitment when his family is introduced to danger at the racetrack.
Lee is (through marraige) distantly related to a family of shareholders and because of a tragic past, has never attended the meetings. However, learning that the racetrack is faced with either a permanent closing, or pointless renovations (Lee's field), he decides to attend a meeting. The hostility of the family is perhaps a little overdone but has the reader pulling for Lee all the way.
When one of Lee's boys discovers a trail of hidden wire at the racetrack, the danger begins and as always, the hero of the novel will have to prove his mettle.
Another fast-paced Dick Francis mystery that kept my interest all the way.
April 23, 2018
This may be my favorite Dick Francis novel, with an atypical hero whose quiet architectural brilliance and unusually creative parenting (of five boys) sticks in my mind. This is my second read of Decider and I liked it even more this time, admiring the elegant turns of phrase, realism, and depth of character Francis creates. The integration of plot, character, and setting is OH so satisfying.
July 7, 2019
Lee Morris is a beginning architect and engineer who gets in the middle of a feud over a racecourse between members of a family that he is connected to. He believes that choice is preordained. When murder occurs he comes in danger himself and must make critical choices.
January 30, 2024
Goodness! A little disturbing but the formula still works even if the behavior or perhaps thinking of Lee Morris was for me unsettling. Lee s n a loveless marriage with Amanda and the builder architect lives for his six boys. Yes six boys! Although religion is not mentioned once I suspect he or his wife were catholic🤣.
Reluctantly Lee gets embroiled with the Stratton family and their squabbling over saving the Stratton racecourse. Never would you meet a more dysfunctional family. Psychopathic Keith, his offspring a horrible lot you would ever meet aside from balding Dart.
In this outing I learnt about circus tents and how insane rich entitled people can become over obsession and keeping up appearances.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Lee’s lust albeit unrequited with Penelope his wife’s young lookalike was a bit icky. Rebeca needs to be institutionalized and Keith I was hoping would get treatment. Instead he was a bit careless with petrol under the big top. Lee also got Amanda in the family way again after she told him she was having an affair and didn’t love him anymore. Very misogynistic and disturbing.
Reluctantly Lee gets embroiled with the Stratton family and their squabbling over saving the Stratton racecourse. Never would you meet a more dysfunctional family. Psychopathic Keith, his offspring a horrible lot you would ever meet aside from balding Dart.
In this outing I learnt about circus tents and how insane rich entitled people can become over obsession and keeping up appearances.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Lee’s lust albeit unrequited with Penelope his wife’s young lookalike was a bit icky. Rebeca needs to be institutionalized and Keith I was hoping would get treatment. Instead he was a bit careless with petrol under the big top. Lee also got Amanda in the family way again after she told him she was having an affair and didn’t love him anymore. Very misogynistic and disturbing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 18, 2018
Not a typical Dick Francis story, even though it is based around a family owned racecourse. Lee Morris is a builder with six sons who has inherited a small share in the racecourse who gets embroiled in conspiracy and no little danger.
July 11, 2022
One of my other favourites. I love Lee and all his misfit family
April 9, 2020
Another great story by DF.
November 15, 2020
A mystery without a murder. Who blew up the stands at Stratton Park Racecourse and why? Read by the excellent Simon Prebble, and yes I know I filed it as a paperback and I don't care, and don't see why you should.
I read this when it first came out and promptly forgot the title, but parts of the story stayed with me. Since then I have dreamed of a large, open plan house with a loft--which remains a dream, but that's what fiction is all about. I didn't remember any of the actual story, though, just the man and his six sons and the wife who loves being pregnant. I had a sister in law like that. She loved being pregnant and being the centre of attention, she loved giving birth, she loved the tiny-baby-toddler phase. Then when the kid started kindergarten she got bored with her toy and wanted a new one. Anyway.
This is a different Francis hero. Instead of a drifter with daddy issues, we have a definite family man whose marriage is not doing so very well. They married young in what Colonel Potter called "the heat of...whatever heat you're in", he for her beauty and she for his progenitive prowess. But have no fear, Our Hero is still upright and upstanding, to the place that all and sundry (except The Bad Guy) find themselves opening their mouths and telling him all. And every. single. one. of them does a double take of some sort and asks themselves, "Why did I tell you all that?" Oh so believable. This time at least the Hero doesn't get tortured, but the bad guy gets his comeuppance in a rather horrible fashion I could have done without. Then comes a particularly nasty Big Reveal.
I have to say that on this second reading I didn't like Our Hero much. Granted, the Stratton family (a group antagonist, this time) is so dysfunctional that they make him look good by comparison--mostly because he adores his sons--but his sense of superiority to all around him (founded on what, exactly?) grated. He sneers openly at the bald man's attempt to find a way not to be bald, as if "he men" were above such issues. He repeatedly lusts after a lady barber young enough to be his daughter simply because--she looks like a young version of his wife? ick--, but he is oh so superior to others? Not really. The last 2 lines of the book gave it all away--of course he sired only sons. They are six little parcels of masculine validation.
Ugh.
I read this when it first came out and promptly forgot the title, but parts of the story stayed with me. Since then I have dreamed of a large, open plan house with a loft--which remains a dream, but that's what fiction is all about. I didn't remember any of the actual story, though, just the man and his six sons and the wife who loves being pregnant. I had a sister in law like that. She loved being pregnant and being the centre of attention, she loved giving birth, she loved the tiny-baby-toddler phase. Then when the kid started kindergarten she got bored with her toy and wanted a new one. Anyway.
This is a different Francis hero. Instead of a drifter with daddy issues, we have a definite family man whose marriage is not doing so very well. They married young in what Colonel Potter called "the heat of...whatever heat you're in", he for her beauty and she for his progenitive prowess. But have no fear, Our Hero is still upright and upstanding, to the place that all and sundry (except The Bad Guy) find themselves opening their mouths and telling him all. And every. single. one. of them does a double take of some sort and asks themselves, "Why did I tell you all that?" Oh so believable. This time at least the Hero doesn't get tortured, but the bad guy gets his comeuppance in a rather horrible fashion I could have done without. Then comes a particularly nasty Big Reveal.
I have to say that on this second reading I didn't like Our Hero much. Granted, the Stratton family (a group antagonist, this time) is so dysfunctional that they make him look good by comparison--mostly because he adores his sons--but his sense of superiority to all around him (founded on what, exactly?) grated. He sneers openly at the bald man's attempt to find a way not to be bald, as if "he men" were above such issues. He repeatedly lusts after a lady barber young enough to be his daughter simply because--she looks like a young version of his wife? ick--, but he is oh so superior to others? Not really. The last 2 lines of the book gave it all away--of course he sired only sons. They are six little parcels of masculine validation.
Ugh.
November 11, 2014
The dysfunctional Stratton family are owners of the Stratton Park racecourse. The racecourse is old and in need of repair but the family is divided on what to do: modernize, leave as-is, or sell. Lee Morris, related through the elder Lord Stratton, owns seven shares and decides to attend one of the shareholder meetings. That was where he became aware of the family secrets so dear that they’d do anything to cover them up. Lee takes an interest in the proceedings. As an architect, he understands the drawings being considered. But knowledge can be a very dangerous thing, especially when your life and the lives of your children are at risk.
One of the better ones, in my opinion. How Dick Francis comes up with fresh ideas is a wonder. But it is all believable and fast paced. In typical fashion, Lee gets himself in some situations that you’d wonder if he’d get out, and yet you know deep down he will because it wouldn’t be a Dick Francis mystery if it didn’t follow this pattern.
One of the better ones, in my opinion. How Dick Francis comes up with fresh ideas is a wonder. But it is all believable and fast paced. In typical fashion, Lee gets himself in some situations that you’d wonder if he’d get out, and yet you know deep down he will because it wouldn’t be a Dick Francis mystery if it didn’t follow this pattern.
February 20, 2018
I've read Dick Francis before but enjoyed this one so much I will be picking up more from him in the near future. I actually found myself disappointed at remembering that I had finished this book when I would find a moment to hit "play."
I've only read a few of his books years ago and, as this one does, it is my understanding that they all deal in some way with horse racing. I don't know if any of his others are written as a "series" but this one is stand alone. It features and architect who specializes in refurbishing old relics and creating new and exciting dwellings - anything from old pubs to barns. He has SIX boys so this story had 2 aspects of the story that had me interested from the beginning: architecture and multiple children.
This mystery isn't gruesome in any way and while there were some truly despicable characters, nothing from this that I had to mute if a child walked in. Very enjoyable.
I've only read a few of his books years ago and, as this one does, it is my understanding that they all deal in some way with horse racing. I don't know if any of his others are written as a "series" but this one is stand alone. It features and architect who specializes in refurbishing old relics and creating new and exciting dwellings - anything from old pubs to barns. He has SIX boys so this story had 2 aspects of the story that had me interested from the beginning: architecture and multiple children.
This mystery isn't gruesome in any way and while there were some truly despicable characters, nothing from this that I had to mute if a child walked in. Very enjoyable.
September 27, 2019
The downside of this one was the rather unbelievably awful aristocratic family that is fighting over the racecourse. They were a little too cartoonish. But I really enjoyed Lee Morris, his laissez-faire but affectionate parenting of 6 young sons (well, only 5 feature), and his work as an architect and restorer of "ruins." That vocation made sense of his call to step in and play the "decider" who tried to fix the mess of a family squabble over the inheritance and future of the racecourse. I think this is one of my favorites of my Francis audiobinge, even if not one of the very best. Mostly for Lee with his kids.
June 11, 2016
A rollercoaster!
September 12, 2022
More of a family drama than his previous books. Lee Morris owns shares in the Stratton Race Course, inherited from his mother who had been married to Keith Stratton but whom she divorced after he beat and raped her. Keith's father, Lord Stratton, gave the race course shares to her as part of the divorce settlement. Upon his recent death, he divided his remaining shares among his children, Conrad, Keith and Ivan, and his grandchildren, Dart, Rebecca, Hannah and Forsythe. The remaining shares are held by Lord Stratton's sister, Marjorie. Lee is asked by the current race course manager, Roger, to attend the next shareholder meeting because the family is fighting over to keep the course as is, renovate or sell. Lee is not welcomed by the family at the meeting but stays and witnesses the fierce infighting with Keith demanding a sale, Conrad demanding a renovation and Marjorie manipulating all of them into doing nothing, for now. Meanwhile, she asks Lee to find out why Keith needs the money from the sale so badly and why Conrad is being bullied to rebuild the grandstand by an architect, Wilson Yarrow. Lee, an architect himself, asks to see the drawings and decides to ask his friends about them and their fellow classmate, Yarrow. Since it is the Easter holiday, Lee brings his 5 eldest boys to the track to watch the racing and while Lee is attending a meeting at an otherwise deserted course on Good Friday, someone sets off explosives to blow up the grandstand, injuring Lee and scaring the boys who were playing nearby. Could this be the work of the animal rights protestors hounding the track attendees? Lee sets out to find out but not before Keith and his daughter, Hannah, beat him and tell him to leave and not to try to blackmail or sue the family for his injuries. Rebecca, Conrad's daughter, also has a violent temper and she takes it out on everyone at the track on race days where she is a steeplechase jockey. She agrees with her father that the stands need to be renovated and pushes for that now after the explosion. Keith is pushing harder to sell before the track is worthless. A temporary tent is set up so that racing can continue during the holiday week and allowing time for a decision on a permanent solution. Eventually, Lee figures out that Yarrow, who was accused of cheating during school, is blackmailing Conrad to give him the contract for the renovation or else he will reveal that Rebecca is throwing races for the bookmakers. But Lee also figures out that the evidence of Rebecca's misdeed was faked by none other than Rebecca herself because she so desperately wants the track renovated and could not convince her father so she came up with the fake blackmail plot and roped in a willing Yarrow. It was Yarrow who set the explosion, under direction from Rebecca, to push Conrad toward a decision. Keith, meanwhile, was not wholly innocent as he had hired an actor to gather people to protest the track in order to force the family to sell. He was so enraged with Lee for messing with his plans that he tried to set fire to the tent and kill Lee's children but all Keith set on fire was himself. Another winner from Francis.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2025
A four star read but maybe a five star if it's one of your first Dick Francis books. It is good but I just found too much of the characterisation and the plotting felt like bits of previous books done unimaginatively, meaning it just lacked a bit of fizz. It is one I had read before but I don't think that's the cause because it's not been an issue with other ones.
Our protagonist is different to the usual style, a man in a loveless marriage with six kids, five of which spend the majority of the story by his side, so that leads to some interesting little side aspects. And, of course, no real romance subplot, which is often where Francis can come a cropper in an otherwise tight thriller. What there is of a romance plot is nicely handled too.
In fact its chief issue, outside of his own tropes, is that it has two slightly different denouements and the second, which should be the most thrilling, seems poorly setup, leading to it 'lacking teeth' for want of a better term. To say more would be spoilers so I will just say that it felt a bit of a let-down.
Our protagonist is different to the usual style, a man in a loveless marriage with six kids, five of which spend the majority of the story by his side, so that leads to some interesting little side aspects. And, of course, no real romance subplot, which is often where Francis can come a cropper in an otherwise tight thriller. What there is of a romance plot is nicely handled too.
In fact its chief issue, outside of his own tropes, is that it has two slightly different denouements and the second, which should be the most thrilling, seems poorly setup, leading to it 'lacking teeth' for want of a better term. To say more would be spoilers so I will just say that it felt a bit of a let-down.
May 24, 2020
My 4th DF book, and by far my favorite. Except for the final page resolution which I did not like elements of.
July 18, 2020
Typical Dick Francis book. I haven’t read one of his books in decades, so it was nice to revisit.
January 8, 2024
A re-read. Like visiting an old friend. Lots to like about the main character (an architect) and his five sons and the plot. Fifth star not available because some of the women characters were uncharitably drawn.
February 24, 2025
Immensely readable with an immensely likable leading man. My first Dick France’s book but definitely not my last.
September 7, 2020
Weird book. The extended aristocratic family that our architect/builder protagonist has managed to avoid for 30+ years is so dysfunctional that many of its members become difficult to tell apart. They all are so consumed by hate, envy, greed, sexual perversion and the like that they don't really differentiate.
A few chapters into the novel the protagonist already should be having several of them arrested for assault and battery on his person, and as he works to save the race course that is a major family asset, he is keeping most of his sons close at hand--a major error in parenting as these kids already are hugely at risk from the family. (One son is almost blown up when some family member dynamites the grandstands in hope that the course will be sold, enriching everyone.)
This is not the only Dick Francis novel in which a protagonist sticks it out in a difficult situation when anyone with any sense would just leave.
By the way, it is ironic that a person like Dick Francis so honored by British society would so completely debunk the British system of class and noble birth. These people are (mostly)monsters, and those who accept their authority as our protagonist mostly does are abetting a corrupt system
A few chapters into the novel the protagonist already should be having several of them arrested for assault and battery on his person, and as he works to save the race course that is a major family asset, he is keeping most of his sons close at hand--a major error in parenting as these kids already are hugely at risk from the family. (One son is almost blown up when some family member dynamites the grandstands in hope that the course will be sold, enriching everyone.)
This is not the only Dick Francis novel in which a protagonist sticks it out in a difficult situation when anyone with any sense would just leave.
By the way, it is ironic that a person like Dick Francis so honored by British society would so completely debunk the British system of class and noble birth. These people are (mostly)monsters, and those who accept their authority as our protagonist mostly does are abetting a corrupt system
February 2, 2012
Lee Morris is a hands-on builder as well as an architect. He and his wife Amanda married at the age of nineteen and still relatively young, are now the parents of six boys. Lee's mother was once married to Keith Stratton, one of the sons of Lord Stratton, owner of Stratton Park racecourse. It was an abusive marriage and when Lee's mother left, abandoning her daughter Hannah, her father-in-law gave her eight shares in the racecourse which Lee inherited on his mother's death. Lee is not related to the Strattons and has had no dealings with them. But on Lord Stratton's death, a meeting of shareholders is called and he decides to attend. The family resent, even hate him, and they are a squabbling, blackmailing bunch among themselves, all with different intentions as to the future of the racecourse. Lee is drawn in and takes his five older boys to the races. The plot includes a tragic accident, an explosion, fires, attempted shootings, typical action from Dick Francis. I really enjoyed the antics of the young boys.
October 15, 2024
This is one of Dick Francis' later books. I picked it out of my bookcase at random, feeling the need for a Dick Francis comfort read. As soon as I began, I remembered not enjoying this one as much as his earlier novels, but thirty years on I've whizzed through it with relish!
Lee Morris is an architect and builder with six sons and a rocky marriage. Francis has moved away from jockey heroes, then, but not too far, as the plot revolves around a failing racecourse owned by a demonic family with whom Morris has a familial connection. The plot twists and turns in a jovial and cleverly crafted manner, and I raced to the end with great enjoyment. In some ways this book made me long for the simplicity of life thirty years ago.
So now I'm giving it five stars. Would I read it again? Yes, but I'll probably be dead in another thirty years, so: much sooner!!
Lee Morris is an architect and builder with six sons and a rocky marriage. Francis has moved away from jockey heroes, then, but not too far, as the plot revolves around a failing racecourse owned by a demonic family with whom Morris has a familial connection. The plot twists and turns in a jovial and cleverly crafted manner, and I raced to the end with great enjoyment. In some ways this book made me long for the simplicity of life thirty years ago.
So now I'm giving it five stars. Would I read it again? Yes, but I'll probably be dead in another thirty years, so: much sooner!!
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