Dead Cert by Dick Francis

Finished on 7/27.

Seemed like a good time to reread these. A few weeks ago I reread Shattered and remembered that I hadn't read any of them for years.

So, back to the beginning. This doesn't seem to show any of the "first book" hesitations that sometimes appear in first novels of series, but then, technically, this isn't the first of a series - it is just Francis's first novel. Except the four books featuring Sid Halley, all of Francis's books stand alone. There is the common background of horse racing, but characters don't repeat. He wrote 38 of them - in partnership with his wife for many years, until her death, and the last four with his son, Felix, who, I believe, is continuing the "non-series." Has to beat teaching high school physics.

Here we have Alan York, an amateur steeplechase jockey from Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). His father has sent him to England (with a string of horses) to manage the London end of the family business which conveniently leaves him enough free time to race. He stumbles onto a system of fraud which has cost the life of his friend and mentor.

Setting the pattern that I seem to recall from Francis's books, Alan comes very close to losing his own life in his pursuit of his friend's killers. Have to love the passage where he escapes from them cross-country on a horse as the bad guys chase him in taxicabs.