Freeman Wills Crofts

• 1931
• / Suspense
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One fine June afternoon the passenger steamer 'Chichester' is halfway to Dieppe when she encounters a yacht, 'The Nymph', in mid-channel. The Nymph appears to be unmanned and closer inspection reveals the sinister truth; her only occupants are two c...

• 1934
• / Suspense
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Having unloaded the dead body of the victim from an Imperial air-liner, Mr Crofts flashes us back to the beginning of the drama and thereafter shows us the crime through the eyes of the criminal......

• Jan-1949
• / Suspense
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Sir Roland Chatterton, a wealthy invalid, is found shot. The coroner's jury has given a verdict of suicide - but a man who has won the confidence of Sir Roland's doctor has been defrauding his employer for many months, with the connivance of his fian...

• Oct-1983
• / Mystery
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In a country hotel Maxwell Cheyne sits down to lunch with the pleasant stranger he has just met. Then, as the meal ends, he sinks into a drugged sleep and, on waking, learns that his house has been burgled (though nothing is missing)... This is only ...

• May-1986
• / Suspense
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"One of the classics of modern crime fiction." --  The New York Times 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 fema...

• Jan-1987
• / Suspense
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From the Collins Crime Club archive, the first Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.THE FIRST INSPECTOR FRENCH MYSTERYAt the offices of the Hatton Garden diamond merchant Duke and Peabo...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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A foolproof method for earning a fortune in a short space of time is discovered by some enterprising young men. But they haven't bargained on finding themselves involved in blackmail and then murder. It falls to Inspector French to unravel the thread...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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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 S...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.Becoming the social secretary for millionaire financier Andrew Harrison sounded like the dream job: just w...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
• 

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.Julia Elton, mistress of Chalfont, is the dutiful wife of a man she does not love. Frank Cox is the man sh...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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This special expanded edition of Freeman Wills Crofts’ classic crime novel includes a unique commentary by Superintendent Walter Hambrook of Scotland Yard, never before published in book form.The Carrington family, victims of a strange poisoning, t...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
• 

• Jul-2001
• / General Fiction
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.James Tarrant wants to make a lot of money. But as an assistant chemist in a sleepy village backwater his ...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
• 

A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.Moneylender Albert Reeve has added blackmail to his activities. When his cottage burns down and he perishe...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
• 

To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.A new chemical process that will m...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
• 

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
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To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.Anne Day is the new housekeeper at...

• Jul-2001
• / Mystery
• 

To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.Work on the widening of the Southe...

• Feb-2011
• / Suspense
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A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.When Morrison first heard of old Stott’s idea to purchase an ocean liner and run her as a tourist ship i...

• Feb-2011
• / Suspense
• 

AN INSPECTOR FRENCH MYSTERY. The burning down of Simon Averill's house, Starvel Hollow, appears at first to be an accident. The house has been reduced to ash, killing three people (including its owner) and incinerating the contents of the safe in whi...

• Feb-2011
• / Suspense
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AN INSPECTOR FRENCH MYSTERY. The Jane Vosper is plunged to the bottom of the Atlantic by a series of explosions in her hold. It is clear that something is wrong, as there is no innocent explanation of the cause. The only possibility appears to be tha...

• Feb-2011
• / Suspense
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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 manufacture...

• May-2011
• / Mystery
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Inspector Tanner unravels one of the most complicated cases of his career, as he doggedly pursues a murder investigation. A classic Golden Age police procedural....

• Jul-2015
• / Mystery
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George Surridge, director of the Birmington Zoo, is a man with many worries: his marriage is collapsing; his finances are insecure; and an outbreak of disease threatens the animals in his care. As Surridge’s debts mount and the pressure on him i...

• Feb-2017
• / Mystery
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We begin with a body. Andrew Crowther, a wealthy retired manufacturer, is found dead in his seat on the 12.30 flight from Croydon to Paris. Rather less orthodox is the ensuing flashback in which we live with the killer at every stage, from the first ...

• Mar-2017
• / Law Enforcement
• 

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the sixth Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.A MURDER MYSTERY WITHOUT A CLUEWhen Sir John Magill, the wealthy Irish industrialist, fails to show u...

• Aug-2019
• / Mystery
• 

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the fourth Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.

THE BODY THAT CAME FROM NOWHERE

Off the coast of Burry Port in south Wales, two fish...

• Aug-2019
• / Mystery
• 

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the third Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.

THREE CORPSES FOR INSPECTOR FRENCH

A chance invitation from friends saves Ruth Averil...

• Feb-2020
• / Mystery
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From the Collins Crime Club archive, the fifth Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.THE PUZZLE OF THE PURPLE SICKLEThe suicide of a sales clerk at the box office of a London cinema leav...

• Feb-2020
• / Mystery
• 

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the sixth Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.

A MURDER MYSTERY WITHOUT A CLUE

When Sir John Magill, the wealthy Irish industrialist...

• May-2020
• / Police Procedural
• 

From a murder in South Africa to the tracking down of a master criminal in northern Scotland, this is a true classic of Golden Age detective fiction by one of its most accomplished champions.When a signalman discovers a mutilated body inside a railwa...

• Sep-2020
• / Mystery
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To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.A weekend board meeting brings a j...

• Sep-2020
• / Mystery
• 

To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.The Joymount Rapid Hardening Cemen...

• Oct-2020
• / Mystery
• 

To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.The Jane Vosper is plunged to the ...

• May-2023
• / General Fiction
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A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.Money â€" or lack of it â€" can be, to certain members of society, a powerful motive for murder. Two siste...

• Jul-2023
• / Police Procedural
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When fire strikes the home of her miserly uncle, his ward, Ruth Averill, is spared solely by a chance invitaiton from friends. When her uncle's body is pulled from the charred ruins the next day, the death is ruled accidental...and the fortune he kep...

• / General Fiction
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A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.The new Sir Geoffrey Buller is earning his living in Chicago when he unexpectedly inherits his title, an E...

• / General Fiction
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• / Mystery
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The Hog's Back is a ridge in Surrey and the setting for the disappearance of several locals. A doctor vanishes, followed by a nurse with whom he was acquainted, then a third person. Inspector French deduces murder, but there are no bodies. ...