I really love a lot of things about Dick Francis (including his -- or I guess I should say their, given Mary -- prose), but I especially enjoy the clear conviction that everybody wants to know about competent people doing their thing, whether their thing is steeplechase jockeying or murder investigations or wine sales or fancy train cuisine. And as many of his heroes are working-class as secret millionaires, and he recognizes that things like serving drinks with competent service profession invisibility take plenty of skill. It's a nice change from aristocratic heroes and house parties, as much as I love several aristocratic heroes and oh-dear-your-class-issues-are-showing authors. (And I knew he was a steeplechase jockey and horse trainer and a high school drop out, but wikipedia has just told me that Mary Francis was a former pilot?? That explains some things and also is super cool!)
And all his characters' romances seem to stem from a recognition of the other's intelligence/perceptiveness/competence/all three, with prettiness also a factor but a secondary one. It's great! And I love Nell in this one, and her clipboard, and how she's clearly attracted to Tor but also she has an event to run, if you want more than five minutes from her at a stretch try sometime next week.
(Also now I want to read this one again, and I just reread it last year. Hoist on my own petard!)
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I really love a lot of things about Dick Francis (including his -- or I guess I should say their, given Mary -- prose), but I especially enjoy the clear conviction that everybody wants to know about competent people doing their thing, whether their thing is steeplechase jockeying or murder investigations or wine sales or fancy train cuisine. And as many of his heroes are working-class as secret millionaires, and he recognizes that things like serving drinks with competent service profession invisibility take plenty of skill. It's a nice change from aristocratic heroes and house parties, as much as I love several aristocratic heroes and oh-dear-your-class-issues-are-showing authors. (And I knew he was a steeplechase jockey and horse trainer and a high school drop out, but wikipedia has just told me that Mary Francis was a former pilot?? That explains some things and also is super cool!)
And all his characters' romances seem to stem from a recognition of the other's intelligence/perceptiveness/competence/all three, with prettiness also a factor but a secondary one. It's great! And I love Nell in this one, and her clipboard, and how she's clearly attracted to Tor but also she has an event to run, if you want more than five minutes from her at a stretch try sometime next week.
(Also now I want to read this one again, and I just reread it last year. Hoist on my own petard!)