(While London dockworkers are struggling to unload a shipm...)
While London dockworkers are struggling to unload a shipment of French wine, one of the heavy casks falls, shatters and reveals its cargo - sawdust, gold coins, and a female corpse. But by the time the police arrive, the barrel has vanished along with its macabre contents. Enter Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard, who traces the cask to Paris, where he enlists the help of detective M. Lefarge of the Sûreté. Together, they hunt for the identity of the anonymous victim and her devious killer, traversing a maze of clues, alibis, red herrings, and lies.
(Seymour Merriman, the junior partner in a firm of London ...)
Seymour Merriman, the junior partner in a firm of London wine merchants, is traveling by motorcycle from Avignon to Bordeaux when his vacation grinds to a sudden halt. Out of gas, he follows a passing truck to a mill where an English firm manufactures pit-prop supports for coal mines. He's given two liters of gas and is about to depart when he notices something peculiar - the truck he followed was marked No. 4, but now it's labelled No. 3. His curiosity piqued, Seymour makes some inquiries that draw him and his friend, Claud Hilliard, further into intrigue. The amateur sleuths are certain that the Pit-Prop Syndicate is a front for some kind of illegal activity, and when a member of the Syndicate is found murdered in a London taxi, the mystery becomes a case for the professionals of Scotland Yard. A tense tale of smuggling, romance, and murder, this novel combines intricate plotting with episodes of mechanical ingenuity.
(When a mutilated body is found beside a railway tunnel in...)
When a mutilated body is found beside a railway tunnel in Groote Park the tragedy appears a straightforward case of accidental death, but Middeldorp police Detective-Inspector Vandam senses foul play. Vandam begins an investigation into the dead man, Albert Smith, which takes the case from the wilds of South Africa to mountains and glens of Scotland, where a near-identical crime has been perpetrated.
(At the offices of the Hatton Garden diamond merchant Duke...)
At the offices of the Hatton Garden diamond merchant Duke and Peabody, the body of old Mr. Gething is discovered beside a now-empty safe. With multiple suspects, the robbery and murder is clearly the work of a master criminal, and requires a master detective to solve it. Meticulous as ever, Inspector Joseph French of Scotland Yard embarks on an investigation that takes him from the streets of London to Holland, France and Spain, and finally to a ship bound for South America.
(When young Maxwell Cheyne discovers that a series of mish...)
When young Maxwell Cheyne discovers that a series of mishaps are the result of unwelcome attention from a dangerous gang of criminals, he teams up with a young woman who is determined to help him outwit them. But when she disappears, he finally decides to go to Scotland Yard for help. Concerned by the developing situation, Inspector Joseph French takes charge of the investigation and applies his trademark methods to track down the kidnappers and thwart their intentions.
(A girl employed in the box office of a London cinema fall...)
A girl employed in the box office of a London cinema falls into the power of a mysterious trio of crooks. A helpful solicitor sends her to Scotland Yard. There she tells Inspector French the story of the Purple Sickle. Her body is found floating in Southampton Water the next day. French discovers that similar murders have taken place. After gathering evidence he learns the trio's secret and runs them to ground.
(The Joymount Rapid Hardening Cement Manufacturing Company...)
The Joymount Rapid Hardening Cement Manufacturing Company is in serious financial trouble. Two young company employees hatch a plot to break into a rival works, Chayle on the Isle of Wight, to find out Chayle's secret for underselling them. But the scheme does not go according to plan. The death of the night watchman, theft and fire are the results. Inspector French is brought in to solve the mystery.
(A foolproof method for earning a fortune in a short space...)
A foolproof method for earning a fortune in a short space of time is discovered by some enterprising young men. They haven't bargained on finding themselves involved in blackmail and then murder. It is up to Inspector French to unravel the threads with his usual flair.
Freeman Wills Crofts was an Irish mystery author. Crofts was not only a railway engineer and writer but also an accomplished musician. He was organist and choirmaster in Killowen Parish Church, Coleraine, Saint Patrick's Church, Jordanstown and the parish church of Saint Martin's in Blackheath.
Background
Freeman Wills Crofts was born on June 1, 1879, in Dublin, Ireland, Ireland. His father, also named Freeman Wills Crofts, was a surgeon-lieutenant in the Army Medical Service but he died of fever in Honduras before the young Freeman Wills. In 1883, Crofts' mother, née Celia Frances Wise, remarried the Venerable Jonathan Harding, Vicar of Gilford, County Down, later archdeacon of Dromore, and Crofts was brought up in the vicarage at Gilford. In 1896, at the age of seventeen, Crofts was apprenticed to his maternal uncle, Berkeley Deane Wise, who was chief engineer of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway.
Education
Freeman Wills Crofts attended school in Belfast at the Methodist and Campbell College in Belfast, Ireland until 1896.
After beginning Freeman Wills Crofts’ career as a writer of detective stories rather late in his life, Freeman Wills Crofts found literary success with his first book, The Cask, and continued writing crime stories for thirty-seven years afterwards. Best known for the character “Mr. French,” Crofts began writing as a way to pass the time during an illness, never suspecting that he had embarked upon a new career. After The Cask was published, Crofts began writing for a living and enjoyed a long and fruitful career. Today he is remembered as one of the authors who were part of the “Golden Age” of English detective fiction.
In 1896 Freeman Wills Crofts' uncle Berkeley Deane Wise gave Freeman Wills Crofts a position as an apprentice in his department of civil engineers. In 1899 Freeman Wills Crofts became a junior assistant engineer at the Belfast and North Countries Railway, Ireland. In 1900 Freeman Wills Crofts worked as a district engineer in Coleraine. From 1923 till 1929 Freeman Wills Crofts was a chief assistant engineer in Belfast. After being promoted to Coleraine as the chief engineer, Crofts married Mary Bellas Canning in 1912. Another promotion came in 1923, and the Crofts relocated to Belfast. Crofts had been confined indoors after a serious illness in 1919, and it was during this time that he began writing The Cask as a way to pass the time. When he was well again, Crofts returned to his regular job. Reading his manuscript sometime later, he believed it had potential and began to make revisions.
When Freeman Wills Crofts felt his book was ready, Crofts sent it to the literary agency of A. P. Watt, and Collins published it in 1920. At the time, Crofts’ first novel was a huge success, and by 1939 it had sold one hundred thousand copies.
The second novel became as popular as the first, and in 1929 Crofts left his position with the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway to write full time. From 1929 till 1957 Freeman Wills Crofts worked as a full-time writer. Moving to southern England, Freeman Wills Crofts and his wife went from Blackheath to Worthing, where they settled permanently.
After the initial Inspector French detective stories appeared, it became clear that Freeman Wills Crofts would become a favorite with readers. As part of the Detection Club, Crofts was an influential participant and contributed to several volumes the group put out together, such as The Anatomy of Murder in 1936 and Double Death in 1939. The BBC also produced several of his brief detective dramas, the “Chief Inspector French’s Cases” series, during World War D. These were later redone in story form in 1947 for inclusion in Murderers Make Mistakes.
From Freeman Wills Crofts’ career with the Belfast & Northern Counties Railway, Crofts gathered his knowledge of train schedules that he put to frequent use in his novels. The injection of such realism into his novels is part of what made Crofts so popular in his day.
Freeman Wills Crofts was also an author of plays The Nine-Fifty Up Express, 1942; Mr. Pemberton's Commission (based on his own story), 1952; The Greuze, 1953; and East Wind, 1953; and a contributor of crime stories to books, including The Floating Admiral, Hodder & Stoughton (London, England), 1931; Doubleday, Doran (Garden City, New York), 1932; Six against the Yard, Selwyn & Blount (London, England), 1936, published as Six against Scotland Yard, Doubleday, Doran (Garden City, New York), 1936; and Double Death: A Murder Story, Gollancz (London, England), 1939. Some of Freeman Wills Crofts’ books remain in print today and are a testament to the entertainment he provided readers through the years.
Achievements
Freeman Wills Crofts had 15 books included in the Penguin Books "green" series of the best detective novels and 36 of his books were in print in paperback in 2000. Freeman Wills Crofts shared credit with Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie for establishing what is often called the “Golden Age” of detective novels in England in 1918. Crofts was esteemed, not only by his regular readers but also by his fellow writers of the "Golden Age" of Detective Fiction. Agatha Christie included parodies of Inspector French alongside Sherlock Holmes and her own Hercule Poirot in Partners in Crime (1929).
Crofts considered that the reader should have a hard time solving the case as his fictional detectives did. While his use of timetables may have taxed his readers’ knowledge a bit too much, it nevertheless made for a challenging read.
Membership
Freeman Crofts was a member of the Detection Club and the Royal Society of Arts since 1939.
fellow
Royal Society of Arts
,
United Kingdom
1939
member
Detection Club
,
United Kingdom
Personality
Freeman Crofts was well-bred, smart and curious. He was diligent and calm. Freeman Crofts was very kind and warm-hearted.
Physical Characteristics:
Freeman Crofts had grey hair. He was slightly bald with a mustache. Freeman Crofts wore glasses.
Quotes from others about the person
“Mr. Wills Croft is deservedly a first favourite with all who want a real puzzle.”
Interests
mathematics, trains, logic, music, organ
Connections
In 1912 Freeman Wills Crofts married Mary Bellas Canning, daughter of the manager of the Coleraine branch of the Provincial Bank. They had no children.
