Readers of old-fashioned, can't put it down detective yarns can be grateful to British publishers, The House of Stratus, for republishing in a uniform edition of 35 volumes the complete detection novels and short stories of Freeman Wills Crofts. Crofts was one of the supreme masters of plot construction in this genre. Raymond Chandler praised Crofts' plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all". Crofts began his literary career with his masterpiece "The Cask" in 1920. He produced, on average, one book a year during the rest of his life. "Sudden Death" was his 1932 production. If the detective fiction genre can de divided into categories, then this book belongs to the "locked room" category. Two deaths occur in locked rooms in the same house. Each is assumed to be suicide but Inspector French discovers them to be murders.

Ingenious as is the plotting and planning, I must say that (a rare occurrence for me) I was easily able to guess the identity of the murderer long before arriving at the final chapter. The reading and the guessing was pure pleasure throughout, of course, and I guarantee they will be for you too.

Readers of old-fashioned, can't put it down detective yarns can be grateful to British publishers, The House of Stratus, for republishing in a uniform edition of 35 volumes the complete detection novels and short stories of Freeman Wills Crofts. Crofts was one of the supreme masters of plot construction in this genre. Raymond Chandler praised Crofts' plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all". Crofts began his literary career with his masterpiece "The Cask" in 1920. He produced, on average, one book a year during the rest of his life. "Sudden Death" was his 1932 production. If the detective fiction genre can de divided into categories, then this book belongs to the "locked room" category. Two deaths occur in locked rooms in the same house. Each is assumed to be suicide but Inspector French discovers them to be murders.

Ingenious as is the plotting and planning, I must say that (a rare occurrence for me) I was easily able to guess the identity of the murderer long before arriving at the final chapter. The reading and the guessing was pure pleasure throughout, of course, and I guarantee they will be for you too.

Several detective fiction writers of the 1930s set up a murder occurring during a flight over the English Channel. Freeman Wills Crofts, a retired railway engineer, depicts one here, and of course describes the passenger plane with an engineer's eye for detail: the criss-cross struts connecting the wings, the great propeller, the bus-like interior with rows of seats for forty passengers, etc. Surely a delight for nostalgia buffs! Another luminary in the "golden age" of detective fiction, Dorothy L Sayers, congratulated Freeman Wills Crofts not only on the excellence of all this, but also for attempting a new experiment in detective fiction.

The experiment was to present detection in reverse - to allow us to see the crime and the alibi construction through the eyes of the criminal instead of the detective. Having unloaded the body from a British plane landing in France, Crofts flashes us back to the beginning of the drama. We are thereafter in the company of the young man who is facing bankruptcy, who hopes to tempt a rich young woman into marriage, and who has a rich uncle whose death could solve all the young man's difficulties.

So the fascination for the reader here is not in seeing how Inspector French moves from clue to clue in detecting and solving a crime, but in seeing how well the criminal can devise a murder and an alibi that will ensure he is never suspected or charged.

The result is eminently successful. To satisfy readers who expect Inspector French to feature in all his books, Crofts provides glimpses of him from time to time, lets us see him laying his hand on the criminal's shoulder towards the end of the book, and subsequently allows French to explain how he broke the alibi. Crofts provides further satisfaction by allowing French to be promoted to chief-inspector.

To readers of detective fiction, there is a special fascination in following the sleuth as he cracks the apparently unbreakable alibi. The fascination is heightened if we are shown both how the crime was committed and how the alibi was constructed.

Master plot builder Freeman Wills Crofts provides both these perspectives and more in this vintage 1943 Inspector French mystery. An especially ingenious method of obtaining evidence and pinning the crime to the killer is included. Suspicious footprints are found, enough to measure the stride and the angles. Suspects are called to Scotland Yard to assist with a feigned identity parade. On the way to the parade they are ushered, one at a time, across an outside yard that has recently been hosed down. And sure enough ....!

French constructs timetables for everything too, even the rates at which a body cools after death.

This is one of the best of Crofts' mystery yarns.

Six young Englishmen contribute their various skills to the realization of a clever smuggling racket. They invite holiday makers to take a yachting cruise up the River Rhine to Switzerland. While the travellers are enjoying a few days ashore, before the return journey, illegal consignments of watches are smuggled aboard. Just as immense profits seem assured, a blackmail letter is received. To the crime of smuggling the young men then add the crime of murder, but even this proves not enough to secure their safety.

Admirers of old-fashioned detective fiction containing a mix of escapism, ingenious plotting, and problem solving will welcome this reissue of "Anything To Declare?". Its publication in 1957 occurred at about the time of the author's death. Ill health had slowed Crofts' production rate. It had been five years since his previous novel appeared, and there are signs in this one, especially towards the end, that his energy was flagging. Almost every situation and every detection trick included here may be found in his earlier books. One new trick, however, appropriate to a writer with a long experience in railways, is the tracing of a suspect by checking the halves of return railway tickets collected at a railway station. It was known when and where a suspect alighted from a train, but where did he begin the journey? Because each half ticket has the place of origin printed on it, the search area is reduced, and the question is soon answered.

Freeman Wills Crofts, and his Inspector French, move into final retirement after this book.

Casks are being unloaded from a ship's hold. They are hoisted and swung out in lots of four, fastened together by rope slings. Suddenly there is a shout. Four casks roll over out of their sling and crash back into the hold. One is found to be undamaged, wine begins oozing out from between the staves of two of them, and when the fourth is examined ....

These are the events on the opening pages of Freeman Wills Crofts' first and most famous book "The Cask". The book appeared in 1920, in the same year as Agatha Christie's first book, marking the beginning of a twenty year era known as "The Golden Age of Detective Fiction". Crofts followed its success with another 40 or so crime novels, but many authorities assert that he never produced anything better than this.

Certainly, it shows two of Crofts' great strengths: his talent as a story teller, and his ability to make time tabling and alibi checking seem fascinating. The story telling here has a whiff of the grandness and plot perfection of Wilkie Collins' "TheMoonstone". A remarkable performance from beginning to end. It was to be another five years, however, before he introduced his Detective Inspector French, and some time before he began putting his expertise as a railway engineer to good use in his novels.

Frequently reprinted, it now forms part of a complete reprint edition of Freeman Wills Crofts' detective fiction works produced in 2000 by the English publishers, the House of Stratus.

After twenty years as a successful writer of detective fiction, Irish ex-railway engineer Freeman Wills Crofts was keen to experiment with new presentations and modifications to the classic formulas. The result may be seen in his 1941 book, "Circumstantial Evidence". Detection, or even the sniff of a murder, is postponed during the first eleven chapters. Instead we read of the ingenious scheme of a disgruntled chemist shop worker to produce and market a medicine that can be "almost-legally" offered to the public as a substitute for the well-known, nationally advertised one. We then accompany Crofts' regular detective, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector French, through seven chapters of detection, alibi checking and interviews, following the book's only murder. We finally read four or five chapters devoted to the trial of two murder suspects. This may seem an obvious structure in the telling of a story, but the usual classic "Who done it" usually offers more variety, flexibility and mystery.

Crofts' is always a good story teller, he always succeeds with his sleuth, Inspector French, and he is as good as anyone at court room scenes. Another strength is his ability to invent an unusual fraud, a corporate swindle, or an "almost legal" scheme such as the one depicted here. Plotting and planning in this book, as always, is excellent, justifying Raymond Chandler's comment that Freeman Wills Crofts was "the soundest builder of them all".

Railways and steam trains. Apparently they're dear to the heart of children and adults everywhere. The end of the twentieth century has seen the Thomas the Tank Engine phenomenon which has put the Wilabert Awdry books from the 1930s and 1940s back on the childrens' book best seller lists. Now, in time for Christmas 2000, comes a reissue of the complete detective fiction works of his contemporary, Freeman Wills Crofts. Crofts' 1932 novel Death On the Way is an engrossing mystery yarn, not for children but for adults who like reading about railways and steam trains. Crofts himself was for thirty years a railways construction engineer. For detective fiction enthusiasts who like a good old-fashioned great train mystery, there is nobody so well qualified or who does it better than Freeman Wills Crofts. In Chapter 2, here's how he describes being in the cab of a steam engine: - "The beam of light from the partly opened firebox door, now continuously white from the rapid beat, shone out on the front of the tender and up above it onto the roof of the cab. From these it was reflected back over the faceplate, or end of the boiler, showing up the maze of pipes and handles, gauges and dials, and bringing out unexpected highlights from polished brasswork." Contraband, forgery, swindles - these are usually the crimes being investigated in Crofts' novels. The swindle here involves altering documents, earth work quantities, and the widening of a railway. Crofts has the knack of inventing plausible swindles which can and do bring a measure of success and riches to the perpetrators. Accordingly, uncovering the swindle and detecting the culprits is often and long and laborious task for his sleuth Inspector French. French has a liking for railways timetables. When interviewing a suspect he says, "Now I wonder could you put times on to it all? I like things set out in the form of a railway timetable." Crofts plots and plans everything with perfect engineering precision. He even takes us into the mind of the murderer occasionally, but so subtly and safely that the effect is to turn away rather than increase suspicion. Altogether, a well-constructed murder mystery.

Railways and steam trains. Apparently they're dear to the heart of
children and adults everywhere. The end of the twentieth century has
seen the Thomas the Tank Engine phenomenon which has put the Wilabert
Awdry books from the 1930s and 1940s back on the childrens' book
best seller lists. Now, in time for Christmas 2000, comes a reissue of
the complete detective fiction works of his contemporary, Freeman
Wills Crofts.

Crofts' 1932 novel "Death On the Way" is
an engrossing mystery yarn, not for children but for adults who like
reading about railways and steam trains. Crofts himself was for thirty
years a railways construction engineer. For detective fiction
enthusiasts who like a good old-fashioned great train mystery, there
is nobody so well qualified or who does it better than Freeman Wills
Crofts.

In Chapter 2, here's how he describes being in the cab
of a steam engine: -

"The beam of light from the partly opened
firebox door, now continuously white from the rapid beat, shone out on
the front of the tender and up above it onto the roof of the cab. From
these it was reflected back over the faceplate, or end of the boiler,
showing up the maze of pipes and handles, gauges and dials, and
bringing out unexpected highlights from polished brasswork."

Contraband, forgery, swindles - these are usually the crimes being
investigated in Crofts' novels. The swindle here involves altering
documents, earth work quantities, and the widening of a
railway. Crofts has the knack of inventing plausible swindles which
can and do bring a measure of success and riches to the
perpetrators. Accordingly, uncovering the swindle and detecting the
culprits is often a long and laborious task for his sleuth Inspector
French. French has a liking for railways timetables. When interviewing
a suspect he says, "Now I wonder could you put times on to it
all? I like things set out in the form of a railway timetable."

Crofts plots and plans everything with perfect engineering
precision. He even takes us into the mind of the murderer
occasionally, but so subtly and safely that the effect is to turn away
rather than increase suspicion.

Altogether, a well-constructed
murder mystery.

This is one classic murder mystery you'll never solve. You'll guess neither whodunit nor how it was done. You'll be in good company. Freeman Wills Crofts' regular sleuth, Detective Inspector French of Scotland Yard, is also unable to solve the mystery.

The owner and manager of a large English engineering business invites his Australian nephew to inherit the management. The owner's other descendants are forced to make way for this "outsider" from abroad. At a dinner party, all the family members are poisoned, the Australian nephew most severely, but all recover. To aid recovery, a Mediterranean cruise is recommended. It is during this cruise that a murder occurs and Inspector French is called to investigate.

The big bonus here, for "Golden Age" detective fiction enthusiasts, is the opportunity to enjoy a Mediterranean cruise. Crofts provides descriptions of each port and the excursions available. An engineer by training, he depicts not only ship-board tourist life above decks but also provides fascinating looks at engine rooms, bridges, propellers, etc.

I found the latter part of this 1937 novel a little tiresome. It is always more fun to follow French as he solves a mystery than to read chapter after chapter in which he is forced to discard theory after theory. Nevertheless this is, on balance, one of the most ingenious and imaginative yarns from a very readable author.

The discovery of oil on a family property initiates a series of events including murder. Crofts keeps the reader, as well as Inspector French, working hard to identify the murderer and discover how the crime was done.

This is one of the last and one of the best detection novels by Freeman Wills Crofts. Suspense and intrigue are maintained steadily.