ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 24, 1995 TAG: 9512270112
SECTION: BOOKS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: BOOK REVIEW
Come to Grief
By Dick Francis. Putnam. $23.95.
The number of Dick Francis' mysteries, almost always at least peripherally related to horse racing, seems beyond count. With "Come to Grief," according to the publisher's news release accompanying the book, the actual tally comes to 34.
In the 34th, Francis brings back Sid Halley, the retired British steeplechase jockey turned detective, who was the protagonist in Francis' 1965 "Odds Against" and the 1979 "Whip Hand." Readers may recall Halley as the hero with the artificial hand.
Halley's resurrection, again according to the publisher's news release, comes in response to readers' requests made to Francis while on tour. That may have been a mistake: "Come to Grief" is not, alas, one of Francis' better efforts.
The plot is uninspired; the bad guys lack believability. Uncharacteristically for Francis, it's as if he wrote the book on automatic pilot, without the research that usually informs his work.
More characteristically for him, Francis' remarkable sense of pace and command of straightforward narrative English make "Come to Grief" a hard novel to put down. Even off his feed, Francis remains readable to a degree few other writers so prolific can match.
- GEOFF SEAMANS
Women of Mark.
A History of The Woman's Club of Richmond, Virginia 1894-1994. By Sandra Gioia Treadway. The Library of Virginia. $24.95.
Sandra Gioia Treadway undertook a major task when she agreed to do a researched and documented history of The Woman's Club of Richmond. The result is a treat.
The pictures alone are a charming chronicle of fashion, hair styles, period architecture, furnishings and decorative arts. But those were not the topics that monopolized the women. They were keen to be involved in world affairs such as the role of women in Russia at the time of the Revolution.
These women were well-educated and well-traveled and weren't about to be restrained to the three "c's" - cooking, cleaning and children. Women of today who think they invented the worldly, intellectual woman would do well to read about these women of earlier generations.
- PEGGY DAVIS
Geoff Seamans is associate editor of The Roanoke Times editorial page.
Peggy Davis reviews regularly for this page.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:by CNB