As I was saying, I recently started to read Dick Francis crime novels as well as his autobiography--which is just as interesting as fiction. I understand he's written over 40. They center around steeplechase horse racing. I was worried that they might not hold my interest since I'm not really into horse racing. Not so at all! I figured I'd like him since he is so popular. Yes, I enjoy his books as much as I do "The Cat Who..." and the Kinsey Milhone series.

One difference greatly surprised me. After I finished the first book, I looked forward to reading about what other events would happen in the life of  the lead character. Surprise! It seems that every book has a different lead character. Unless he's strung together two or more books somewhere in the series that I don't know about, it seems that all of the books stand alone.

I was a bit dissapointed, but I suppose his method has some advantages. It is kind of strange that the same lead character becomes embroiled in serious crimes dozens of times. Even the character of Kinsey, who is a private detective, states that 99% of her work is mundane. He will never have to come up with relatives of the lead character that we've never heard of in 30+ novels, or have the character re-invent himself by moving or starting a new career, just to keep the readers from dying of boredom. I think the most intriguing element is that he actually can kill off his lead character whenever he wants. We know Kinsey isn't going anyplace until maybe "Z is for..."