In the Frame

Dick Francis is one of those rare authors who can create a multitude of characters, changing characters from one novel to the next. This makes the stories stand-alone novels which can be read independently. That is a marked contrast to authors who write series of novels about the same character, a practice that often requires reading an entire series to understand the characters.
The present novel is not exactly a whodunit because you can identify the guilty parties (or most of them) early in the game. The main plot is how to track them down and bring them to justice. The chase runs from England to Australia to New Zealand then back to Australia. As usual with this author, there are horses and racing involved including, in this case, the Melbourne Cup. There is an interesting system for placing bets.
The main character, Charles Todd, is an artist who paints oil paintings of horses. There is some interesting side information about the chemical deterioration of oil paints on older paintings, an area where most people are probably not well informed. There is also considerable information about counterfeit paintings. Let the buyer beware. The death of his cousin Donald's wife during a burglary sets Todd on the chase. The main story is fast action over a couple weeks.

Another Francis: A quick, exciting read, with characters it is fun to envy, but probably not fun to be in real life, the right number of plot twists and turns, and a shocking set-up. The hero, called Charles Neil Todd here, though really the same character as in other Francises, walks in on his cousin just after the latter has called the police to a burglary and then discovered his wife battered to death. In order to rescue him from the clutches of the police, who consider him a suspect, Todd tracks a curious coincidence in his cousin's recent past. Led to Australia, to the company of a welcoming old friend ~ and his not so welcoming, new wife ~ Todd investigates and, after some beatings and other frights, resolves the coincidences, solving the burglary and, probably, the murder. The racing is only incidentally important ~ much action occurs on a racecourse, around a big race, but could be anywhere ~ the main importance is that Todd and Jik, his friend, are painters ~ Todd of horses, mainly, Jik of living, lasting abstracts ~ which aids them in the investigation of art fraud, galleries, copies and copiers. Just for the few hours a Francis takes to read, but completely for those hours, i am carried away into another world, other surroundings. And, as always with Francis, i come away wanting to know more about his particular interest ~ here the painting of Todd and Jik, but also Australia itself; can it be as fascinating as Francis paints it?

As Dick Francis is English and i am Australian, it was great hearing about Aus from a different point of view. As well as this, the story was thrilling with an excellent story line that slowly unravelled as you got further into the book. It is about paintings (mostly of horses) being forged and then stolen and so forth. This is truly an excellent book, and, in my eyes, one of his greatest triumphs. (I have read all of his books, liking 'The Edge', 'Bone Crack' and 'In The Frame' most of all.

Francis writes the kind of books that you just can't put down. This one is no exception!!

This is a good read, and it is one of the Dick Francis books where you feel like you get a peep into a different world, in this case the worlds or art galleries and Australia. This one has good character and good action, and also has a poignant story of personal loss for the hero's cousin, whose wide is mysteriously murdered.

"In the Frame" is another of the slight, slender thrillers Francis was turning out in the 1970s, full of travel and good times. This one has a slightly somber edge, though.

Charles is another of Francis's artist heroes, this time an actual artist, who paints mainly horses and sort of makes a living doing so. He aspires to nothing higher, but when his cousin's wife is murdered and several other people he knows report being burgled, he ends up heading off to Australia to try to track down the culprits, where he teams up with a friend from art school and gets into exciting situations during the Melbourne Cup.

While lightly sketched, "In the Frame" showcases Francis's feeling for color, something seen clearly for the first time in "Enquiry," and developed more fully here. Charles sees the world in terms of paint, color, and frame, unsurprisingly, and he pulls the reader into a brightly realized world, full of intense, color-drenched sensory experiences. It contrasts the sunny holiday world of Australia during the Melbourne Cup with gloomy autumnal England, where Charles's cousin sits at home brooding over his wife's murder. Francis always had a flair for well-chosen descriptive passages, and it reaches a particular high point in this novel. A pleasure to read, packing plenty of punch in its few pages.

I enjoy all the Dick Francis books, and this was no exception.

Great book!

Love Dick Francis! Great Story! Quality of the book I received did not match the description provided by seller.

The book opens when the main character arrives at his cousin’s house for a stay, to find his cousin’s wife dead on the floor with the police at the scene. He is a painter and at another job where he is asked to paint the ruins of someone’s burned downed house, picks up on a coincidence linking the two incidents.
Then he is off on a fun romp to Australia following leads, and of course gets beaten up. Horse racing is not so much in the plot as it usually is but still involved.
I am having a marathon of reading his books, and I’m using my reviews to keep up with what I have read; this brings it to about number ten.
I say it in just about every review, but it bears repeating. You don’t have to be interested in horse racing to enjoy his books. Also, his books were written decades ago, but you can’t tell it reading them.
It is amazing the number of books he wrote.