Dead Heat

On Friday I ran into the library to return a book and saw a new book by Dick Francis and Felix Francis, his son. Dead Heat is definitely a Dick Francis mystery. He follows his familiar pattern - which is why I enjoyed it enough to spend last Saturday reading it instead of doing other things. Yes, it's formula fiction, but sometimes formula fiction is as good as an aspirin, or a favorite meal. It's soothing and familiar and it's nice to experience familiarity - even in reading.

Reading this so soon after Michael Ruhlman's book, The Making of a Chef, was nice, because the hero is a chef. Francis weaves in bits about chefs and restaurants and cooking that his readers may not know. And horses and racing are involved - peripherally. But there's also a side trip to Delafield, Wisconsin, and polo games, and orchestra musicians, and the viola, and it all comes together well to make a decent mystery for a Saturday.

This isn't my favorite Dick Francis mystery, but it was good enough to order in the audio version so that Steve can enjoy it when he's on the road.