Felix is Dick’s younger of his two sons and he increasingly over the last 10 or so years helped his father in the writing of his thrilling racing novels and for the last forty years worked with him on the research for each one. The last four thrillers of which this is the fourth credit both Dick and Felix for the writing and clearly much of Dick’s talent has rubbed off very successfully to his younger son for Crossfire is Francis at his sublime best, mixing the murky world of racing with murder and intrigue. Dick’s sad death at the start of 2010 will no doubt put the pressure on Felix to take on his father’s mantle – we certainly hope so.
Captain Thomas Forsyth's tour of Afghanistan is cut brutally short when he's badly wounded by an IED - Improvised Explosive Device, a roadside bomb. Tom's world is torn apart by the injury - the Army is his life. Six months of recuperation leave is a daunting prospect - but not as bleak as the probability of never rejoining his regiment. Tom returns to Lambourn, to his childhood home, where his mother is a racehorse trainer and the 'First Lady' of racing. Never having seen eye to eye with his parents, Tom doesn't expect a hero's welcome - but even he's not prepared for the reception that awaits him. When his mother's prize horse finishes a disappointing last place in a race he should have won, Tom discovers that the training business is on the edge, and facing a threat far more dangerous than a run of bad form. Tom finds himself on a very different, but just as deadly, battlefield where his military skills are tested...kill or be killed?
Dick Francis has written forty-one novels, a volume of short stories (Field of 13), his autobiography (The Sport of Queens) and the biography of Lester Piggott. He is rightly acclaimed as one of the greatest thriller writers in the world. He has received many awards, amongst them the prestigious Crime Writers’ Association’s Cartier Diamond Dagger for his outstanding contribution to the genre. The Mystery Writers of America have given him three Edgar Allen Poe awards for the best novel of the year, and in 1996 made him a Grand Master for a lifetime’s achievement. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2000.
Felix Francis is the younger of Dick Francis’s two sons. Having spent seventeen years teaching A-level Physics, he took on the role of managing his father’s affairs in 1991. Over the last forty years, Felix has assisted with the research of many of the Dick Francis novels, not least Twice Shy, which drew on Felix’s experiences both as a Physics teacher and as a marksman, Shattered and Under Orders. With the publication of Dead Heat Felix took on a more significant role in the writing - Silks is the second novel of this father-and-son collaboration.
