Psuedonym. His real name John Needham Huggard Brennan. He was a lawyer who wrote adult fiction, mainly mystery/thrillers, and also non-fiction, including a number of books about horse racing. Many of his thrillers were set in the world of racing, including his most well-know novel Grand National, and he also wrote a non-mystery novel about hunting. He edited a number of collections of short stories including quite a few books of horse racing stories, with co-editor Dick Francis.
Richard Graham Series: (Adult Fiction) Mystery/thriller series featuring Richard Graham. An ex-amateur jockey and sometime secret agent. Not sure how much horse content each of them contain.
1) HARD TO HANDLE (FABER 1964)
2) WANTED FOR KILLING (FABER 1965) American edition published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston in 1965.
3) HELL IS WHERE YOU FIND IT (FABER 1968)
4) ON THE STRETCH (FABER 1969)
5) GO FOR BROKE (FABER 1974) American edition published by Walker and Co with an American paperback edition also being published.
Collectors Info: As far as I know only Wanted For Killing and Go For Broke were published in the USA. These two can be found fairly easily in both the USA and Britain. Hard to Handle is the rarest and can be quite expensive. The other two, whilst not common titles, are still reasonably easy to find in the UK, though harder elsewhere.
Other Pony Books: (Adult Fiction)
RED COATS GALLOPING (CONSTABLE 1949) SUMMARY: Hunting story set in Ireland.
GRAND NATIONAL (HAMISH AMILTON 1976) Reprinted in paperback by Sphere in 1977. Published in the USA by Simon & Schuster SUMMARY: Thriller set against the backdrop of the great steeplechase. Racing journalist Myles, falls in love and this leads him into the criminal underworld of the racing sphere….
A PAINTED DEVIL (COLLINS 1988) Also a large print edition published by Ulverscroft. SUMMARY: Mystery with a racing backdrop. A young lawyer gets caught up in a mystery involving a collection of racing paintings and a missing woman.
REASONS OF HATE (COLLINS 1990) Also a large print edition published by Ulverscroft. SUMMARY: Mystery with links to the blood stock industry. Not sure how much horse content - it could be minimal.
ROYAL STAKES (SINCLAIR STEVENSON 1993) Reprinted in paperback by Mandarin Also available as a Readers Digest condensed book. SUMMARY: Mystery set in the 1920s. Danny investigates the doping of a horse trained by his father and find it may be connected to a plot against the king.
Collectors Info: In general the books are easier to find than most of the Richard Graham series. I think Grand National was the only one to be published in the USA as well as the UK. It is also the easiest to find and most well-known of the author's horse stories. The others are fairly easy to find in the UK. The Ulverscroft large print editions can be found in the USA fairly easily, the others are a lot rarer there.
Short Story Collections:
BEST RACING & CHASING STORIES (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (FABER & FABER 1966) Reprinted by Faber & Faber in paperback in 1972. SUMMARY: Anthology of short stories by various authors
BEST RACING & CHASING STORIES 2 (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (FABER & FABER 1969) SUMMARY: Anthology of short stories by various authors
GREAT RACING STORIES (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (BELLEW 1989) Reprinted in paperback by Pan in 1990. SUMMARY: Anthology of stories by different authors including one story by Dick Francis.
THE DICK FRANCIS TREASURY OF GREAT RACING STORIES (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (NORTON 1990) SUMMARY: Anthology of stories by different authors
THE NEW TREASURY OF GREAT RACING STORIES (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (NORTON 1992) SUMMARY: Anthology of stories by different authors including John Welcome and Dick Francis.
MORE GREAT RACING STORIES (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (UNKNOWN PUBLISHER 1994) SUMMARY: Anthology of stories by different authors including John Welcome and Dick Francis.
THE DICK FRANCIS COMPLETE TREASURY OF GREAT RACING STORIES (Edited by) (With Dick Francis) (UNKNOWN PUBLISHER 2003) SUMMARY: Anthology of stories by different authors including Dick Francis. Possibly an amalgamation of the Treasury and the New Treasury as above.
I think some of the same stories appear in more than one of the above. I will try and confirm this when I have some more information.
Collectors Info: For the most part not too hard to find in the UK, although one or two titles are rarer than others. Much harder to find elsewhere.
