Dead Cert
Holt, 1962
Alan York saw his best friend's fatal fall from the horse. He knew it had been no accident and put his own life in danger proving it.
Characters
- Alan York
- Amateur jockey, 24, lives with the Davidson family.
- Major Bill Davidson
- Alan's best friend, also a jockey, who dies in the first chapter.
- Scilla Davidson
- Bill's wife.
- Polly
- eldest child of Bill & Scilla.
- Henry
- 8 years old, middle child of Bill & Scilla, likes to eavesdrop on phone conversations.
- William
- 5 years old, youngest child of Bill & Scilla.
- Joan
- "briskly competent girl" who looks after the Davidson children.
- Clem
- racecourse valet.
- Inspector Lodge
- Admiral
- racehorse.
- Pete Gregory
- racehorse trainer.
- Kate Ellery-Penn
- Alan's love interest.
- Aunt Deb
- Kate's aunt.
- Uncle George
- Kate's uncle.
- Sandy Mason
- likable jockey.
- Joe Nantwich
- complaining jockey.
- Dane Hillman
- jockey friend of Alan.
- Tudor
- businessman.
Favorite passages
Alan York saw his best friend's fatal fall from the horse. He knew it had been no accident and put his own life in danger proving it. Alan on love: Alan on winning
'Love's easy to learn,' I said. 'It's like taking a risk. You set your mind on it and refuse to be afraid, and in no time you feel terrifically exhilarated and all your inhibitions fly out of the window.'
I grinned, pulled the saddle off over my arm, and went into the weighing room to weigh-in and change. The familiar joy of winning flushed through my limbs, as warming as a hot bath, and I could have done hand-springs down the changing room if I hadn't known it was the horse to whom all credit was due, not the jockey.
Chosen by members of the reading group in the late 1990s. From Dead Cert by Dick Francis.
The group read it
We discussed Dead Cert on February 10, 1997 and again on August 24, 1998.
This page was first written for the reading group's original site in the late 1990s and was lost when AOL Hometown closed. It has been recovered from the Internet Archive.