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Dick Francis

Sheila Mullen

Dead Cert Mass Market Paperback – Feb. 12 1987

by Dick Francis (Author)

3,031 ratings

4.1 on Goodreads

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As jockey Alan York looked at the back of Bill Davidson astride the great horse Admiral, one thing was different. Before his rival reached the last hurdle, he was dead. Alan knew racing was dangerous; he also knew Bill's death was no accident. It was the kind of knowledge that could get a man killled....
"The best thriller writer going."
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY

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Language

English
Publisher

Fawcett
Publication date

Feb. 12 1987
Dimensions

11.43 x 2.54 x 17.15 cm
ISBN-10

0449212637
ISBN-13

978-0449212639

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Product description

From the Publisher

Dick Francis, a former jockey, brings his experience of racing and life around the racetrack to his mysteries. (And so far Francis is a three-time winner of the Edgar Award for writing the best mystery of the year.) This horse racing background is appealing to my market area of Southern California. Racing is a popular sport amongst Southlanders.

--Nanci Andersen, Ballantine Sales

From the Inside Flap

an York looked at the back of Bill Davidson astride the great horse Admiral, one thing was different. Before his rival reached the last hurdle, he was dead. Alan knew racing was dangerous; he also knew Bill's death was no accident. It was the kind of knowledge that could get a man killled....
"The best thriller writer going."
THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Fawcett
Publication date ‏ : ‎ Feb. 12 1987
Edition ‏ : ‎ Reissue
Language ‏ : ‎ English
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0449212637
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0449212639
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 159 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 11.43 x 2.54 x 17.15 cm
�鶹�� Rank: #11,834 in British Detective Stories
Customer Reviews:
3,031 ratings

About the authors

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Dick Francis
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Dick Francis was the author of more than forty acclaimed books. Among his numerous awards were three Edgar Awards, the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger, and the Mystery Writers of America's Grand Master Award. He died in February 2010.
Felix Francis has assisted with the research of many of the Dick Francis novels and is the coauthor of Dead Heat, Silks, and Even Money. He lives in England.
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Sheila Mullen
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Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read book recommendations and more.
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Randy Ross
No surprises
Reviewed in Canada on August 12, 2025
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It's a book by a known author. No surprises.

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col2910
Dead good!
Reviewed in Canada on March 28, 2018
Synopsis/blurb...........
Three jockeys were warned not to win their races, someone wanted good riders turned into also-rans. Bill died when the sure-footed Admiral fell, Joe was scared rotten, and Alan York became the prime target of a vicious gang. But Alan wanted revenge, and to hell with the danger.

I have seen and heard of this author for many years before finally deciding to give him a try. I read and enjoyed Forfeit last month and having picked up a few of his books recently decided to try his first published novel from 1962 next.
At 180-odd pages long it was a fairly quick read. Sufficient length for the author to develop his characters into more than stick people, but not over-long like so many of the books published today.
Alan York is our main man here. Rhodesian by birth, Alan's a part-time amateur jockey in addition to looking after his father's business from London a couple of days a week. Alan is trailing his best friend Bill Davidson during a steeplechase race, when disaster strikes the leading horse and jockey. Davidson suffers a bad fall, incurring fatal injuries after his horse landed on him. York having witnessed the accident is sufficiently disturbed to re-visit the fence where the incident took place. Hidden in the fence is a coil of wire which has been used to bring Davidson and Admiral, his odds-on favourite mount down. Unable to attract assistance that evening, York returns to the course the next day with a policeman in tow, but the evidence has disappeared.
After the inquest where York's insistence of foul-play is dismissed and an accidental verdict returned, Alan decides to investigate who is responsible for his friend's death. Whilst talking in the weighing room to other jockeys, it's apparent that someone is trying to stop several nailed-on horses from winning their races in order to profit. As the plot quickly unfolds, Alan is threatened and warned off by the gang responsible for the race-fixing, which is in addition to a protection racket they have been operating in Brighton. There's a bit of a love interest introduced, which also links in to the eventual unmasking of the head honcho controlling the criminal gang.
Short, sharp, concise, with a few twists and turns before the identity of the culprit was revealed.It's unlikely that I will find myself thinking about this book much in the weeks ahead, but for all that I really enjoyed it. A fairly straight-forward thriller-cum-crime-novel (can someone explain to me the difference?), interesting and likeable main character, believable plot and all ends properly tied-up at the conclusion. Verdict - nothing to complain about.
4 from 5
I acquired my omnibus edition of 3 early Dick Francis books a month or two ago from a seller on e-bay.

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Another great read by Dick Francis
Reviewed in Canada on December 5, 2017
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Dick Francis always delivers a fast paced story with a hero who rises to the occasion with humbleness and this one was no different. In this tale the main character tries to find the true cause of his best friend's death and comes across a plot to injure all of the best jockeys. Full of intrigue and a glimpse into the life of racing with a bit of romance as well.

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Charles R. Slater
Out of the Gate Fast
Reviewed in Canada on October 29, 2000
This is the first of Dick Francis' racing novels, although not the first I read. In fact, I was amazed to see it was numero uno. Even Robert Parker, another mystery master, took one novel to get it right. Francis, in racetrack parlance, broke from the gate fast. All the elements are there: A likeable hero who pursues the truth at great personal risk; a sweet but never turn-the-page-torrid romance with a bend in the road; outside knowledge about an interesting field, and an interesting villain one can almost sympathize with on some level. It grabs you right away with the murder of a jockey during a race and never lets go, right to the surprising conclusion -- one, incidentally, which our hero desperately wanted not to be so. Enjoy. It's a great start to a great, long ride. Francis' first and one of his best.

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J. Kane
Dead Certain to please mystery lovers...
Reviewed in Canada on February 13, 2002
In yet another gripping story of mystery, murder and British steeplechasing, Dick Francis continues his amazing streak of hit novels.
His real appeal is not racing or mystery however, it is his ability to create characters who are admirable, honorable and self-reliant. If you're looking for troubled, self-loathers who "somehow" overcome their weakness and become unwilling and unwitting heroes, don't look here. Francis' heroes revel in their abilities to withstand evil, overcome it, and end up smiling in spite of it all.
Kudos once again for Dick Francis and Dead Cert!

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Lynn D
Always a good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 16, 2021
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I have a collection of Dick Francis books on my Kindle which I turn to whenever I have time pass in my armchair. Although almost all are linked to horses and racing somewhere in the plot each story speaks of other occupations or professions which have been well researched. I have found these parts extremely interesting. And, like Dickens, the villains generally get their come uppance but the hero doesn't always get the girl!

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Clay Garner
“One can be too secure”
Reviewed in the United States on April 28, 2024
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This is the first of Francis’ books. The theme of ‘one can be too secure’ reappears regularly in later works. This isn’t . . . quite as polished. Still . . .

“When the time came I mounted and rode out on to the course. The familiar excitement was in my blood again. Not Bill’s death nor Scilla’s mourning, nor the thought of Kate making progress with someone else, could affect the gripping happiness I always felt when cantering down to the starting gate. The speed of racing, the quick decisions, the risks, these were what I badly needed to counteract the safeties of civilisation.’’

A craftsman, not just a superficial workman.

“One can be too secure.’’

Why?

“Adventure is good for the soul, especially for someone like me, whose father stopped counting after the fourth million. And my father, with an understanding based on his own much wilder youth, had given me unconditionally a fast car and three good horses and turned me loose in a country five thousand miles from home. He said however, as he despatched me with his blessing, that he thought steeplechasing was rather mild for one who had been taken crocodile hunting on the Zambezi every year since he was ten. My father’s annual month away from his trading empire usually meant for us a dash across the veldt and a plunge into the primeval forest, sometimes equipped with the absolute minimum of kit and no one but ourselves to carry it. And I, for whom the deep jungle was a familiar playground, found the challenge I needed in a tamed land, on friendly animals, in a sport hemmed all about with rules and regulations. It was very odd, when one came to consider it.’’

This training . . . so profoundly . . . opposed to current culture.

Written about five decades ago.

Who writes like this now?

Recommended!

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Judy in CA
read this many years ago
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2022
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After trying a Felix Francis book which I did not finish. I purchased Dead Cert by Dick Francis. What a treat. I did not remember much of the book but I must have liked it because I liked it now. Will watch for other Dick Francis ebooks when they are available at a reduced price.

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Colin McG
A first for Francis
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 22, 2024
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A good debut novel from Dick Francis, stronger on the thriller elements than the whodunit/mystery aspect, but well written and with a good sense of pace. It tells a tale of corruption and deceit on and off the racecourse and mixes in a little romance too.

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PegB
All Mr. Francis' books are great
Reviewed in the United States on June 2, 2025
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I have all of Dick Francis' books. Wonderful writer.

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