Inspector French's Greatest Case

Inspector French is naturally genial and outgoing. But when a clue goes bad on him (which it does again and again in this book), he gets pathetically despondent. Then another clue surfaces, and he’s off and running with fresh energy. I’m charmed by his very human mood swings, and his endless willingness to start all over again from zero. French is in pursuit of a murderer and diamond thief. He’s fooled time after time by the criminals, yet never gives up. Every now and then, French tells his wife all about his case while she placidly knits. Invariably she will make an observation that gives the inspector a whole new direction. I find this delightful. French is a Londoner through and through — neither a traveler nor a linguist. But this case has him taking trains and steamers all around Europe on the trail of his prey. He finds himself awed by the Alps, thrilled with a picturesque old French town, and delight by a French omelette. I find his enthusiasms endearing. As the investigation unfolds, French interviews bankers, customs men, theater people, clerks, stewardesses and hotel staff. He’s good with people, and never flags even when his interviews yield nothing. Again his persistence is admirable, and his willingness to talk with everybody and anybody presents the reader with an amazingly diverse cast of characters. This is fun. This is the first Inspector French novel (1924), although the title suggests there had been earlier cases. Crofts wrote twenty-nine more Inspector French novels after this one, plus various other novels of detection even before he lighted on Inspector French. Crofts is an extremely intricate plotter, but there’s also something down to earth about him. I like his books a lot. So did Agatha Christie.

I enjoyed the unraveling of the complex mystery, and all of the steps Inspector French took. Another thing I enjoyed was the correct grammar and vintage sentence structure, a contrast to the sloppy spelling and grammar in much of modern writing. The only thing missing was that the characters were not developed. There were a few descriptions of what the characters were like, but it was superficial. None of them really came alive enough for the reader to feel anything for them.

The is too lengthy in looong details that are often confusing..

I’d never heard of this author, but I love classic mysteries so decided to try it. I looked up the author and this is considered his best book, and it has been listed in the top 100 all time mystery novels by somebody or other, I forget who. Anyway, it is very concisely written, not a lot of extraneous story lines, just a Scotland Yard detective meticulously solving a crime, clue by clue. It’s all laid out clearly but I was still surprised at the ending. It sounds dry but it wasn’t at all. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Another fine investigative effort by Inspector French. He starts out with a certain suspect, then ends up arresting one person who was a victim at first and one who was introduced mid story. Very Holmes like.

Just 2 quick notes: this is not a collection of short stories, as I had assumed. It’s not greatest cases— it’s one case. And second, this is not published by the British Library or its American partner Poisoned Pen press. And while the quality seems good, the page design is just not as attractive as professionally designed books. The font is large and line spacing is too narrow so it looks—gawky. It’s funny how you never notice font and page layout till you see it done poorly.

Freeman Wills Crofts is a puzzler of the first order. Only recently have I discovered him and look forward to many happy hours in the vicarious company of Inspector French. For those that are intrigued by character studies and well developed twists and turns....Crofts is your man!

I discovered this author though works done in his mid-career. I want to read more by him, so I have gone back to read the rest of the French series in the order that they were written in. This is the first one. Good clear solid writing, even in this early work. The plot is interesting, and not spoiled by the ending.

Seitdem die große Renaissance der alten, längst vergessenen Krimis begonnen hat, sind auch die Bücher von Freeman Wills Crofts wieder zu bekommen. Und da ich diese alten Krimis liebe, habe ich bereits etliche Bücher von ihm gelesen. Vor diesem Hintergrund habe ich mich mit Freude an dieses Buch gemacht, bin aber doch einigermaßen enttäuscht worden. Das Buch liest sich zwar sehr nett und ist auch in schönem Englisch geschrieben, aber die Geschichte lässt doch einiges zu wünschen übrig. Sie beginnt damit, dass der leitende Angestellte eines Diamantenhändlers ermordet vor dem ausgeraubten Tresor aufgefunden wird. Die Ermittlungen sind extrem schwierig, weil es keinerlei Spuren gibt. Wie kann ein solches Verbrechen spurlos durchgeführt werden? Inspektor French scheut keine Mühe auch noch den kleinsten Hinweisen nachzugehen, landet dabei aber immer wieder in Sackgassen und muss immer wieder von vorn anfangen. Irgendwann nach langen Umwegen kommt er dem Täter dann mehr zufällig auf die Spur und es bestätigt sich, was sich der Leser schon seit vielen, vielen Seiten gedacht hatte und ein guter Polizist hätte denken sollen. Das Buch ist nicht wirklich schlecht, aber wenn man bereits andere Bücher des Verfassers gelesen hat, erwartet man zu Recht Besseres. Ich würde immer wieder empfehlen Bücher von Freeman Wills Croft zu lesen, aber bevorzugter Weise doch andere.

Achaté à cause d'Agatha Christie et de ses "quotations" dans sa saga des jeunes détectives afin de mieux comprendre et remonter aux "sources ?". Très intéressant et plaisant à lire. A compléter par "the complete father Brown mysteries" où vous pourrez trouver une primo version de ce qui sera les " petits nègres" à couper le souffle. Vous aimez Christie, vous aimerez les auteurs qu'elle a mis en exergue. Je ne peux que recommander.

This is my fourth FWC book having started inauspiciously with 12.30 from Croydon where you pretty much know whodunnit from the start and it is really just a clever exploration of how they dunnit. On our own bookshelves I found The Sea Mystery which had Inspector French meticulously following up leads and sharing his analyses with the reader. That prompted me to look for more FWC and I came across The Hogs Back Mystery which was great fun, intricate, evocative of an earlier age and place and can be read knowing that the clues are in the text (and will be referenced at the end) - don't just guess at whodunnit but try to work howtheydunnit. That sent me off to read FWC's Inspector French books in sequence. Greatest Case is the first and makes a good introduction. The plot is a little less intricate than the Hogs Back Mystery, but still plenty of meat for Inspectior French to have to chew over. Yes it involves a diamond theft, but murder makes the plot relevant. These books are much more closely plotted and clue-laden than Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers, but lighter on charcterisation than Sayers: French's character is less eccentric than Wimsey, Campion, Poirot or Marple. FWC sets out to write crime puzzler plots that move along in a manner unmatched by other Golden Age authors. I am off to read the Starvel Tragedy next...

This is my fifth review of a Crofts novel. I enjoy Crofts writing style and it's easy flow of words that never seem to need re-reading as their meaning is easy to ascertain and free flowing. In this novel Crofts doesn't concentrate on his normal repertoire of alibi busting or timetable schedules - he has French whizzing off to continental Europe - Netherlands, Switerland (twice), France, Spain (Twice), Portugal as well as various places in the UK. This whizzing around gets a little tiresome towards the later third of the novel and you may ask yourself if the CID would have allowed him such a big budget? In this novel we actual find out that French is married to Emily who supports his career by listening and offering her "notions" when he is stumped by the case - in other novels she isn't referred to at all (Starvel Hollow Tragedy). This edition of the novel is from 1935 which includes an introduction from Freeman Wills Crofts and Inspector French - which is rather humourous and conveys to the reader that the author is both playful and very human (as his novels convey to me that he might be a bit stuffy). The storyline as ever is well thought out and clever - but as normal with Crofts he just writes too many words making the story a bit of a rigmarole which tweezes and thins out the story too much - this is probably why his novels haven't been so widely read after his death. In regards to enjoyment level - the first two thirds of the book are very enjoyable - however Crofts doesn't seem to know when enough is enough and so far from the novels I have read he often relies on coincidences - this time however there was only one (A detective working on the case shows his girlfriend a photo of someone he is trying to find and she knows who it is!). I would give this book 7 out of 10.

A good read, only partly disadvantaged by the fact that one chapter is repeated in place of another which is actually missing.