Steeplechase jockey Dick Francis won over 350 races and wrote forty mystery thrillers–international bestsellers. Helen Currie Foster discusses why Francis’ books are perennial favorites.
Written by Helen Currie Foster
Dick Francis wrote over 40 international best-selling mystery thrillers touching the world of horse racing. He won celebrity status as a British jockey, even serving as the Queen Mother’s jockey. In World War II he served in the RAF, flying Spitfires and hurricanes.
By Paul Holloway from Leeds, United Kingdom (Steeplechase) [CC BY-SA 2.0 ], via Wikimedia Commons Many fans will recognize that he often uses a particular formula. The formula includes a young male protagonist with an offbeat background and some sort of hole in his soul, who winds up solving a murder. Let’s take just three examples: foreign service officer Peter Darwin in Comeback, movie director Thomas Lyon in Wild Horses, and architect/restorer of old buildings Lee Morris in Decider.
Each book uses first-person narrative.
Each man worries about something missing in his life. The…
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Austin Mystery Writers 
Creating suspenseful dialogues involves giving information opposite to what the reader already knows or assumes—withholding certain information or providing sporadic details of the narrative along the way, especially at the end part. Check my blog Elements of Excellent Mystery Thrillers
Cheers,
Jo
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