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Inspector French #3
Il mistero di Starvel
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 Averill’s life on the night her uncle’s old house in Starvel Hollow is consumed by fire, killing him and incinerating the fortune he kept in cash. Dismissed at the inquest as a tragic accident, the case is closed – until Scotland Yard is alerted to the circulation of bank-notes supposedly destroyed in the inferno. Inspector Joseph French suspects that dark deeds were done in the Hollow that night and begins to uncover a brutal crime involving arson, murder and body snatching . . .
THREE CORPSES FOR INSPECTOR FRENCH
A chance invitation from friends saves Ruth Averill’s life on the night her uncle’s old house in Starvel Hollow is consumed by fire, killing him and incinerating the fortune he kept in cash. Dismissed at the inquest as a tragic accident, the case is closed – until Scotland Yard is alerted to the circulation of bank-notes supposedly destroyed in the inferno. Inspector Joseph French suspects that dark deeds were done in the Hollow that night and begins to uncover a brutal crime involving arson, murder and body snatching . . .
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1927
53 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
About the author
Freeman Wills Crofts
140 books88 followersBorn in Dublin of English stock, Freeman Wills Crofts was educated at Methodist and Campbell Colleges in Belfast and at age 17 he became a civil engineering pupil, apprenticed to his uncle, Berkeley D Wise who was the chief engineer of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR).
In 1899 he became a fully fledged railway engineer before becoming a district engineer and then chief assistant engineer for the BNCR.
He married in 1912, Mary Bellas Canning, a bank manager's daughter. His writing career began when he was recovering from a serious illness and his efforts were rewarded when his first novel 'The Cask' was accepted for publication by a London publishing house. Within two decades the book had sold 100,000 copies. Thereafter he continued to write in his spare time and produced a book a year through to 1929 when he was obliged to stop working through poor health.
When he and his wife moved to Guildford, England, he took up writing full time and not surprisingly many of his plots revolved around travel and transport, particularly transport timetables and many of them had a Guildford setting.
In retirement from engineering, as well as writing, he also pursued his other interests, music, in which he was an organist and conductor, gardening, carpentry and travel.
He wrote a mystery novel almost every year until his death and in addition he produced about 50 short stories, 30 radio plays for the BBC, a number of true crime works, a play, 'Sudden Death', a juvenile mystery, 'Young Robin Brand, Detective', and a religious work, 'The Four Gospels in One Story'.
His best known character is Inspector Joseph French, who featured in 30 detective novels between 1924 and 1957. And Raymond Chandler praised his plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all".
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
In 1899 he became a fully fledged railway engineer before becoming a district engineer and then chief assistant engineer for the BNCR.
He married in 1912, Mary Bellas Canning, a bank manager's daughter. His writing career began when he was recovering from a serious illness and his efforts were rewarded when his first novel 'The Cask' was accepted for publication by a London publishing house. Within two decades the book had sold 100,000 copies. Thereafter he continued to write in his spare time and produced a book a year through to 1929 when he was obliged to stop working through poor health.
When he and his wife moved to Guildford, England, he took up writing full time and not surprisingly many of his plots revolved around travel and transport, particularly transport timetables and many of them had a Guildford setting.
In retirement from engineering, as well as writing, he also pursued his other interests, music, in which he was an organist and conductor, gardening, carpentry and travel.
He wrote a mystery novel almost every year until his death and in addition he produced about 50 short stories, 30 radio plays for the BBC, a number of true crime works, a play, 'Sudden Death', a juvenile mystery, 'Young Robin Brand, Detective', and a religious work, 'The Four Gospels in One Story'.
His best known character is Inspector Joseph French, who featured in 30 detective novels between 1924 and 1957. And Raymond Chandler praised his plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all".
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
April 7, 2022
Review of the audiobook narrated by Phil Fox
This is my first encounter with Golden Age detective author Freeman Wills Crofts, and I do have mixed feelings. This book, featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector French, was published as a serial in 1927, and perhaps that is why it seems longer than it needs to be. It was very clever, and I did enjoy it, especially the surprising twist at the end. I did not see that coming.
I won't go so far as to agree with Julian Symons's claim that Crofts belongs in the "humdrum school" of detective fiction, but this particular book was a bit dull. Fortunately, the narrator's enthusiastic style kept things moving along.
I do plan to try some more of his books, perhaps starting with The Cask: A Detective Story Club Classic Crime Novel, which is considered his masterpiece.
This is my first encounter with Golden Age detective author Freeman Wills Crofts, and I do have mixed feelings. This book, featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector French, was published as a serial in 1927, and perhaps that is why it seems longer than it needs to be. It was very clever, and I did enjoy it, especially the surprising twist at the end. I did not see that coming.
I won't go so far as to agree with Julian Symons's claim that Crofts belongs in the "humdrum school" of detective fiction, but this particular book was a bit dull. Fortunately, the narrator's enthusiastic style kept things moving along.
I do plan to try some more of his books, perhaps starting with The Cask: A Detective Story Club Classic Crime Novel, which is considered his masterpiece.
December 10, 2017
This is the third in the Inspector French series first published in 1927. I think it is rather better than the first two although there were still times when I felt like prodding the Inspector and telling him to get on a bit faster…and stop daydreaming about promotion!
The investigation is of the death in a fire of miser and his two servants.When some banknotes, supposedly lost in the fire, pass into circulation, suspicions are aroused. French embarks on his usual thorough and plodding inquiry.
Included in the novel are a love interest, some foreign travel, and train journeys to Scotland. The crimes uncovered include arson, murder, blackmail and body snatching.
I did not think it was too difficult to work out the solution as there were plenty of strong indications. However, there were sufficient, well-placed red herrings to divert me and cause a few doubts.
3.5 stars.
The investigation is of the death in a fire of miser and his two servants.When some banknotes, supposedly lost in the fire, pass into circulation, suspicions are aroused. French embarks on his usual thorough and plodding inquiry.
Included in the novel are a love interest, some foreign travel, and train journeys to Scotland. The crimes uncovered include arson, murder, blackmail and body snatching.
I did not think it was too difficult to work out the solution as there were plenty of strong indications. However, there were sufficient, well-placed red herrings to divert me and cause a few doubts.
3.5 stars.
September 7, 2017
Freeman Wills Crofts produces early police procedurals, narrated from his viewpoint solely, and they are interesting, fairly well plotted, but fundamentally ponderous and stiffly-written.
This one is enjoyable enough, but mainly from a historical point of view. I would read one or two more from the same point of view, knowing that 3* would always be the best rating.
The GR blurb:
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 Averill’s life on the night her uncle’s old house in Starvel Hollow is consumed by fire, killing him and incinerating the fortune he kept in cash. Dismissed at the inquest as a tragic accident, the case is closed – until Scotland Yard is alerted to the circulation of bank-notes supposedly destroyed in the inferno. Inspector Joseph French suspects that dark deeds were done in the Hollow that night and begins to uncover a brutal crime involving arson, murder and body snatching . . .
This one is enjoyable enough, but mainly from a historical point of view. I would read one or two more from the same point of view, knowing that 3* would always be the best rating.
The GR blurb:
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 Averill’s life on the night her uncle’s old house in Starvel Hollow is consumed by fire, killing him and incinerating the fortune he kept in cash. Dismissed at the inquest as a tragic accident, the case is closed – until Scotland Yard is alerted to the circulation of bank-notes supposedly destroyed in the inferno. Inspector Joseph French suspects that dark deeds were done in the Hollow that night and begins to uncover a brutal crime involving arson, murder and body snatching . . .
December 20, 2019
Excellent example of what Freeman Wills Crofts was the master of. Full review at classicmystery.blog
May 26, 2024
B+:
Superb, but probably a suspect light. Beautifully reasoned. Highly recommend.
Superb, but probably a suspect light. Beautifully reasoned. Highly recommend.
July 9, 2018
This is my 4th Crofts book I have read and reviewed. I have gotten into his style of looking at facts from differing viewpoints and then following the leads for each perspective. His favourite areas of focus are alibi's and timetables. In this novel Crofts writes with his usual easy to read narrative that will satisfy most cosy crime readers, however in the last 100 pages or so he gets Inspector French to coalesce the facts which he does in his normal style of repeating his findings - this irritated me somewhat as at least 50 pages are wasted (in my opinion) on reviewing what has already been covered (he did this at length in the novel The Cask) - did he think that readers were not able to keep up with the story? Amazingly in the denouement of the plot - Crofts relies on not just one big coincidence but two to reveal whom the perpetrator of the crime is - it is this fact that spoiled the plot for me as these very unlikely coincidences go out of kilter to the rest the story. I would say up to that point the novel was well written and thought out and also has a very interesting plot. For some reason Crofts was unable to come up with a convincing way to reveal the villain and what he plumped for was an easy cop out through the linking of another crime - even the most astutely minded person would never have linked these crimes together not even French (his Chief Inspector did the linking). Many Readers will find French somewhat slower than themselves at finding possible solutions to the crime - one wonders if he ever saw his wife (she is mentioned just once) and if the taxpayers thought about how much this Inspector cost them as he was on the case full-time for about 12 weeks and travelled to France, Scotland (a few times) and other places to interview and find possible clues - obviously money wasn't a problem in the Crofts household. I would give this book 6/10.
September 23, 2015
Originally written in 1927, and published again by The Hogarth Press in 1987, this is a police procedural told from the perspective of Detective-Inspector Joseph French from the Criminal Investigation Division of New Scotland Yard. French is a diligent, down to earth investigator who is thorough in following leads. He therefore is able to determine that the Starvel Tragedy is not an unfortunate accident, but a despicable series of crimes.
The book is solidly written; the characters likable and believable.
I'm amazed that I never heard of this series before, as Inspector French seemed like he should have been much more popular.
The book is solidly written; the characters likable and believable.
I'm amazed that I never heard of this series before, as Inspector French seemed like he should have been much more popular.
August 14, 2021
I just don't think Crofts is going to work for me. His desire to write completely 'fair' mysteries where the reader has all the information the detective has is laudable but it also means the reader gets infodump after infodump on what French knows after every new clue he discovers. Because every new clue makes him form a slightly different theory and everytime the reader is treated to the entirety of this slightly new theory. And that gets tiring after a while. Add to that that Crofts' female characters are...well not the most in-depth, it just doesn't make for very enjoyable reading.
September 9, 2018
Freeman Wills Crofts was one of the leading authors of The Golden Age Of crime Fiction (the period between the two world wars). He favoured the police procedural, and his recurring serial character Inspector Joseph French is a professional unlike the amateur sleuths employed by Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers.
A while ago I read Crofts’ alleged masterpiece The Cask and was quite impressed by it. The way the story was told and the investigation unfolded almost struck me as a precursor to the novels of James Ellroy or modern TV shows like The Wire or The Killing.
The subsequent Crofts novels I tried were however not quite of the same quality. The Starvel Hollow Tragedy was recommended as one of his better works. Let’s see whether this is true!
Ever since the death of her parents Ruth Averill has been forced to live with her uncle, a curmudgeonly old miser who cares little for his niece. Ruth is twenty years old, but without money and with few prospects her life is a gloomy affair. She has little reason for happiness.
So imagine the surprise when one day Ruth is presented with a note from a relative asking her to visit them accompanied by ten pounds from her uncle. She can barely comprehend the reason for this unexpected generosity. It seems almost too good to be true, and unfortunately as it later turns out it is.
Upon returning Ruth is confronted with a horrible tragedy: as it appears her uncle’s house has burned down, the catastrophe claiming the lives of three people, the elderly man and the two servants. It seems like an unfortunate accident, but soon the police is irked by little details such as this: The old man seems to have kept all his paper money in his safe, the contents of which are found badly burned even though the manufacturer assures the detectives that this particular model was fireproof.
Inspector French from Scotland Yard is called in. French is a meticulous man who goes over everything twice, he is not one to jump to quick conclusions double-checking any piece of proof or alibi. Crofts presents the detective not as an intuitive genius but as a hard-working man not free of making mistakes. French begins to suspect that the accident was in fact a very clever murder, but it will take him a lot of time and effort to catch the perpetrator.
This was an interesting enough classic crime novel though not quite as well-thought-out and gripping as The Cask. For long stretches the reader is already a step ahead of the investigating detective who uncovers the truth rather slowly. The ending however turned out to be a genuine surprise.
So, if you haven’t read any Crofts yet, I recommend that you start with The Cask.
A while ago I read Crofts’ alleged masterpiece The Cask and was quite impressed by it. The way the story was told and the investigation unfolded almost struck me as a precursor to the novels of James Ellroy or modern TV shows like The Wire or The Killing.
The subsequent Crofts novels I tried were however not quite of the same quality. The Starvel Hollow Tragedy was recommended as one of his better works. Let’s see whether this is true!
Ever since the death of her parents Ruth Averill has been forced to live with her uncle, a curmudgeonly old miser who cares little for his niece. Ruth is twenty years old, but without money and with few prospects her life is a gloomy affair. She has little reason for happiness.
So imagine the surprise when one day Ruth is presented with a note from a relative asking her to visit them accompanied by ten pounds from her uncle. She can barely comprehend the reason for this unexpected generosity. It seems almost too good to be true, and unfortunately as it later turns out it is.
Upon returning Ruth is confronted with a horrible tragedy: as it appears her uncle’s house has burned down, the catastrophe claiming the lives of three people, the elderly man and the two servants. It seems like an unfortunate accident, but soon the police is irked by little details such as this: The old man seems to have kept all his paper money in his safe, the contents of which are found badly burned even though the manufacturer assures the detectives that this particular model was fireproof.
Inspector French from Scotland Yard is called in. French is a meticulous man who goes over everything twice, he is not one to jump to quick conclusions double-checking any piece of proof or alibi. Crofts presents the detective not as an intuitive genius but as a hard-working man not free of making mistakes. French begins to suspect that the accident was in fact a very clever murder, but it will take him a lot of time and effort to catch the perpetrator.
This was an interesting enough classic crime novel though not quite as well-thought-out and gripping as The Cask. For long stretches the reader is already a step ahead of the investigating detective who uncovers the truth rather slowly. The ending however turned out to be a genuine surprise.
So, if you haven’t read any Crofts yet, I recommend that you start with The Cask.
February 14, 2021
Only the second Freeman Wills Croft mystery I've read and I'm already a convert to this very clever author who has the ability to keep the reader engaged and also pull out a surprise to fox even the keenest amateur. The plot is fairly straightforward when the very wealthy Simon Averill and his housekeepers Mr and Mrs Roper are found dead follow a fire at Starvel Hollow. Only his niece Ruth survives as she was away with friends. Inspector French is called to Yorkshire on what appears to be a routine inquiry only to discover foul play. The novel follows French as he chases every lead as he attempts to find the killer. This is very entertaining book and it never misses a beat.
February 28, 2021
Inspector French returns for another early police procedural, this time investigating a deadly house fire that he suspects is not an accident. This book is an excellent example of FW Crofts carefully and methodically leading you down the garden path, before hitting you with the real solution. You might solve some things ahead of Inspector French, but there is still an elegance in how everything fits together in the end.
February 22, 2025
1926 The Starval Hollow house home to Simon Averill and his niece Ruth is burnt to the ground killing three people. That of Averill and the two servants, the Ropers. The event raises suspicions and Inspector French is sent to investigate.
An entertaining historical mystery
Originally published in 1927
An entertaining historical mystery
Originally published in 1927
June 8, 2018
Entertaining early version of a detective procedural - Inspector French gets it wrong and ignores useful clues but gets a result in the end. The author has a good writing 'voice' and his Inspector French is an engaging character.
September 15, 2015
I so did not see that coming.
July 25, 2016
A truly enjoyable read.
November 22, 2021
An enjoyable adventure with Inspector French.
December 8, 2022
Despite being originally published in 1927 this remains an honest police procedural with Inspector French relying on intelligence and good old fashioned dogged determination to solve his case.
August 24, 2025
I do enjoy Golden Age mystery fiction and have attempted to read the first two Inspector French novels, but couldn't find a way into them. This one was slightly different, though Freeman Wills Crofts always comes back to money, as if that is really the only reason one would kill and perhaps in the 1920's that was simply assumed to be the truth.
This one started out with more of a story than the previous two, it showed more emotional depth from the characters and didn't depend so heavily on plot. Though as the novel continues, the plot thickens, as they say.
I enjoyed the story and only by the last few chapters did I guess who the murderer was. It is a good read, though the language can be a little dense. Inspector French is a great detective and not at all one dimensional. He's hard working and logical, but has ambition and is sometimes incorrect in his assumptions, which endears him to the reader.
I would recommend, but the book is a product of its time. I shall happily read the next in the series.
This one started out with more of a story than the previous two, it showed more emotional depth from the characters and didn't depend so heavily on plot. Though as the novel continues, the plot thickens, as they say.
I enjoyed the story and only by the last few chapters did I guess who the murderer was. It is a good read, though the language can be a little dense. Inspector French is a great detective and not at all one dimensional. He's hard working and logical, but has ambition and is sometimes incorrect in his assumptions, which endears him to the reader.
I would recommend, but the book is a product of its time. I shall happily read the next in the series.
October 26, 2025
Another classic detective novel from the Golden Age sees Inspector French investigating the mysterious fire at an isolated mansion in Yorkshire. At first the fire and death of the three people in the house seems to be a terrible accident, but further investigation reveals a more sinister scenario. It becomes clear that the fire has been used to conceal a terrible crime. Inspector French is determined to find the culprit and his investigation leads to a surprising ending.
August 10, 2025
I completely enjoyed this detective novel- Inspector French is kind, intelligent, and very clever. I like the setting- the 1920s- a time and locale that is restful and comforting to me. I found the ending a surprise and such a creative twist. I will read more from Inspector French.
February 26, 2024
Inspector French tearing his hair out, as usual.
I don't know about you, but when I read an Inspector French mystery, I want plenty of Inspector French. At the beginning of this series, the author sometimes didn't bring his detective onstage until well into the action. This book opened with a couple of chapters about a damsel in distress and I was worried, but the good Inspector soon arrives on the scene. From that point on he's the center of attention, as he should be.
The "tragedy" which befalls the ancient, isolated manor of Starvel Hollow is a massive fire. Three badly burned corpses are discovered in the ashes, presumed to be the elderly owner and the couple who take care of him. The science of forensics isn't very advanced in 1927 and those corpses are toast, so there's room for doubt. That and the fact that the fire is arson has the local police sending for Scotland Yard's hard-working Inspector French.
French throws himself into the job as he always does. But from the start it's a vexing case with all sorts of complications. French follows each lead (and his own hunches) but the damned case keeps blowing up on him and forcing him to backtrack. What will his bosses think?
What I love about French (one of my favorite fictional detectives) is that he's so human. Not "human" in the sense of modern fictional detectives. I'm TIRED of reading about alcoholic cops with failed marriages and screwed-up private lives. Can't police departments hire cops who aren't hot messes?
French, God love him, is happily married and enjoys his job. His love of his job and his desire for promotion make him very nervous when a case isn't going well. He's a civil servant, but if he has any protection against being fired by a supervisor in a bad mood you'd never know it.
And he's not one of those ice-cold, omniscient types, either. No scratching your own head in frustration while the detective goes calmly on his way (with an irritating air of superiority) until the end of the book, when he reveals the brilliant mental processes by which he solved the crime.
Inspector French's philosophy is that if HE has to suffer while the case goes haywire, the reader should suffer along with him. He's not worried that we'll think less of him because we can't affect his career. He's perfectly content for us, the readers, to see all his misfires and follow him down the blind alleys.
He soon learns that nobody cares about the three dead people and the gloomy old mansion. Simon Averill was a grumpy miser who'd been driving everyone crazy for decades. His male servant Roper was an oily character no one trusted or liked. Mrs Roper wasn't much better.
Everyone pities lovely Ruth Averill, an orphan who's dependent on her uncle. She's finished boarding school and seems condemned to live in the lonely old house with no fun or romance. Then Simon does an odd thing. He actually gives his niece some money and arranges for her to pay an extended visit to a congenial family in a nearby town. Wonder what's come over him?
So Ruth is absent with the fire breaks out. That's good, but where's her inheritance? Simon has been hoarding cash and gold in his safe for decades, but there's little left after the fire. Was the "fire-proof" safe a failure or was a fortune removed before the fire was set?
Everyone gets in on the act - the local policeman, the old doctor, the young doctor, the attorney who handled Simon's affairs, the banker who sent out the cash and gold to be hoarded, and a young architect who's in love with Ruth. Everyone suspects Roper of pulling off a fast one, but how did he end up dead himself?
Poor French keeps digging away. At one point, what he digs up is a coffin from the church cemetary. He's decided that not all of the corpses in the fire are the people who lived in the house. Someone (he's certain) substituted a body and then took off with the loot. But who? And if that coffin IS empty, does it prove that Roper is still alive?
It's a fine mystery with enough red herrings to pickle and feed Scandinavia for a long time. If French is bumfuzzled more than once, who can blame him? At one point, practically everyone in the town of Thirsby looks suspicious. The investigation turns up unexpected facts about Ruth's parents and two characters are discovered to have known each other in the past. Could the case really be this complicated or is someone deliberately leading French up the garden path?
Inspector French heads to France and then to Scotland to run down leads that might break the case open, all the while sweating out the possibility that his superiors will lose patience with the delays and relieve him of his badge. At best, he figures any chance he had for promotion is gone with the wind. Poor French!
Fortunately, French's bosses have more confidence in him than he thinks and they agree with me that he's at his best cracking this tough case. I love this series and I'm glad it's been resurrected on Kindle. This author was called "humdrum" by some critics, but he's a fine story-teller and his books keep me interested from start to finish.
I don't know about you, but when I read an Inspector French mystery, I want plenty of Inspector French. At the beginning of this series, the author sometimes didn't bring his detective onstage until well into the action. This book opened with a couple of chapters about a damsel in distress and I was worried, but the good Inspector soon arrives on the scene. From that point on he's the center of attention, as he should be.
The "tragedy" which befalls the ancient, isolated manor of Starvel Hollow is a massive fire. Three badly burned corpses are discovered in the ashes, presumed to be the elderly owner and the couple who take care of him. The science of forensics isn't very advanced in 1927 and those corpses are toast, so there's room for doubt. That and the fact that the fire is arson has the local police sending for Scotland Yard's hard-working Inspector French.
French throws himself into the job as he always does. But from the start it's a vexing case with all sorts of complications. French follows each lead (and his own hunches) but the damned case keeps blowing up on him and forcing him to backtrack. What will his bosses think?
What I love about French (one of my favorite fictional detectives) is that he's so human. Not "human" in the sense of modern fictional detectives. I'm TIRED of reading about alcoholic cops with failed marriages and screwed-up private lives. Can't police departments hire cops who aren't hot messes?
French, God love him, is happily married and enjoys his job. His love of his job and his desire for promotion make him very nervous when a case isn't going well. He's a civil servant, but if he has any protection against being fired by a supervisor in a bad mood you'd never know it.
And he's not one of those ice-cold, omniscient types, either. No scratching your own head in frustration while the detective goes calmly on his way (with an irritating air of superiority) until the end of the book, when he reveals the brilliant mental processes by which he solved the crime.
Inspector French's philosophy is that if HE has to suffer while the case goes haywire, the reader should suffer along with him. He's not worried that we'll think less of him because we can't affect his career. He's perfectly content for us, the readers, to see all his misfires and follow him down the blind alleys.
He soon learns that nobody cares about the three dead people and the gloomy old mansion. Simon Averill was a grumpy miser who'd been driving everyone crazy for decades. His male servant Roper was an oily character no one trusted or liked. Mrs Roper wasn't much better.
Everyone pities lovely Ruth Averill, an orphan who's dependent on her uncle. She's finished boarding school and seems condemned to live in the lonely old house with no fun or romance. Then Simon does an odd thing. He actually gives his niece some money and arranges for her to pay an extended visit to a congenial family in a nearby town. Wonder what's come over him?
So Ruth is absent with the fire breaks out. That's good, but where's her inheritance? Simon has been hoarding cash and gold in his safe for decades, but there's little left after the fire. Was the "fire-proof" safe a failure or was a fortune removed before the fire was set?
Everyone gets in on the act - the local policeman, the old doctor, the young doctor, the attorney who handled Simon's affairs, the banker who sent out the cash and gold to be hoarded, and a young architect who's in love with Ruth. Everyone suspects Roper of pulling off a fast one, but how did he end up dead himself?
Poor French keeps digging away. At one point, what he digs up is a coffin from the church cemetary. He's decided that not all of the corpses in the fire are the people who lived in the house. Someone (he's certain) substituted a body and then took off with the loot. But who? And if that coffin IS empty, does it prove that Roper is still alive?
It's a fine mystery with enough red herrings to pickle and feed Scandinavia for a long time. If French is bumfuzzled more than once, who can blame him? At one point, practically everyone in the town of Thirsby looks suspicious. The investigation turns up unexpected facts about Ruth's parents and two characters are discovered to have known each other in the past. Could the case really be this complicated or is someone deliberately leading French up the garden path?
Inspector French heads to France and then to Scotland to run down leads that might break the case open, all the while sweating out the possibility that his superiors will lose patience with the delays and relieve him of his badge. At best, he figures any chance he had for promotion is gone with the wind. Poor French!
Fortunately, French's bosses have more confidence in him than he thinks and they agree with me that he's at his best cracking this tough case. I love this series and I'm glad it's been resurrected on Kindle. This author was called "humdrum" by some critics, but he's a fine story-teller and his books keep me interested from start to finish.
October 21, 2025
One of the best murder mysteries I've read for some time.
November 24, 2024
I've said in other reviews of his books that you don't read Freeman Wills Crofts for the characters. That's a little unfair; in this book, there is a decent amount of characterization. It just mostly isn't applied to the detective.
Inspector French is such an Everyman he might well have been designed as a reader self-insert character. I don't know if that was something people consciously created a century ago; whether it was or not, kudos to FWC for creating such an outstanding one.
French does have one personal characteristic that isn't completely generic, though, and it's that he's able to win people round so they want to tell him things, by being genuinely affable and taking an interest in them. He uses this ability to win friends and influence people a number of times in this volume, to progress what seems initially to be an unpromising investigation with few clues available.
A remote house on the Yorkshire moors is owned by a miser, and he, his two servants (who are a couple), and his young niece live there. The niece is invited to visit an acquaintance, and while she's away, the house burns down. Three bodies are found in it, in positions corresponding to the master's bedroom (one) and the servants' bedroom (two), and the safe, rather than containing thirty or forty thousand pounds in banknotes - the miser having been one of those Scrooge McDuck types who likes to have his money in his house so he can play with it - contains only burnt scraps of paper. Bad luck; a tragic accident.
Or is it? When a banknote turns up that was reported destroyed by the local banker, who had a list of serial numbers of the latest batch he'd sent out to the house, it rouses the banker's suspicions, and he calls in the police, who manifest in the form of Inspector French. It's several weeks since the fire, and the trail is now as cold as the ashes. French gets a sense of the village and follows up some leads, which initially get him only to dead ends. But, being French, he perseveres methodically, and there's a shocking twist and a tense action scene at the climax.
The emphasis is, as always, on the procedural investigation, but there's a better romance subplot than in the earlier Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery , and the various characters take on, if anything, more reality and solidity than in most mysteries of the time; the cleverly planned crime is also motivated believably. Solid, like French's investigative method, and recommended.
Inspector French is such an Everyman he might well have been designed as a reader self-insert character. I don't know if that was something people consciously created a century ago; whether it was or not, kudos to FWC for creating such an outstanding one.
French does have one personal characteristic that isn't completely generic, though, and it's that he's able to win people round so they want to tell him things, by being genuinely affable and taking an interest in them. He uses this ability to win friends and influence people a number of times in this volume, to progress what seems initially to be an unpromising investigation with few clues available.
A remote house on the Yorkshire moors is owned by a miser, and he, his two servants (who are a couple), and his young niece live there. The niece is invited to visit an acquaintance, and while she's away, the house burns down. Three bodies are found in it, in positions corresponding to the master's bedroom (one) and the servants' bedroom (two), and the safe, rather than containing thirty or forty thousand pounds in banknotes - the miser having been one of those Scrooge McDuck types who likes to have his money in his house so he can play with it - contains only burnt scraps of paper. Bad luck; a tragic accident.
Or is it? When a banknote turns up that was reported destroyed by the local banker, who had a list of serial numbers of the latest batch he'd sent out to the house, it rouses the banker's suspicions, and he calls in the police, who manifest in the form of Inspector French. It's several weeks since the fire, and the trail is now as cold as the ashes. French gets a sense of the village and follows up some leads, which initially get him only to dead ends. But, being French, he perseveres methodically, and there's a shocking twist and a tense action scene at the climax.
The emphasis is, as always, on the procedural investigation, but there's a better romance subplot than in the earlier Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery , and the various characters take on, if anything, more reality and solidity than in most mysteries of the time; the cleverly planned crime is also motivated believably. Solid, like French's investigative method, and recommended.
February 16, 2025
This is an improvement on the first two, in that whenever you think you're ahead of French it turns out you're both wrong, but it's still not quite a mystery novel in the sense Agatha Christie's survival vs her peers has passed down to us: There just aren't enough characters in the book to screen off all the narrative business from view.
The problem this creates tonally is that French is a very competent detective who, despite the ostensibly limited number of possibilities in front of him, always seems to assume that he's on the trail of an incredibly baroque crime. It turns out he is, but there's something strange about this, like you're watching a scientist perform experiments in a world where he knows that there are a bunch of extra forces out there pushing and pulling on molecules but you do not.
You forgive this in novels with a bunch of suspects and locked rooms because those features serve as cues for the detective to change his behavior and for the reader to suspend his disbelief. French does the obvious (or the clever and obvious-in-hindsight) thing, which is only the obvious thing in mystery-novel-world, and it pays off. This is mitigated quite a bit by the end of the novel; because we're watching French detect the whole time, we're brought step-by-step into the world of the golden-age-mystery-novel crime, even if we're not thrown in at the deep end.
I'm being picky, here; these are problems Sayers deals with, too. French is absolutely not Wimsey, but eventually you run out of Wimsey novels, and then where are you left? Campion novels, that's where, and then French novels.
The problem this creates tonally is that French is a very competent detective who, despite the ostensibly limited number of possibilities in front of him, always seems to assume that he's on the trail of an incredibly baroque crime. It turns out he is, but there's something strange about this, like you're watching a scientist perform experiments in a world where he knows that there are a bunch of extra forces out there pushing and pulling on molecules but you do not.
You forgive this in novels with a bunch of suspects and locked rooms because those features serve as cues for the detective to change his behavior and for the reader to suspend his disbelief. French does the obvious (or the clever and obvious-in-hindsight) thing, which is only the obvious thing in mystery-novel-world, and it pays off. This is mitigated quite a bit by the end of the novel; because we're watching French detect the whole time, we're brought step-by-step into the world of the golden-age-mystery-novel crime, even if we're not thrown in at the deep end.
I'm being picky, here; these are problems Sayers deals with, too. French is absolutely not Wimsey, but eventually you run out of Wimsey novels, and then where are you left? Campion novels, that's where, and then French novels.
August 20, 2019
What a delightfully British mystery. I had never heard of this series, but picked the book up on my travels. It turned out to be #3 in a series, but that was okay. Crofts did not refer to any back story. He mentioned, when we first meet the character, that French has a wife, but there is no more mention of her or any other aspect of his personal life.
French seemed like a very British Inspector. He is called to Starvel Hollow. Three people have died in a fire and all the property has been destroyed. Or has it? Someone is passing the bank notes that were supposedly burnt up. And French is called in. He is very methodical and amazingly unattached emotionally. Like I said, very "British". It was a great view of the traditional stereotypes.
I thought the mystery was excellent. There were some great red herrings - some I saw through and some I didn't. I thought the ending was very believable and I hope to find more of these.
I did dock a star because there were a few places where the author got repetitive. For instance, at the inquest, French relayed a summary of everything that we'd read so far which lasted pages instead of a short paragraph.
French seemed like a very British Inspector. He is called to Starvel Hollow. Three people have died in a fire and all the property has been destroyed. Or has it? Someone is passing the bank notes that were supposedly burnt up. And French is called in. He is very methodical and amazingly unattached emotionally. Like I said, very "British". It was a great view of the traditional stereotypes.
I thought the mystery was excellent. There were some great red herrings - some I saw through and some I didn't. I thought the ending was very believable and I hope to find more of these.
I did dock a star because there were a few places where the author got repetitive. For instance, at the inquest, French relayed a summary of everything that we'd read so far which lasted pages instead of a short paragraph.
June 26, 2025
A good golden Age Police Procedural Mystery. Crofts is always a little dry but well worth the read
December 27, 2020
Three cheers for French again(oh..and 4.5 stars as well).
A misers house gets burned in a sleepy hollow .. nothing is left of his hoard except the gold sovereigns ...but then how come a supposedly incinerated note comes back in circulation ?? From here its a tremendous journey with exhibits such as a clod of yellow clay, a confession letter about an accidental death,a throw away cllection of wedding rings and a mills bomb and landmarks like Annecy,Edinburgh and Glasgow..but rest assured that by the end of the journey you will see French getting his man (This was never in doubt though).
Highly recommended ... in the same league as Hogs back,Magill or Channel ...
A misers house gets burned in a sleepy hollow .. nothing is left of his hoard except the gold sovereigns ...but then how come a supposedly incinerated note comes back in circulation ?? From here its a tremendous journey with exhibits such as a clod of yellow clay, a confession letter about an accidental death,a throw away cllection of wedding rings and a mills bomb and landmarks like Annecy,Edinburgh and Glasgow..but rest assured that by the end of the journey you will see French getting his man (This was never in doubt though).
Highly recommended ... in the same league as Hogs back,Magill or Channel ...
September 7, 2023
La trama si svolge attorno al misterioso incendio di un antico maniero a Starvel Hollow. Qui, l'ispettore French di Scotland Yard è chiamato ad investigare.
Troppe pagine incentrate sui pensieri e sulle riflessioni del detective, lasciando ai margini tutti gli altri personaggi della vicenda, oltretutto poco caratterizzati.
Personalmente, in un giallo, adoro competere con il detective di turno nel trovare il colpevole prima della soluzione del caso, ma questo libro non mi ha lasciato molto spazio all'immaginazione. Peccato. :(
Troppe pagine incentrate sui pensieri e sulle riflessioni del detective, lasciando ai margini tutti gli altri personaggi della vicenda, oltretutto poco caratterizzati.
Personalmente, in un giallo, adoro competere con il detective di turno nel trovare il colpevole prima della soluzione del caso, ma questo libro non mi ha lasciato molto spazio all'immaginazione. Peccato. :(
August 4, 2018
This is the first FWC book I have read. Inspector French is not your typical Golden Age detective who is prone to making mysterious utterances until at the end he presents his brilliant deductions. We actually get to follow his investigation, including knowing which deductions he makes, as he conducts it. In this book it was quite easy to draw conclusions before French did on several occasions. Enjoyable enough, but not up to the standard of the best from Christie or Carr.
April 6, 2025
Not exactly Holmesian
Some aspects of this story put one in the mind of law enforcement like that of the noted character of one Sherlock Holmes. While reminiscent in many ways the tale does not rise to that kind of glory. Yet personally, I found the story enticing until the very concluding chapters which became rather too heavily and rather boringly explanatory. Without the writing on the last two chapters, I would have given the tale five stars!
Some aspects of this story put one in the mind of law enforcement like that of the noted character of one Sherlock Holmes. While reminiscent in many ways the tale does not rise to that kind of glory. Yet personally, I found the story enticing until the very concluding chapters which became rather too heavily and rather boringly explanatory. Without the writing on the last two chapters, I would have given the tale five stars!
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