If this is your first encounter with Freeman Wills Croft’s mystery fiction, you are in for a treat. Crofts is a true giant of classic detective fiction, and his enduring character, Inspector Joseph French. Crofts, is an essential detective of the genre. Crofts, born in Dublin in 1879, was not only a distinguished novelist but also a successful railway engineer. He combined his two passions brilliantly, often employing engineering concepts within his narratives to lend authenticity.
Crofts emerged in the “Golden Age” of detective fiction, a period between the First and Second World Wars, marked by the likes of Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, and the inimitable Agatha Christie. Unlike Christie’s Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple, Crofts’ Inspector French is an everyday policeman. French i
