Freeman Wills Crofts (1879–1957) was born in Dublin, Ireland and worked in railway engineering. A railway engineer by training, Crofts introduced railway themes into many of his stories, which were notable for their intricate planning. Although outshone by Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler and other more celebrated authors from the golden age of detective fiction, he was highly esteemed by those authors. Agatha Christie included parodies of Croft’s Inspector French alongside Sherlock Holmes and her own Hercule Poirot in Partners in Crime (1929).
Partners in CrimeIndeed, Inspector Joseph French is still Crofts’ best-known character. French first appeared in his fifth novel, Inspector French"s Greatest Case (1924). Inspector French always set about unraveling each of the mysteries presente
