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. The Cheyne Mystery (1926)
3. Inspector French And The Starvel Tragedy (1927)
4. The Sea Mystery (1928)
5. The Box Office Murders (1929)
6. Sir John Magill's Last Journey (1930)
7. Mystery in the Channel (1931)
8. Sudden Death (1932)
9. Death on the Way (1932)
10. The Hog's Back Mystery (1933)
11. The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
12. Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
13. Crime at Guildford (1935)
14. The Loss of the 'Jane Vosper' (1936)
15. Man Overboard (1936)
16. Found Floating (1937)
17. Antidote to Venom (1938)
18. The End of Andrew Harrison (1938)
19. Fatal Venture (1939)
20. Golden Ashes (1940)
21. James Tarrant, Adventurer (1941)
22. A Losing Game (1941)
23. Fear Comes to Chalfont (1942)
24. The Affair at Little Wokeham (1943)
25. Enemy Unseen (1945)
26. Death of a Train (1946)
27. Silence for the Murderer (1949)
28. French Strikes Oil (1951)
29. Many a Slip (1955)
30. Anything to Declare? (1957)
1. Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924)
2. The Cheyne Mystery (1926)
3. Inspector French And The Starvel Tragedy (1927)
4. The Sea Mystery (1928)
5. The Box Office Murders (1929)
6. Sir John Magill's Last Journey (1930)
7. Mystery in the Channel (1931)
8. Sudden Death (1932)
9. Death on the Way (1932)
10. The Hog's Back Mystery (1933)
11. The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
12. Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
13. Crime at Guildford (1935)
14. The Loss of the 'Jane Vosper' (1936)
15. Man Overboard (1936)
16. Found Floating (1937)
17. Antidote to Venom (1938)
18. The End of Andrew Harrison (1938)
19. Fatal Venture (1939)
20. Golden Ashes (1940)
21. James Tarrant, Adventurer (1941)
22. A Losing Game (1941)
23. Fear Comes to Chalfont (1942)
24. The Affair at Little Wokeham (1943)
25. Enemy Unseen (1945)
26. Death of a Train (1946)
27. Silence for the Murderer (1949)
28. French Strikes Oil (1951)
29. Many a Slip (1955)
30. Anything to Declare? (1957)
Novels
Collections
Murderers Make Mistakes (1947)
Mystery of the Sleeping Car Express (1956)
Six Against the Yard (1989) (with others)
The 9.50 Up Express and Other Stories (2021)
Mystery of the Sleeping Car Express (1956)
Six Against the Yard (1989) (with others)
The 9.50 Up Express and Other Stories (2021)
Books containing stories by Freeman Wills Crofts

The Measure of Malice (2019)
Scientific Mysteries
(British Library Crime Classics)
edited by
Martin Edwards

Bodies from the Library (2018)
Lost Classic Stories by Masters of the Golden Age
(Bodies from the Library, book 1)
edited by
Tony Medawar
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