Dead Heat

Written by Felix Francis and Dick Francis

Narrated by Martin Jarvis

'I wondered if I was dying. I wasn't afraid to die but, such was the pain in my gut, I wished it would happen soon.'

The night before the Two Thousand Guineas at Newmarket sees the great and the good of the horse-racing community gathered for a prestigious black-tie Gala dinner. It is a fitting testament to the glamour of the occasion that Max Moreton is cooking the evening's meal.

Max is something of a celebrity in Newmarket circles. He is the chef and founder of the racing town's favourite Michelin-starred restaurant, the Hay Net. However, spending the night in the throes of agony with chronic food poisoning is the last thing Max expects - such things simply aren't becoming of a professional chef. And the last thing he needs is to hear that his food is suspected of putting twenty-four of the guests in hospital.

Within hours, Max's restaurant is being forcibly closed, his reputation is teetering on the brink of ruin, and a court case seems to be looming. But the day is far from over, and soon Max Moreton finds himself desperately fighting for more than just his livelihood...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin UK Audio
• Release date: Sep 6, 2007
• ISBN: 9780141808185

Felix Francis

Felix Francis studied Physics and Electronics at London University and then spent seventeen years teaching Advanced-Level Physics. The younger son of crime writer and Naional Hunt jockey Dick Francis, Felix assisted his father with both the research and writing of his novels in a father-and-son writing partnership. Since Dick's death, Felix has written ten successful novels, the latest being Front Runner.

Reviews for Dead Heat

[nx74defiant · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Really enjoyed it. Couldn't put it down.

[thesmellofbooks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I was nervous how the change of authorship from Mary and Richard to Felix and Richard might go, but although some changes were detectable this is basic Dick Francis, and enjoyable reading. Hard to believe I am almost at the end of his opus. Raise a glass to a goodhearted thriller writer. (Or two, or three...)

[themulhern · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As usual, the horse related parts are quite interesting. The romance is really intrusive, and our protagonist is required to be really stupid in order to make sure the book doesn't get too long. Like another reviewer, I can't see any reason to hit someone with a viola when there is probably an excellent cast-iron frying pan nearby. The special language of the restaurant business was compelling but the observations by the protagonist were pseudo-insightful.

[dekan-6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i loved this book. course i'm a bit prejudice when it comes to dick francis. i haven't read one thing of his that i haven't et the very least extremely liked, mostly i love them. this was an interesting take. i hadn't read one that involved a cook/chef before so it really held my attention if nothing else out of originality. although all his books are different but i've never taken a cooky ride before with anybody really. you can taste the air and feel the wind.

[jenneb_2 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Oh, boy. Obviously Felix is being groomed to take over the Francis dynasty from his dad, but I think we should just let it end.

This had all the elements you expect in a DF book, but it was just missing...something. The thing I like about the other books is that they are perfectly comfortable--the writing never jolts you out of the story, and the characters behave in a way that makes sense while still being interesting. I never minded them being formulaic, because he always executed it so well.

With this one, I kept cringing at the writing, and wondering what the hell the people were thinking, and plus, the romance was just kind of creepy.

[piyushgoyal_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is my first Dick Francis book. Am thro about 1/3rd ( more than 100 pages), still the story doesn't move. I am given to believe there is a plot( there has to be!). But it just wont show. The man is going into descriptions on every other side topic other than focussing on the main plot.I usually don't leave books midway ( feel i am wasting something), but i guess this might make me do it!!

[krushkelsey · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

i loved this book. course i'm a bit prejudice when it comes to dick francis. i haven't read one thing of his that i haven't et the very least extremely liked, mostly i love them. this was an interesting take. i hadn't read one that involved a cook/chef before so it really held my attention if nothing else out of originality. although all his books are different but i've never taken a cooky ride before with anybody really. you can taste the air and feel the wind.

[librisissimo · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Not the best of Francis's work, but still a good read. In his prime, he would have had the protagonist do more "figuring out" and less "falling into" answers, especially in re the "hometown villain".

[jjmcgaffey · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'd forgotten that I'd read this one until I started it again - but I recognized the chef as soon as the story started. I still didn't remember exactly how it went, though I did remember what sort of person the bad guy was long before he figured it out. Not bad; pretty much standard Francis (aside from the hero _not_ being highly pain-resistant!), which is nice since this isn't pure Dick Francis. I've been extremely disappointed in other books/series where a child joins a parent in writing (Anne & Todd McCaffrey, among others), so it was good to see that Felix can write pretty much in Dick's style. I hope - wait and see when he's on his own. Not a favorite, but a perfectly good Francis.

[patentnonsense · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Insipid romance, stupid hero, slow plot development.

[reeread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought I was reading 'Under Orders' and couldn't work out why Sid Halley wasn't in this story. Finally worked it out.Another interesting addition to the Felix Francis group of books. Has anyone else noticed that the Dick Francis series started out being quite localised and very much focused on the English racing scene and gradually they have become globalised with all sorts of issues of the day being included? In this instalment, it's celebrity chefs and terrorism.

[cpotter_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An interesting mystery but not my favorite by Francis. Love element I could have done without.

[cyderry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Max Moreton owns a restaurant in Newmarket England. After a massive food poisoning incident at a racetrack dinner where he was the guest chef and a fatal bombing at a luncheon he was catering at the racetrack the next day, you would think that life couldn't get any worse. Not so in this extremely entertaining and well-written mystery.Max sets out to clear his reputation of the mysterious food poisoning incident and finds his life turned upside in numerous ways before successful resolving the issues. I am definitely gong to have to find more of the Dick Francis books. 4 stars!

[booklog_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Obviously a collaboration; does not show the inventiveness of plotting that made the original works outstanding. Personally interesting as I have relatives in the restaurant trade. Everything sounded right to me. Francis's strength has always been the research and "feel" of the non-racing world, since he has the racing milieu down cold.

[smik_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mass poisoning is every chef's nightmare and a black tie gala dinner at Newmarket on the eve of the 2,000 Guineas a most unlikely occasion. And follow that up with the explosion of a bomb at the races on the day itself.Max Moreton is the Michelin chef whose reputation is in tatters after the dinner, his Newmarket restaurant is closed, and then many of the clientele for whom he is catering, and one of his staff, are killed in the bomb explosion. Max is determined to find out how the food poisoning occurred, certain that it wasn't his food that caused it. And when things begin to happen as he asks questions, he begins to wonder whether the two events are connected.DEAD HEAT is good reading, a page turner with a credible chain of events, and background details that tell you it is written by authors who know their stuff: this time long acknowledged master Dick Francis together with his son Felix. Felix's role as researcher and in writing this and other recent novels is acknowledged in the blurb.I've been reading Dick Francis for decades. He has written forty-one international bestsellers and is widely acclaimed as one of the world's finest thriller writers. His awards include the Crime Writers' Association's Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the crime genre, and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Tufts University of Boston. In 1996 Dick Francis was made a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master for a lifetime's achievement and in 2000 he received a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

[normaleistiko_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good Read. Author and his son are master story tellers. Enough violence to make you shocked without turning you off of the story. Many characters could have "done it."

[theoclarke · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Continuing the successful formula, Francis pere-et-fils explore slightly milieux: polo and restaurants. Gordon Ramsey is rewarded for his advice with extensive references to him and to his restaurants. Presumably the authors already knew enough of polo to make no such use of anyone from that fraternity. A typical Francis thriller that suggests that the baton is being passed safely.

[reannon_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another excellent mystery from Dick Francis, writing with his son Felix. The main character is a chef, who caters an event one evening at which many people get food poisoning, followed by catering an event the next day where a bomb goes off. Max doesn't accept that his kitchen was responsible for the food poisoning, but can't get anyone to listen, so begins to investigate himself. Good characters, although all Francis' main male characters are somewhat alike.... but all outstanding.

[elethra · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not so good as his other books. If I'd known, I probably wouldn't have bought it. There's a great deal more mushy stuff in this than there is in his others.

[libasst · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another enjoyable Dick Francis novel. Lead character is a nice guy, typical DF hero, who has to solve the crime to save himself and falls in love along the way. Descriptions of dealing with grief sounded true, maybe the author's own feelings about the death of his wife.

[phalaborwa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Back at the top of his form.

[branchhead · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Typical Dick Francis, now co-written w/son Felix. Chef, food poisoning, violist girlfriend, mysterious silver balls, house burned down, grandstand blown up.

[justagirl_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The new hardback from the master of British mystery writing (with the help, this time, of his son Felix). A classic page-turner set in the worlds of restaurants and horse-racing; plot twists abound as the hero tries to figure out who poisoned a dinner of 250 people, blew up a racing dinner, and tries to avoid being killed himself.

[bsquaredinoz · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dick Francis novels are all much the same: a smart, interesting guy with a job somehow (however tangentially) related to the world of horses get in a spot or three of bother but through a combination of luck and street smarts gets out of difficulty and, usually, snares himself a nice girl in the process.

This time out the protagonist is chef Max Moreton who has a successful restaurant in the racing town of Newmarket. The book opens as Moreton, his staff and many of his clients are suffering the results of an inexplicable food poisoning episode. As Moreton is getting his business back on track the guest box in which he is catering at a local race meeting explodes. Mayhem and intrigue ensues.

I read Dick Francis books mostly because I have a sense of nostalgia about them as one of them was the first ‘adult’ mystery I read. They’re light and comfortably familiar while having likeable characters and plausible plots. This time out though, in a novel co-authored by Francis' son Felix, there’s either something missing or I have become more difficult to satisfy. The plot meanders fairly aimlessly and there are enormous, unsupportable leaps of logic in it. The ending may just as well have included an alien landing on the Newmarket Heath and a naked Prime Minister on a pogo stick for all the connection the resolution had to preceding events. Although Francis has clearly written to a formula over the years he’s still had to do a load of research into whatever new subject he’s writing about, create interesting characters, write snappy dialogue and plot a story that is consistent with itself (however unlikely). Here, those elements are largely missing (although to be fair the research is evident) and the book is like a shadow of one of its predecessors. I'd actually give this 2.5 stars if I could.

[pmarshall_82 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have new respect for Dick Francis and his craft. Reading his novels one at a time as they were published provided entertainment, reading them as a body of work provided new insights, knowledge, and appreciation of his work. His objective was always to entertain the reader and to have horses somewhere in the story but you can also learn from his work. His research is meticulous, for example for “Flying Finish” which is about the air transporting of horses he and his wife Mary went on a run to Milan. He helped care for the horses, she took pictures and notes.For the research for “Rat Race,” which involves an air taxi service for jockeys, Mary Francis started taking flying lessons. She continued them when the research was complete and got her license and for eleven years was part owner of a similar air taxi service. Many of Francis’ titles just touch on horses and focus on other occupations. In “Straight” jockey Derek Franklin suddenly inherits his brother’s semiprecious stone importing business and must keep the business running and find one hundred missing diamonds. The information on how diamonds are bought and sold is most interesting. He also deals with social problems like alcoholism. In “Knockdown” Jonah Dereham’s brother is an alcoholic. The understanding of alcoholism as a disease and the necessary strength to overcome it is part of the background of this mystery about bloodstock agents.It is interesting to note how many of his characters are loners e.g., Gene Hawkins in"Blood Sport," Sid Halley, Matt Shore in "Rat Race," without families. Another theme, which runs through his books, is that children are good observers ("Shattered," "Decider," "Blood Sport") and more should be made of asking them what they saw. Francis is also a romantic and although in his autobiography “The Sport of Queens” he says he doesn’t believe in love at first sight it happened to him when he was introduced to Mary. “Mary and I smiled at each other and to my astonishment, before we had even spoken, I found myself thinking, ‘This is my wife.’” At one time Francis wanted to have Mary’s name added to his as author of the books but she demurred at the suggestion. However there is no doubt that the work was a partnership. His last three titles were written with his son Felix.All in all Dick Francis provides a good read, interesting characters against a variety of backgrounds and a problem to be solved and, in many cases. something for the reader to learn.