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Inspector French #25
Enemy Unseen
Two thefts inside ten days...do you think can be any connection?
A quiet Cornish village and its law abiding community are rocked by a series of strange events in the summer of 1943.
While on a standard Home Guard training manoeuvre, Arthur Wedgewood discovers that supplies of explosives are missing from his stores.
When the local police fail to take the necessary steps, Inspector French takes charge to untangle the threads of the crime perpetrated by an Enemy Unseen...
A quiet Cornish village and its law abiding community are rocked by a series of strange events in the summer of 1943.
While on a standard Home Guard training manoeuvre, Arthur Wedgewood discovers that supplies of explosives are missing from his stores.
When the local police fail to take the necessary steps, Inspector French takes charge to untangle the threads of the crime perpetrated by an Enemy Unseen...
- GenresMystery
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1945
59 people want to read
About the author
Freeman Wills Crofts
139 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 of 1 review
September 18, 2019
I ummed and ahhed about getting this book from the charity stand in the local supermarket, repeatedly picking it up and putting it down again; some gremlin had paralysed my decision making process - I'd still be there if my partner hadn't rescued me, she's good at things like that and supermarkets are the last place she likes to dither. Anyway, I have it and it turned out to be a first edition (yay), printed according to war time regulations, which meant roughish paper and thin covers. It's an 'Inspector French' story, wherein he is investigating a double murder that took place in Cornwall during the Second World War - cracking stuff. The format and writing style reminded me of Wilki Collins' The Moonstone. As it happens, I hadn't heard of Freeman Wills Crofts before and enjoyed this book very much and intend to look out for more of his work.
Displaying 1 of 1 review