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#472: The Pit-Prop Syndicate (1922) by Freeman Wills Crofts
Back in 2015, before I’d ever opened any of Freeman Wills Crofts’ works, Puzzle Doctor reviewed The Pit-Prop Syndicate (1922) at his place and ended by saying “I could go on, but I’ll just keep...
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#493: The Groote Park Murder (1923) by Freeman Wills Crofts
A mere nine books into the 37-strong output of Freeman Wills Crofts (soon to be 38 thanks to the excellent work of Tony Medawar and Crippen & Landru), I’m going to make a bold assertion: Crofts, I...
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#505: The Shop Window Murders (1930) by Vernon Loder
I shall refrain from pointing out the similarities between The Shop Window Murders (1930) by Vernon Loder and The French Powder Mystery (1930) by Ellery Queen — Nigel Moss does an excellent job of...
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#538: The Cask (1920) by Freeman Wills Crofts
If I asked you to name the debut novel of a hugely influential detective fiction author that was originally written in 1916, published four years later, featured a character called Hastings, and had...
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#560: Inspector French’s Greatest Case (1924) by Freeman Wills Crofts
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. After a debut that laid the cornerstone of a new genre and three succeeding works exploring the principles of that genre from varying perspectives, now begins Freeman...
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#569: A Killing Kindness (1980) by Reginald Hill
At some point in the 1980s, Britain started pumping out crime fiction by authors who literary darlings could feel smug about admitting they slum it with: Colin Dexter, P.D. James, Ruth Rendell, and...
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#584: Inspector French and the Starvel Hollow Tragedy (1927) by Freeman Wills...
As his seventh published novel, Inspector French and the Starvel Hollow Tragedy (1927) shows Freeman Wills Crofts again subtly altering his approach to take us through the minutiae of crime and...
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#590: Mystery at Olympia, a.k.a. Murder at the Motor Show (1935) by John Rhode
While Freeman Wills Crofts’ work has caused me much delight over the last few years, that of his fellow ‘Humdrum’ John Rhode/Miles Burton doesn’t inspire in me quite the same raptures. Rhode (as I’ll...
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#600: Murderers Make Mistakes – Poirot’s Early Cases [ss] (1974) by Agatha...
The majority of Agatha Christie referred to on this blog has been from her later, less popular phase while I work through her canon chronologically. So it’s lovely to be able to refer to some of her...
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#791: Death at Breakfast (1936) by John Rhode
Is it damning Cecil Street with disgustingly faint praise to say that he has become the author about whose work I am most likely to say “Yeah, that’s pretty much what I expected”? Whether writing as...
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In GAD We Trust – Episode 24: Bodies from the Library 4 (2021) ed. Tony...
Prepare yourself for what might just be the most jam-packed episode of In GAD We Trust to date — when you sit down with Tony Medawar, there’s always going to be a lot to talk about. With the podcast...
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#831: “As you know, an unusual crime has a deep interest for me…”– Bodies...
I can’t believe that there is a GAD enthusiast who doesn’t look forward to the annual Bodies from the Library collections so expertly curated by Tony Medawar. In bringing to public awareness some of...
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#855: The Wintringham Mystery, a.k.a. Cicely Disappears (1927) by Anthony...
Even though — or perhaps, because — I’m a fan of Anthony Berkeley Cox’s work, I approach him with some trepidation. At his best you get the innovative brilliance of The Poisoned Chocolates Case...
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#867: Crime at Guildford, a.k.a. The Crime at Nornes (1935) by Freeman Wills...
Five members of the board of Nornes Limited, a London-based jewellers, meet one Saturday evening at the home of the company’s managing director to discuss the dwindling health of the business away...
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#903: The Loss of the Jane Vosper (1936) by Freeman Wills Crofts
Hector Macdonald’s excellent thriller The Storm Prophet (2007) was the first book to ever make me consider the terror of being trapped aboard a sinking boat in the open sea. 15 years later, the...
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#918: The Life of Crime (2022) by Martin Edwards
To me falls the honour of rounding off the blog tour for The Life of Crime (2022) by Martin Edwards, adding to the deserved praise it has already garnered elsewhere. This “personal journey through the...
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#919: “Tonight, in this house, is there going to be another killing?”– Bodies...
Another year, another collection of forgotten or unknown tales from the luminaries of detective fiction’s Golden Age brought to us by the tireless efforts of Tony Medawar. So how does Bodies from the...
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#945: Man Overboard!, a.k.a. Cold-Blooded Murder (1936) by Freeman Wills Crofts
Today sees the republication of Found Floating (1937), the twentieth of Freeman Wills Crofts’ novels and the sixteenth to feature (Chief) Inspector Joseph French, the first of eight reprints due...
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#946: Law and Order – Ranking the First Fifteen Inspector French Novels...
With the sixteenth to twenty-fourth novels by Freeman Wills Crofts to feature his series detective Chief Inspector Joseph French due to be republished between now and January 2023 (well, #18, Antidote...
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#1003: Found Floating (1937) by Freeman Wills Crofts
In the same year that Agatha Christie mixed sight-seeing and shipboard slaughter in Death on the Nile (1937), Freeman Wills Crofts sent his series detective, Chief Inspector Joseph French, into bat...
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