Field of Thirteen

It's interesting how some authors have an optimum length, like some runners have an optimum distance. Some authors produce lyric poems, some produce epic series, and some produce medium-length standalone novels. Dick Francis belongs to the last class: his best mid-length standalone novels (he never really got into the long-running series the way many mystery authors did) were perfectly paced and plotted.Given how spare his writing could be, one might expect him to excel at the genre of short sto [...]

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 tha [...]

This is a good collection of short stories with a horse racing theme. Thirteen stories with interesting ending to keep readers holding on for the ride.The author has a good writing style and the stories are unique, fun and great to read either one at a time or in one sitting if you want too.First time I have read a book by this author and I enjoyed it.

Dick Francis write superbly. What can I say. This book of great short stories is filled with his trade-mark excellence of writing. Mystery, human stories (I loved Song for Mona), adventure (of a sort), funny little twists and turns of 'what happens'. I didn't foresee any of it, and was delighted with each and every story.

3-Apr-99Not my favorite. Most of these stories were written in the seventies when Francis was going for a more hard-boiled feel with pickpockets and grifters. They're fine stories, just not as good as the later novelsrsonal copy

Thirteen short stories about the horse racing sports from the master of the genre. They are easy to read and enjoyable. I especially likes the short notes accompaning each story.

"Field of Thirteen" are short stories by Dick Francis, all try to twist ending, some not as just as I'd wish, less justice, easier on wrong-doers. The variety of scams hint ideas never fleshed out to full length. Not as much humor as I like, incomparable skill creating whole personalities from bits, names, single sentences, even omissions. I read them all before; liked first best, drawn by chance according to foreword "Notes on the Racecard", that also name-drops Penguin publisher, wife, and Car [...]

This is a book of 13 short stories centered around horse racing and the jockeys, trainers,owners and gamblers whose lives depend on the sport. Many of the stories involve cheating of one sort or another. My favorites were the ones where honesty and professionalism are rewarded. These were few in number. Although Dick Francis is widely known as a mystery writer most of these stories are not actually in that genre.

This is a book of short stories (mystery stories) by Dick Francis. I loved it. All the stories had some connection to the world of horse racing. What great characters, too. The stories had been created over the span of quite a few years, so that made the collection even more interesting to read. I think that anyone who likes Dick Francis' mystery novels would enjoy this book.

13 short stories, if you like Dick Francis, you'll like these, and even if you don't usually like him, you may well like some of these, there are clever 'collection of circumstances' in some of these.

Enjoyed.

Always love Dick!

Not a fan of the short story in general, unless very well written, which these weren't. Typically, they lacked an end/middle, leaving me wondering what the point of the story was.

Dick Francis's books are always entertaining and surprising. Since his death, his son (Felix) has continued writing remarkably well and in an identical style. This was a book of 13 short stories that I read straight through, which was not my initial intention.I listen to audio books in my car during my daily commute, so they take longer than printed books or ebooks.

PLOT OR PREMISE:A collection of thirteen short stories, eight of which were published previously in various magazinesWHAT I LIKED:"- Dead on Red - A contract killer kills a jockey for another jockey, but the results are not quite what the surviving jockey had desired. (4.00/5.00)- Song for Mona - A snobbish daughter is ashamed of her mother's life and history while others find her charming and praise her. (4.00/5.00) - Collision Course - An editor loses his job and runs into snobs who won't let [...]

I'm the last person on earth to be caught with a "NY-times bestseller" in hand, yet here I was. Having depleted my library's reserve of Rex Stout titles for entertaining mindless reading, I was too winded to reach out for my fantasy comfort food (which, to me, is far from mindless) and even Raymond Chandler seemed too heavy-handed, to give a snapshot of my mental state of late.What we have in this reviewed title is a decent page-turner that fulfills the sole task for which it has been intended: [...]

Excellent twist-ending short stories.Easy reading, with interesting characters,and surprise endings. You will painlessly learn about horse racing - owners, trainers, jockeys, fans - all with their interesting stories.

FIELD OF THIRTEEN (short stories) - G /VGFrancis, Dick - 37th bookThat octet, composed mostly in the 1970s and initially appearing in various journals (Sports Illustrated, the Times of London, etc.), is reprinted here, along with five new tales, each introduced in brief by Francis. There's not a slacker among them, though few champions either. The earliest yarn, "Carrot for a Chestnut," dating from 1970 (eight years after Francis's first novel), is typical, presenting a morally ordered universe [...]

This is a fabulous collection of short stories! I am not usually a fan of short stories, and purchased this at the used book sale only because I saw the author's name. I thought it was a novel. I read my first Dick Francis novel a few weeks ago when my dad gave me one to read on the airplane coming home. Francis wrote crime novels about various crimes and with heroes from various professions, and I enjoyed reading one about a tax accountant. Francis was a jockey by trade, and his stories are alw [...]

I first read this book around 3 years ago. It was one of the few books in my cousin's library that was not a romance novel. And so, without warning, I was introduced to Dick Francis and his equestrian themed stories. From the get-go, I really enjoyed his style. It's concise, no nonsense and brief, without sacrificing atmosphere or storyline, which is just right for the kind of stories he writes (I'm not really sure what genre they are, but most involve a crime or so and, of course, horses). His [...]

A Dick Francis book I had not yet read, and it was interesting because each story was only a few pages long, at most 10-15 so the character development was not as strong as his longer books. I also liked that his characters in this were a bit different from the ones he writes in his longer stories, not necessarily so upstanding or honorable. "Collision Course" is my favourite of the stories. Bill Williams, the protagonist, exemplifies who I would want to be, hard working, studious, young, and no [...]

If you're keeping track of what I'm readingYES, I've been on a Dick Francis kick for the last, oh, month or so. My dad got me started on his books years ago, and I'll read four or five at a time before I get burned out and need to read something else. Fabulous writer. Terrific plot twists. Field of Thirteen is a collection of Francis' short stories (I'm also currently on a short-story kick, mostly F. Scott Fitzgerald, but that's another.ory). In my opinion, Francis does his best work in full-len [...]

It was a sad day for Dick Francis but a happy one for racing readers when HRH the late Queen Mum told her favorite jockey, Dick Francis, that he must give up racing for the sake of his survival. Unhorsed, he took to writing novels and stories dealing with horse racing in all its many aspects.If he had not turned to writing, Francis could probably have done well as a con man or grifter. Published in magazines as disparate as Sports Illustrated, Women's Own, and the Times of London, these 13 short [...]

I never should have even cracked this book, and I'll tell you why. I get book recommendations from only a couple of people, mainly my brother and Dad. This book was given to me by Dad with a not-so-glowing recommendation. I took it anyway, thinking that I would give it a try. Well, I won't be doing that anymore. The minute I picked up the book, I had this knowledge that I may not like it. This book is a book of fiction short stories, and when was the last time I read a book of fiction short stor [...]

The short stories included are: (reviewd as read)Raid at Kindgom HillInteresting.FYI: The Tote, formerly the Horserace Totalisator Board, is a British bookmaker. It was owned from its formation in 1928 by the UK Government but was sold to Betfred in July 2011. The company is known for its pool bets and is the only organisation in the UK which is allowed to run pool betting on horseracing.Dead on Red Song for Mona Bright White Star Collision Course Nightmare Carrot for Chestnut The Gift Spring Fe [...]

A collection of thirteen short stories, all dealing with horses somehow. It wouldn't be Dick Francis without horses being involved, right? Very enjoyable. Part of the fun of this is the introduction included at the start of each one. Some are new stories, others were previously released when he was commissioned to write something for a publication. There is enough involved in each story to keep it interesting. A few I could at least guess at the direction it was going but others ended in ways I [...]

This is a compilation of 13 stories written by Dick Francis, which Dan brought home for me from the library one day. When I discovered horse racing was involved, a subject I knew nearly nothing about, I put off reading it. When I finally did I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed the good clean fun of each story line and couldn't wait to read more. There's no doubt I will read more of his books in the future. Mr. Francis writes interesting stories and there's nothing trashy or morbid about them. [...]

"Field of Thirteen" is a collection of short stories by Dick Francis. He's one of my favourite authors, and I'll be honest that his stories tend to have a lot of similarities - they're all mysteries, usually involving a major crime such as murder, and the main character is somehow connected to horse-racing. This was nice because a couple of stories were a little different. some of them had been commissioned by magazines such as Sports Illustrated and Women's Own so he was trying different techni [...]

This is my first book by Dick Francis. A selection of short stories (13) about Steeple-chase horse racing. Mr. Francis living in Great Britain wrote many of these short stories at the request of periodical publications. They primarily take place in Great Britain, but some American stories are there too. It is one of the best short story collections I've read. I would recommend them to anyone. He has a good sense of humor and his characters show empathy, compassion and stupidity as needed. I'm lo [...]

A combination of stories all with ties to horse racing that was a lot like a big horse race one or two stars out of the bunch a lot of also rans and a lot of why was this one even there?Most of these stories were written back in the 70's for magazines they were far from the best sports fiction writing I've seen because of the format of the book thought about giving up on it for a while stuck with it though but should have used slot machine logic here if after a while you haven't had a hit WALK A [...]