Indeed, he read very little except detective stories, which he devoured at a rate of one a day. Ronald Knox, The Motive
The fishing wasn’t good off Burry Port. It’s so bad that all a man and his son caught was a waterlogged crate which they decide to float onto the beach. Inside is a decomposing body of a man. He has obviously been murdered, the face battered and any means of identification removed. It will take …
Continue reading Inspector French and the Sea Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts (1928)
On a cold night in the middle of November at the offices of diamond merchants Duke and Peabody, the body of head clerk Mr. Charles Gething is discovered, dead on the floor in front of the open safe. Missing are £33,000 worth of diamonds plus about £1,000 in bank notes. Inspector Joseph French expects the case …
Continue reading Inspector French’s Greatest Case by Freeman Wills Crofts (1924)
When the battered body of Sir William Ponson is found in the Cranshaw River it is assumed to be an accident. Apparently trying to cross in a small boat, he lost control of his oars and drifted too close to the Cranshaw Falls, was carried over and dashed on the rocks below. But later evidence …
Continue reading The Ponson Case by Freeman Wills Crofts (1921)
When a man’s mutilated body is found in a railway tunnel in Middeldorp South Africa, it is assumed to be an unfortunate accident, or possibly suicide. Identified as Albert Smith, his movements prior to death are traced to a shed in Groote Park where Inspector Vandam uncovers evidence that points to murder. Vandam’s investigation results …
Continue reading The Groote Park Murder by Freeman Wills Crofts (1923)
The suicide by drowning of a box office clerk leaves her friend Thurza Dark in fear for her life. Persuaded to seek help from Scotland Yard, she meets with Inspector Joseph French. Thurza believes her friend was murdered because of her involvement in a criminal scheme, a scheme that she too has also fallen prey …
Continue reading The Box Office Murders by Freeman Wills Crofts (1929)
The steamer Bullfinch arrives at the London docks from France with a cargo of casks. During the unloading one is damaged, revealing gold sovereigns...and a woman's hand. When the cask disappears Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard investigates. What begins as a search for the cask soon becomes a cross-channel chase to uncover a killer. I …