Richard Stanley Francis was a British crime writer, and former steeplechase jockey, whose novels centre on horse racing in England. Dick Francis left school at 15 without any qualifications, intending to become a jockey; by the time he was 18, in 1938, he also was training horses. Francis became a highly successful jockey, reaching celebrity status in the world of British National Hunt racing. During the Second World War, Francis volunteered, hoping to join the cavalry. Instead, he served in the Royal Air Force, working as ground crew and later piloting fighter and bomber aircraft, including the Spitfire and Hurricane fighters, and the Wellington and Lancaster bombers. After leaving the RAF in 1946, Francis became a highly successful jockey, reaching celebrity status in the world of British National Hunt racing. He won over 350 races, becoming a champion jockey in the 1953–54 season. All his novels deal with crime in the horse-racing world, with some of the criminals being outwardly respectable figures. In Smokescreen, Edward Lincoln is a worldwide celebrity who plays detectives on the big screen. His godmother Nerissa sends him to South Africa to see why her string of horses is running very badly, they're to be the bequest to another nephew, a golden boy in charm as well as potential fact. In a studio, in a gold mine, and finally in Kruger Park where he's trapped in a car alone for 80 hours, Lincoln is obviously to be killed… You can listen online to free English audiobook “Smokescreen” by Dick Francis on our website.
