History Creator / DickFrancis

* FeudingFamilies: The Allardecks and the Fieldings have an enmity that has been going on for centuries. The younger generation does their best to end it, with Holly Fielding and Bobby Allardeck falling in love and getting married. However, Bobby's father Maynard continues to regard the feud as SeriousBusiness, and uses his position as a Jockey Club steward to pursue a personal vendetta against Holly's brother Kit, a professional jockey (and the narrator of ''Break In'' and ''Bolt''). This ultimately scuppers Maynard's ambition to secure himself a knighthood, as evidence of his less savoury business activities (in the form of a dossier kept by Kit as an insurance policy should Maynard actively threaten his livelihood) falls into the wrong hands; it's not Kit's fault that this happens, but Maynard unsurprisingly holds him responsible.

* ForgingTheWill: Discussed in ''Hot Money''. The protagonist's very rich father is considering changing his will, and the protagonist tells him how to get the new will registered with the Probate Office, so that if the father dies suddenly (which is quite possible since someone is trying to kill him and has already killed at least one other family member), it will be impossible for anyone to produce a fake will in order to claim all of the money for themseves. This is followed by a case of ''lying about'' what's in the will, as the protagonist subsequently tells the rest of his family (one of whom is the murderer) that his father has inserted a clause into his will stating that his entire fortune will go to charity in the event of him dying in suspicious circumstances; it's not true, but when the father inevitably hears of this, his response is to wonder why he hadn't thought of doing that for real.

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Richard Stanley Francis [[UsefulNotes/KnightFever CBE]] (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010), better known as Dick Francis, was a British crime novelist whose works invariably had some connection with UsefulNotes/HorseRacing. Prior to becoming an author, Francis had himself been a successful jockey — winning 350 races, most notably on horses owned by [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor HM the Queen Mother]]. However, his most famous race was a loss; in the 1956 Grand National on Devon Loch, he had a five-length lead going into the home stretch, only for the horse [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62fPLtL8h7s to unexpectedly jump in the air and fall on its stomach]] [[note]] this gave rise to the phrase "to do a Devon Loch" to describe an act of failing to win at the last minute despite being in a seemingly unassailable position; it's used by British sports journalists to this day[[/note]]. After retiring from racing, he took up writing, initially with his autobiography. His first novel was published in 1962, following which he wrote a novel a year for the next 38 years.

** In ''Bloodline, ImmoralJournalist Toby Woodley [[spoiler: sends blackmail letters to people who he suspects of wrongdoing; the demand is for a relatively small amount of money (£200), and if the victim actually pays up, Toby sees that as proof of their guilt and then sends a second letter demanding more money. As with George Millace above, this gets him killed after one of his victims works out that he's the blackmailer and murders him -- and then starts blackmailing a couple of Toby's other victims for a lot more money than Toby had demanded of them, which is what gives him away]].

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The short story "Dead on Red" ends with the sinking of the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Herald_of_Free_Enterprise Herald of Free Enterprise]]'' in March 1987.

* MasterOfDisguise: Played for laughs by Chris Young, the private detective hired by the narrator in ''To the Hilt'' who even disguises himself when it's not really necessary. Subverted by Andrew Doublas, the kidnapping expert (and narrator) in ''The Danger''; though he has some colleagues who ''are'' this, he himself prefers to rely on a mild form of ObfuscatingStupidity in order to avoid drawing attention to himself.

* MasterOfDisguise: Played straight by Chris Young, the private detective hired by the narrator in ''To the Hilt''. Subverted by Andrew Doublas, the kidnapping expert (and narrator) in ''The Danger''; though he has some colleagues who ''are'' this, he himself prefers to rely on a mild form of ObfuscatingStupidity in order to avoid drawing attention to himself.

* KarmaHoudini: depressingly often, for the sake of realism. The BigBad of ''Flying Finish'', and several of his henchmen presumably escape to a non-extradition country, despite being responsible for at least three murders, and feeling little remorse. The villains of the first two Sid Halley books get off with slaps on the wrist. TheDragon of ''Slay Ride'' is still at large at the end of the novel despite having, among other things, beaten a pregnant woman to the point of causing a miscarriage. None of the NeverMyFault, SmugSnake villains of ''Risk'' are arrested after delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to the hero, and embezzling quite a bit of money. On the other hand, he's just as likely to choose PayEvilUntoEvil.

** Political advisor A.L. Wyvern in ''10-lb Penalty'' aspires to be this in the highest-echelons of British politics, desiring power without responsibility.

** In ''Bloodline, ImmoralJournalist Toby Woodley [[spoiler: sends blackmail letters to people who he suspects of wrongdoing; the demand is for a relatively small amount of money (£200), and if the victim actually pays up, Toby sees that as proof of their guilt and then sends a second letter demanding more money. As with George Millace above, this gets him killed after one of his victims works out that he's the blackmailer and kills him -- and then starts blackmailing a couple of Toby's other victims for a lot more money than Toby had, which is what gives him away]].
* BornInTheSaddle: Multiple characters come from families that fit this trope, as do many supporting characters. Averted, though, in ''Comeback'' when the protagonist is the son of a jockey but was raised by a diplomat (his mother having remarried someone outside the racing fraternity after his father's death when he was a baby) and went into that line of work himself.

* EarlyBirdCameo: A meta example — ''Twice Shy'' (1981) was dedicated to Dick's son Felix who, like one of the main characters, was a physics teacher; Felix had helped to devise the bookie-beating computer programme that was that novel's MacGuffin. Felix went on to help his parents write some of the later novels (getting openly credited as a co-writer for the ones written after Mary's death), and would continue to write novels in the same vein after Dick died in 2010.

* HappilyFailedSuicide: In the short story "Haig's Death" (which can be found in ''Field of 13'', Dick's only short story collection), Jasper Billington-Innes is about to drive his car into a tree, when turning on the car lets him hear a message from his wife on his car phone that most of the problems that had been plaguing him have been resolved, causing him to abruptly change his mind.

** In ''Comeback'' the narrator comes into conflict with some corrupt fellow bloodstock agents, but eventually comes to suspect that their leader isn't the real mastermind and that someone else in their circle of acquaintances is pulling the strings while remaining above suspicion. He's right.

* NonIdleRich: As to be expected with Francis's heroes (see {{Expy}} and {{Determinator}}) but particularly in ''Flying Finish'', ''To The Hilt'' and ''High Stakes''.

* PosthumousCharacter: Greville Franklin, narrator Derek's brother in ''Straight'', is unconscious and dying as a result of an accident at the beginning of the story. Other examples include George Millace (who is stated to have just died at the start of ''Reflex'') and Larry Trent (who dies, along with several others, in the accident that kicks off the plot of ''Proof''). Chris Haig in the short story "Haig's Death" is an interesting variant, as the reader is told at the start that ''he's going to die'', although he doesn't actually do so until a crucial moment in the race around which the story revolves, with the rest of the story exploring how his death affects the outcome of the race, and by extension the lives of the other characters.

** In ''Bloodline, ImmoralJournalist Toby Woodley [[spoiler: sends blackmail letters to people who he suspects of wrongdoing; the demand is for a relatively small amount of money (£200), and if the victim actually pays up, Toby sees that as proof of their guilt and then sends a second letter demanding more money. As with George Millace above, this gets him killed after one of his victims works out that he's the blackmailer and kills him -- and then starts blackmailing a couple of Toby's other victims for a lot more money than Toby had]].
* BornInTheSaddle: Multiple characters come from families that fit this trope, as do many supporting characters. Averted, though, in ''Comeback''.

** In ''Bloodline, ImmoralJournalist Toby Woodley [[spoiler: sends blackmail letters to people who he suspects of wrongdoing; the demand is for a relatively small amount of money (£200), and if the victim actually pays up, Toby sees that as proof of their guilt and then sends a second letter demanding more money. As with George Millace above, this gets him killed after one of his victims works out that he's the blackmailer and kills him]].

* AssholeVictim: Toby Woodley, the ImmoralJournalist in ''Bloodline'', is murdered when he gets too close to the truth of a race-fixing scam. Few are saddened by his passing, and some people express surprise that the narrator, who had good reason to dislike him, administered CPR to the guy until the ambulance crew arrived and declared him to be dead.

** In ''Bloodline, ImmoralJournalist Toby Woodley [[spoiler: sends blackmail letters to people who he ''suspects'' of wrongdoing; the demand is for a relatively small amount of money (£200), and if the victim actually pays up, Toby sees that as proof of their guilt and then sends a second letter demanding more money. As with George Millace above, this gets him killed after one of his victims works out that he's the blackmailer and kills him]].

* AssholeVictim: Toby Woodley, the ImmoralJournalist in ''Bloodline'', is murdered when he gets too close to the truth when investigating a race-fixing scam. Few are saddened by his passing, and some people express surprise that the narrator, who had good reason to dislike him, administered CPR to the guy until the ambulance crew arrived and declared him to be dead.

* WeHardlyKnewYe: Clare Shillingford, the narrator's twin sister in ''Bloodline'', is a respected jockey whose apparent suicide early on kicks off the plot. Turns out, there was much that her brother didn't know about her.

* FeudingFamilies: The Allardecks and the Fieldings have an enmity that has been going on for centuries. The younger generation does their best to end it, with Holly Fielding and Bobby Allardeck falling in love and getting married. However, Bobby's father Maynard continues to regard the feud as SeriousBusiness, and uses his position as a Jockey Club steward to pursue a personal vendetta against Holly's brother Kit, a professional jockey (and the narrator of ''Break In'' and ''Bolt''). This ultimately scuppers Maynard's ambition to secure himself a knighthood, as an evidence of his less savoury business activities (in the form of a dossier kept by Kit as an insurance policy should Maynard actively threaten his livelihood) falls into the wrong hands; it's not Kit's fault that this happens, but Maynard unsurprisingly holds him responsible.

* FeudingFamilies: The Allardecks and the Fieldings have an enmity that has been going on for centuries. The younger generation does their best to end it, with Holly Fielding and Bobby Allardeck falling in love and getting married. However, Bobby's father Maynard continues to regard the feud as SeriousBusiness, and uses his position as a Jockey Club steward to pursue a personal vendetta against Holly's brother Kit, a professional jockey (and the narrator of ''Break In'' and ''Bolt''). This ultimately scuppers Maynard's ambition to secure himself a knighthood, as an evidence of his less savoury business activities (kept by Kit as an insurance policy should Maynard actively threaten his livelihood) falls into the wrong hands; it's not Kit's fault that this happens, but Maynard unsurprisingly holds him responsible.

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Several villains. In ''High Stakes'' for instance at the end the protagonist tells his (grossly corrupt) former trainer that with his talent, he could have made a fortune anyway by being honest with him, and encouraging repeat business rather than cooking the books to increase fees and rigging race after race, pointing out that he traded all of that for more short-term money and the ruination of his career. [[NeverMyFault Unsurprisingly, this goes right over the trainer's head]].

* ButIPlayOneOnTV: An InUniverse example in ''Smokescreen'' where the protagonist, Edward Lincoln, is a movie actor who usually plays the hero. Over the course of the book, he becomes one of these for real after reluctantly agreeing to look into a problem for an old family friend who, to his distress, has become senile to the point where she's confusing him with the characters he plays on the screen.

* AssholeVictim: Toby Woodley, the ImmoralJournalist in ''Bloodline'', is murdered when he gets too close to the truth when investigating a race-fixing scam. Few are saddened by his passing, and some people express surprise that the narrator, who had good reason to dislike him, administered CPR to the guy until the ambulance crew arrived and declared him to he dead.

* ArtificialLimbs: [[spoiler: Sid Halley]] is sporting one in [[spoiler: ''Come to Grief'']]. In a later novel, Thomas Forsyth in ''Crossfire'' has an artificial foot as a result of injuries sustained while serving in Afghanistan.
* AssholeVictim: Toby Woodley, the ImmoralJournalist in ''Bloodline'', is murdered when he gets too close to a race-fixing scam.