Dick Francis bargains

[elleoco]

It's raining and dreary here in Colorado, so as I was entertaining myself following Also Bought trails on Amazon (as opposed to something constructive like writing), I encountered a Dick Francis book selling for $2.51.

I've had a Kindle since 2008 and always swore I'd never buy the ebook version of anything I have in paper just because, but as the years pass, my preference for reading on Kindle grows stronger and stronger. So I pounced on the book and 5 others at $2.99. These are books I'd not seen available in ebook: Dead Cert (I think this was the first Francis mystery), Rat Race, Enquiry, High Stakes, Knockdown, and Smokescreen.

So in case there are other Francis fans on the board who reread his books every few years.... It looks like these were just released, and they don't come up for me in a straight search on author name. Try, https://www.amazon.com/Rat-Race-classic-racing-mystery-ebook/dp/B07Q8644NB and its Also Boughts. I saw Smokescreen and then it disappeared as I clicked on the others to buy, but I found it again by searching "Smokescreen Dick Francis." Maybe that kind of search works for the others too.

I'm going to keep an eye out now to see if some of the other early books such as Nerve show up now.

[Simon Haynes]

I used to read Dick Francis all the time - always enjoyed his novels.

Unfortunately, when I open an amazon.com ebook product page for any trad-pubbed author I always get the 'this title is not available in your region' message. (Pretty sure the major publishers issue UK and US editions of novels, and then geo-block one or the other.)

Visit Amazon.com.au and all the Dick Francis ebooks (via a different publisher) are 12.99 and up. (17.99 in one case.) Ouch.

[elleoco]

Ouch indeed. I have an Australian cyber-friend who has told me how much more expensive books are there. Obviously it's more than the exchange rate. Try your library?

[Maggie Ann]

Got them. Thanks. I haven't read a Dick Francis in years.

[elleoco]

Got them. Thanks. I haven't read a Dick Francis in years.

His son is now writing what are supposed to be similar stories, trading on the father's name, but they're not the same. I read them, but they're not as well written, and you can see the difference between the tough old steeplechase jockey who was in the RAF and the modern son of said successful man. The son often uses phrases like, "I was not a happy bunny," for Pete's sake.

So like with Anne Hillerman, who gave her father's characters personality transplants, I own all the father's books and borrow the kid's from the library.

[Maggie Ann]

Got them. Thanks. I haven't read a Dick Francis in years.

His son is now writing what are supposed to be similar stories, trading on the father's name, but they're not the same. I read them, but they're not as well written, and you can see the difference between the tough old steeplechase jockey who was in the RAF and the modern son of said successful man. The son often uses phrases like, "I was not a happy bunny," for Pete's sake.

So like with Anne Hillerman, who gave her father's characters personality transplants, I own all the father's books and borrow the kid's from the library.

Yes, I tried reading a couple of the son's books. Definitely not the same. The same thing happened with Mary Higgins Clark and her son and daughter, although the daughter hasn't tried to copy her and has a successful series of her own. Now I see that Janet Evanovich and her son are writing together. I'm not going to bother.

I tried reading the guy who took over the Nero Wolfe series. What a spectacular disappointment that was. Couldn't even finish the book.

[elleoco]

Yes, I tried reading a couple of the son's books. Definitely not the same. The same thing happened with Mary Higgins Clark and her son and daughter, although the daughter hasn't tried to copy her and has a successful series of her own. Now I see that Janet Evanovich and her son are writing together. I'm not going to bother.

Yup. So far I haven't found a single person, either kid or hired pro, who continues a beloved author's work who equals or surpasses the original. Sad for us readers really. I used to read James Lee Burke's Dave Robichaux novels until it got ridiculous having Viet Nam vets doing such physical stunts when they have to be in their 70's (also a problem for Craig Johnson's and Robert Crais's characters). Burke's daughter Alafair writes her own stuff, and I only tried one. Obviously a lot of these kids of successful authors come from softer backgrounds than the parent and get a free, or at least boosted, ride with trad publishers as opposed to having to make it on their merits.

[spin52]

'I tried reading the guy who took over the Nero Wolfe series. What a spectacular disappointment that was. Couldn't even finish the book.'


I so agree. I did slog through the first one, but it was a real effort. By the way, Maggie, I finally found the place where Archie's birthday is mentioned, in "The League of Frightened Men".

[Maggie Ann]

'I tried reading the guy who took over the Nero Wolfe series. What a spectacular disappointment that was. Couldn't even finish the book.'


I so agree. I did slog through the first one, but it was a real effort. By the way, Maggie, I finally found the place where Archie's birthday is mentioned, in "The League of Frightened Men".

I just finished reading Gambit. I'll put the League of Frightened Men next on my list. I've only read both of those a few times.

[She-la-te-da]

Wish I'd seen this earlier, I love Dick Francis. I got started reading his books when I was stationed at my first base in the USAF, back in 1977. We had a tiny library on base, and I was on the floor, looking at the very bottom shelves, when I saw the little horse figure the publisher used on the cover. Since I always was horse crazy, I pulled it out, started reading, and I was hooked from that point on. I wish he'd written a thousand more books.

I read some of the books he did with his son, Felix, but they weren't as good. Lately Felix is getting better, but he'll never be his father. I don't know that anyone could write like that. The clarity, the story ideas, the characters.

Man... I think I need to pull out an early book and read it again (I've read some of them ten times or more over the years). It's like Alas, Babylon, which I read every couple of years.

[Maggie Ann]

Whip Hand just came out on Kindle, $2.99. I'm reading it now. It's one of the Sid Halley books.

https://www.amazon.com/Whip-Hand-classic-racing-mystery-ebook/dp/B07RZPHKNH/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=whip+hand&qid=1562499901&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

[TimothyEllis]

Whip Hand just came out on Kindle, $2.99. I'm reading it now. It's one of the Sid Halley books.

https://www.amazon.com/Whip-Hand-classic-racing-mystery-ebook/dp/B07RZPHKNH/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=whip+hand&qid=1562499901&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

The Kindle versions are expensive! $9? When you can pick up a second hand paperback for 50c without even looking?

As old as these books are, I think the publishers are kidding themselves.

Until you look at the rank. 10k in week 1 at that price. Says a lot of the author name.

Makes me wonder why a lot of the older books are not being released on Kindle if they can command these sorts of prices.

Edit: Definitely not 2.99, but maybe that accounts for the rank and they just changed the price. $12.99 in the AU store. And that is very steep here.

[Maggie Ann]

Whip Hand just came out on Kindle, $2.99. I'm reading it now. It's one of the Sid Halley books.

https://www.amazon.com/Whip-Hand-classic-racing-mystery-ebook/dp/B07RZPHKNH/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=whip+hand&qid=1562499901&s=digital-text&sr=1-2

The Kindle versions are expensive! $9? When you can pick up a second hand paperback for 50c without even looking?

As old as these books are, I think the publishers are kidding themselves.

Until you look at the rank. 10k in week 1 at that price. Says a lot of the author name.

Makes me wonder why a lot of the older books are not being released on Kindle if they can command these sorts of prices.

Edit: Definitely not 2.99, but maybe that accounts for the rank and they just changed the price. $12.99 in the AU store. And that is very steep here.

Just double checked the price. The kindle book is still $2.99, marked down from $8.99.

There's one author, Thomas B. Costain, that I would love to have on Kindle. My copies of his books can no longer be safely opened. But the series that I want ranges from $15.99 to $29.99. No thanks. But a Dick Francis at $2.99? I'll jump right on that.

[elleoco]

Since my original post another handful of the older Francis books that hadn't been available as ebooks has been released at the bargain prices. I scooped them all up except 2 I never reread. For Kicks just has too much horse cruelty, and I can't take it. Trial Run has the protagonist going to Moscow at the request of a British prince and never had much appeal.

I'm sorry if these aren't being offered as bargains in Australia. I only see Amazon U.S., but I'd rather pay $2.99 for an ebook than get a paperback for free any day. I can still read my hard cover copies and have been, but I no longer can read paperbacks comfortably, so don't even open them. Plus they're about ready to fall apart, and I've never been good at dusting books.

Wish I'd seen this earlier, I love Dick Francis. I got started reading his books when I was stationed at my first base in the USAF, back in 1977. We had a tiny library on base, and I was on the floor, looking at the very bottom shelves, when I saw the little horse figure the publisher used on the cover. Since I always was horse crazy, I pulled it out, started reading, and I was hooked from that point on. I wish he'd written a thousand more books.

I read some of the books he did with his son, Felix, but they weren't as good. Lately Felix is getting better, but he'll never be his father. I don't know that anyone could write like that. The clarity, the story ideas, the characters.

Agree. I first discovered Francis back in the '60s when my mother sent me a box of books she'd read and there was a trilogy by him in it - Dead Cert, Nerve, and Odds Against. After that I read everything I could find by him and have those in paperback. Then I started buying his books in hard cover as soon as they came out. I'm going to keep the hard covers now, but discard the paperbacks I've been able to replace at these prices.

As I said in a previous post, IMO there's no way someone like Felix can ever write like his father because they have such different life experiences. The father was in the RAF, was a champion jockey in the days when it was a much rougher, less safety conscious sport, and ran his own small airport. (I read The Sport of Queens, his autobiography, years ago.) That background produces a very different person than being the son of a man wealthy from book royalties.

[Maggie Ann]

Thanks, Ellen. I pre-ordered and bought another one at $2.99. Dick Francis is going to keep me happily reading for quite a while. I like his books even more than I did when I first read them and I know I didn't come close to reading them all back then.

[lea_owens]

They're all $13.99 for me in Australia. For that money, I want a paper book that can sit on a library shelf. I've read a lot of his books and really enjoy them - I think I'll just look in some second hand book stores to buy some for a dollar or two each and have the paper version. I  mostly read KU works on my Kindle these days.

[Maggie Ann]

They're all $13.99 for me in Australia. For that money, I want a paper book that can sit on a library shelf. I've read a lot of his books and really enjoy them - I think I'll just look in some second hand book stores to buy some for a dollar or two each and have the paper version. I  mostly read KU works on my Kindle these days.

I have to agree about the AU price. That's ridiculous for an e-book. I'm just grateful that they are only $2.99 in the US.