Dick Francis

Best-selling author Felix Francis, the son of the late National Hunt jockey and celebrated crime writer Dick Francis, will host a one-off tour the 'No Reserve Guided Tour with Felix Francis' in Newmarket on Oct. 5, the first session of the three-day Tattersalls October Yearling Sale Book 1. The tour marks the launch of Francis's latest thriller, No Reserve, which is set in the Suffolk town. Francis will take visitors to several places described in the book, including the historic Newmarket Gallops, and the Tattersalls sales ring at Park Paddocks....

Every novelist that engages the subject of horse racing is facing an odds-on favorite in Dick Francis. The all-time master, Francis effectively conjured racetrack heroes within the friendly confines of his umpteen mystery novels. With his passing, son Felix continues the family trade by employing the same tried-and-true formula. Francis always presented the reader with protagonists like a chef with high culinary morals or a noble former jump jockey-turned-P.I. or a smart-looking specialist in kidnapping who moonlights as a philosopher-psychologist. The author had us at "Hullo, how are you?" In...

To those of who grew up on Dick Francis books, his passing in 2010 at the age of 89 felt like losing an old friend. He wrote his first racing-themed crime novel, Dead Cert, the year I was born, 1962, and reliably churned out almost one per year-42 in total-until he passed away. Most arrived just in time for Christmas each year. If anyone was concerned that his son Felix would not be up to the task of taking over the family franchise, they needn't have worried. This year, Francis...

Discover Newmarket will later this year launch two new tours. "On The Trail of Dick Francis" will take in many of the spots in the town that the late former champion steeplechase jockey used as plots in his acclaimed novels. "Newmarket's Racing Royalty" reveals the town's royal heritage. Visitors on the tour will hear stories about the royals who have frequented Newmarket down the centuries and call by places with royal connections. The Dick Francis tours are available on Aug. 6, Oct. 1, Nov. 5 and Dec. 3, and the...