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Freeman Wills Crofts was born in Dublin and worked in railway engineering. He wrote detective fiction in his spare time until his move to England. Thereafter he wrote full time. To his plots he brought a mind trained in mathematics, specialising in the seemingly unbreakable alibi and transport timetables. His best-known character is Inspector Joseph French. French achieves his results through dogged persistence. Raymond Chandler praised Crofts' plots, calling him 'the soundest builder of them all'.
Genres: Mystery
Series
Inspector French
1. Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924)
2. Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery (1926)
aka The Cheyne Mystery
3. The Starvel Hollow Tragedy (1927)
aka Inspector French And The Starvel Tragedy
4. The Sea Mystery (1928)
5. The Box Office Murders (1929)
aka The Purple Sickle Murders
6. Sir John Magill's Last Journey (1930)
7. Mystery in the Channel (1931)
aka Mystery in the English Channel
8. Sudden Death (1932)
9. Death on the Way (1932)
aka Double Death
10. The Hog's Back Mystery (1933)
aka The Strange Case of Dr. Earle
11. The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
aka Wilful and Premeditated
12. Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
aka Crime on the Solent
13. Crime at Guildford (1935)
aka The Crime at Nornes
14. The Loss of the 'Jane Vosper' (1936)
15. Man Overboard (1936)
aka Cold-Blooded Murder
16. Found Floating (1937)
17. Antidote to Venom (1938)
18. The End of Andrew Harrison (1938)
aka The Futile Alibi
19. Fatal Venture (1939)
aka Tragedy in the Hollow
20. Golden Ashes (1940)
21. James Tarrant, Adventurer (1941)
aka Circumstantial Evidence
22. A Losing Game (1941)
23. Fear Comes to Chalfont (1942)
24. The Affair at Little Wokeham (1943)
aka Double Tragedy
25. Enemy Unseen (1945)
26. Death of a Train (1946)
27. Silence for the Murderer (1949)
28. Dark Journey (1951)
aka French Strikes Oil
29. Many a Slip (1955)
30. Anything to Declare? (1957)
1. Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924)
2. Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery (1926)
aka The Cheyne Mystery
3. The Starvel Hollow Tragedy (1927)
aka Inspector French And The Starvel Tragedy
4. The Sea Mystery (1928)
5. The Box Office Murders (1929)
aka The Purple Sickle Murders
6. Sir John Magill's Last Journey (1930)
7. Mystery in the Channel (1931)
aka Mystery in the English Channel
8. Sudden Death (1932)
9. Death on the Way (1932)
aka Double Death
10. The Hog's Back Mystery (1933)
aka The Strange Case of Dr. Earle
11. The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
aka Wilful and Premeditated
12. Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
aka Crime on the Solent
13. Crime at Guildford (1935)
aka The Crime at Nornes
14. The Loss of the 'Jane Vosper' (1936)
15. Man Overboard (1936)
aka Cold-Blooded Murder
16. Found Floating (1937)
17. Antidote to Venom (1938)
18. The End of Andrew Harrison (1938)
aka The Futile Alibi
19. Fatal Venture (1939)
aka Tragedy in the Hollow
20. Golden Ashes (1940)
21. James Tarrant, Adventurer (1941)
aka Circumstantial Evidence
22. A Losing Game (1941)
23. Fear Comes to Chalfont (1942)
24. The Affair at Little Wokeham (1943)
aka Double Tragedy
25. Enemy Unseen (1945)
26. Death of a Train (1946)
27. Silence for the Murderer (1949)
28. Dark Journey (1951)
aka French Strikes Oil
29. Many a Slip (1955)
30. Anything to Declare? (1957)
Novels
Omnibus
British Library Crime Classics (2015) (with Forrester Andrew, John Bude, Christopher Caudwell, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Martin Edwards, J Jefferson Farjeon, Charles Kingston and Alan Melville)
Collections
Murderers Make Mistakes (1947)
Mystery of the Sleeping Car Express (1956)
Six Against the Yard (1989) (with Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley and Dorothy L Sayers)
The 9.50 Up Express and Other Stories (2021)
Mystery of the Sleeping Car Express (1956)
Six Against the Yard (1989) (with Margery Allingham, Anthony Berkeley and Dorothy L Sayers)
The 9.50 Up Express and Other Stories (2021)
Anthologies containing stories by Freeman Wills Crofts
Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 2nd Series (1931)
Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 3rd Series (1934)
The Mystery Book (1934)
The Great Book of Thrillers (1935)
Fifty Famous Detectives of Fiction (1983)
Great Short Stories of Detection, Mystery and Horror 3rd Series (1934)
The Mystery Book (1934)
The Great Book of Thrillers (1935)
Fifty Famous Detectives of Fiction (1983)
Short stories
| East Wind | |||
| The Greuze | |||
| Mr Pemberton's Commission | |||
| The Mystery of the Sleeping-Car Express (1921) | |||
| The Level Crossing (1933) |
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