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Inspector French #12
Inspector French and the Mystery on Southampton Water
To mark the publishing centenary of Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, this is one of six classic crime novels being issued in 2020 featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television.
The Joymount Rapid Hardening Cement Manufacturing Company on the Solent is in serious financial trouble. Its rival, Chayle on the Isle of Wight, has a secret new manufacturing process and is underselling them. Having failed to crack the secret legitimately, two employees hatch a plot to break in and steal it. But the scheme does not go according to plan, resulting in damage and death, and Inspector French is brought in to solve one of the most dramatic and labyrinthine cases of his entire career.
The Joymount Rapid Hardening Cement Manufacturing Company on the Solent is in serious financial trouble. Its rival, Chayle on the Isle of Wight, has a secret new manufacturing process and is underselling them. Having failed to crack the secret legitimately, two employees hatch a plot to break in and steal it. But the scheme does not go according to plan, resulting in damage and death, and Inspector French is brought in to solve one of the most dramatic and labyrinthine cases of his entire career.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
12 people are currently reading
100 people want to read
About the author
Freeman Wills Crofts
142 books90 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 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 21, 2021
I was pleasantly surprised with this one! Picked it up because I live in Southampton but hadn't read any of the other books in the series (didn't realise it was number 12!)
You do not need to have the read any others to enjoy this. I don't believe it gave any spoilers either .
For a book written 90 years ago, I found the writing very easy to read.
I loved the format, we follow the bad guys first , before and during the crime, then switch to Inspector French, then back to the bad guys then back to French . I've never read a book where you get such insight into the bad guys . It was great! But did make me sympathise with them!!
My one comment as a local, the author had clearly studied a map well, as many towns, areas, around the city and IOW were mentioned but no landmarks or anything else which makes me believe he hadn't actually visited the area (appreciate in those it may have been harder and there's no Internet for research!)
I loved inspector French himself, and I really liked the author didn't make the local police out to be idiots. Nice change.
The author had been an engineer and apparently he loves to showcase trains in his books. That was evident here. There was 1 page which was an ode to his love of calculations and speeds of boats and revolutions of some gizmo , it was cute , and it's easy to skim that bit without needing to understand it.
I would definitely pick up more of his books! Shame he was so overshadowed by Christie (I tried one of hers and couldn't get past the writing!)
You do not need to have the read any others to enjoy this. I don't believe it gave any spoilers either .
For a book written 90 years ago, I found the writing very easy to read.
I loved the format, we follow the bad guys first , before and during the crime, then switch to Inspector French, then back to the bad guys then back to French . I've never read a book where you get such insight into the bad guys . It was great! But did make me sympathise with them!!
My one comment as a local, the author had clearly studied a map well, as many towns, areas, around the city and IOW were mentioned but no landmarks or anything else which makes me believe he hadn't actually visited the area (appreciate in those it may have been harder and there's no Internet for research!)
I loved inspector French himself, and I really liked the author didn't make the local police out to be idiots. Nice change.
The author had been an engineer and apparently he loves to showcase trains in his books. That was evident here. There was 1 page which was an ode to his love of calculations and speeds of boats and revolutions of some gizmo , it was cute , and it's easy to skim that bit without needing to understand it.
I would definitely pick up more of his books! Shame he was so overshadowed by Christie (I tried one of hers and couldn't get past the writing!)
October 17, 2020
Profit motive…
The Joymount Cement Company is in trouble. Its main local competitor, Chayle’s, has found a new formula that allows them to produce cement more cheaply, thus undercutting Joymount. Joymount’s board of directors decide to give their chief chemist a few weeks to try to replicate the formula – if he fails, then the company may have to close. King, the chemist, tries his best but, as the deadline approaches, he is no nearer finding the solution, so he persuades one of the other directors, Brand, to sneak into Chayle’s with him one night to see what they can find out. That’s when things begin to go horribly wrong…
This is an “inverted” mystery, a format for which I understand Crofts was particularly well known. (For the uninitiated, this means that the crime is shown first including the identity of the criminal, and then the story joins the detective, showing the methods he uses to investigate it.) The story leading up to the break-in at Chayle’s and the resulting death that happens there is very well told, but only takes up about a quarter of the book. Inspector French from Scotland Yard is brought in because the local police suspect that there’s more to the break-in and death at Chayle’s than meets the eye. French soon confirms this, and now a murder hunt is on.
At this point, I was thinking that it was going to be a long haul watching French discover what we, the readers, already knew had happened. I should have had more faith in Crofts’ reputation! I can only be vague because I want to avoid even the smallest of spoilers, but suddenly another event happens that turns the story on its head, leading to another crime – one to which the reader does not know the solution. This second crime forms the main focus of the book, and a very satisfying mystery it is. The possible suspect list is tiny, but the clues are so beautifully meted out that I changed my mind several times about whodunit, and only got about halfway there in the end. It’s also a howdunit – until the method is discovered, it’s almost impossible to know who would have had the opportunity to commit the crime. So in the end, Crofts throws in everything – an inverted crime, a traditional mystery, alibis, method, motives, all wrapped up in a police procedural, and it all works brilliantly.
He also does a lovely job with the characterisation – not so much of French, who truthfully is a bit bland as detectives go, in this one at any rate, but of the men involved – King, Brand, their boss, Tasker, and their opposite numbers at Chayle’s. They are each given clear motivation for how they act individually, and there’s a good deal of moral ambiguity floating around – while not everyone is guilty in the eyes of the law, very few could be called entirely innocent. The murkiness of the business world is at the heart of the story, and the lengths to which men will go in the pursuit of profit. (Yes, they’re all men – it was first published in 1934.)
I loved this. So intricately plotted but also with a very human set of characters to stop it from being merely a puzzle. It’s only the second book of Crofts I’ve read, the other being The 12:30 from Croydon, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. It too is an inverted mystery, but very different in how it’s done, showing that this particular sub-genre has more room for variety than I’d have expected. I will now add Crofts to my ever-growing list of vintage crime writers to be further explored!
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
The Joymount Cement Company is in trouble. Its main local competitor, Chayle’s, has found a new formula that allows them to produce cement more cheaply, thus undercutting Joymount. Joymount’s board of directors decide to give their chief chemist a few weeks to try to replicate the formula – if he fails, then the company may have to close. King, the chemist, tries his best but, as the deadline approaches, he is no nearer finding the solution, so he persuades one of the other directors, Brand, to sneak into Chayle’s with him one night to see what they can find out. That’s when things begin to go horribly wrong…
This is an “inverted” mystery, a format for which I understand Crofts was particularly well known. (For the uninitiated, this means that the crime is shown first including the identity of the criminal, and then the story joins the detective, showing the methods he uses to investigate it.) The story leading up to the break-in at Chayle’s and the resulting death that happens there is very well told, but only takes up about a quarter of the book. Inspector French from Scotland Yard is brought in because the local police suspect that there’s more to the break-in and death at Chayle’s than meets the eye. French soon confirms this, and now a murder hunt is on.
At this point, I was thinking that it was going to be a long haul watching French discover what we, the readers, already knew had happened. I should have had more faith in Crofts’ reputation! I can only be vague because I want to avoid even the smallest of spoilers, but suddenly another event happens that turns the story on its head, leading to another crime – one to which the reader does not know the solution. This second crime forms the main focus of the book, and a very satisfying mystery it is. The possible suspect list is tiny, but the clues are so beautifully meted out that I changed my mind several times about whodunit, and only got about halfway there in the end. It’s also a howdunit – until the method is discovered, it’s almost impossible to know who would have had the opportunity to commit the crime. So in the end, Crofts throws in everything – an inverted crime, a traditional mystery, alibis, method, motives, all wrapped up in a police procedural, and it all works brilliantly.
He also does a lovely job with the characterisation – not so much of French, who truthfully is a bit bland as detectives go, in this one at any rate, but of the men involved – King, Brand, their boss, Tasker, and their opposite numbers at Chayle’s. They are each given clear motivation for how they act individually, and there’s a good deal of moral ambiguity floating around – while not everyone is guilty in the eyes of the law, very few could be called entirely innocent. The murkiness of the business world is at the heart of the story, and the lengths to which men will go in the pursuit of profit. (Yes, they’re all men – it was first published in 1934.)
I loved this. So intricately plotted but also with a very human set of characters to stop it from being merely a puzzle. It’s only the second book of Crofts I’ve read, the other being The 12:30 from Croydon, which I also thoroughly enjoyed. It too is an inverted mystery, but very different in how it’s done, showing that this particular sub-genre has more room for variety than I’d have expected. I will now add Crofts to my ever-growing list of vintage crime writers to be further explored!
NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, HarperCollins.
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
January 22, 2015
Here is that most unusual of detective stories; one which is a model of the avoidance of obfuscation; yet successfully teases and misleads its reader. The action is set in coastal Hampshire (England), and on the Solent; locations more often associated with the Royal Navy, the design, the building and racing of yachts, cruise holidays, aircraft manufacture, and D-Day (6th June 1944); than with the formulation and manufacture of cement! This is a part of the world where it’s not unknown for curiously interesting things to happen: a recent example (found at random, and entirely unrelated to the plot of this novel) being http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic... [accessed 20-Dec-13].
The plot of “Mystery on Southampton Water” is well constructed; and is both interesting (especially to the businessman) and refreshingly convincing. I liked the fact that the plot wouldn’t have stood up to the forensic techniques of our present day. At a time when the death penalty was still in force, that added several delicious doses of potent fear! It’s a very neatly executed plot, with twists and turns which in several places genuinely caught me by surprise; though on finishing I was left convinced, rightly or wrongly, that had I bothered to apply some serious thought, might I have worked it all out for myself?
The plot of “Mystery on Southampton Water” is well constructed; and is both interesting (especially to the businessman) and refreshingly convincing. I liked the fact that the plot wouldn’t have stood up to the forensic techniques of our present day. At a time when the death penalty was still in force, that added several delicious doses of potent fear! It’s a very neatly executed plot, with twists and turns which in several places genuinely caught me by surprise; though on finishing I was left convinced, rightly or wrongly, that had I bothered to apply some serious thought, might I have worked it all out for myself?
April 6, 2022
Set in the early 30s this reads like watching an old b/w crime drama. Set around the a quick and easy made cement this industrial spy's. And murder of night watch man.
You know who the murderers are it's like early Colombo but with quick drying fun.
You know who the murderers are it's like early Colombo but with quick drying fun.
Read
January 1, 2026This is interesting if you know the area. It shows how busy the waterways were in the 1930s - private wharves for businesses, much nipping over to the Island and up and down the coast by private motor boat, people hiring skiffs in the season. Talks also about how noisy it was, with seaplanes leaving Calshot continuously and ship horns going off. Says the coast along Southampton Water was fairly empty of houses, though mentions Fawley. Even the quality of the riverbed at Hamble is discussed.
February 16, 2025
The rivalry between two South coast cement companies provides the backdrop to this Inspector French case. The structure is interesting, starting as an inverted mystery, but then developing into a traditional mystery. Sadly, the investigation drags too much, so the book doesn't rise above "good".
March 2, 2024
The final sentence of this book mentions “A particularly long and tedious case.” It sums up the whole book, which is overlong, extremely tedious with a very clunky plot.
October 29, 2025
I don't normally like inverted mysteries very much but this is a brilliant exception.
The plot of the crime is so clever that the reader (this one, anyway) is compelled to read on to find out how French could ever find out how and by whom it was done. The reader is privvy to his every thought during this excellent police procedural.
Superb.
The plot of the crime is so clever that the reader (this one, anyway) is compelled to read on to find out how French could ever find out how and by whom it was done. The reader is privvy to his every thought during this excellent police procedural.
Superb.
January 1, 2014
Here is a link to my review on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8YqPP...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8YqPP...
July 24, 2021
As far as I know, Crofts wrote five inverted novels and a collection of inverted short stories. "Mystery on Southampton Water" aka "Crime on the Solent" is really a hybrid as it starts as an inverted but also includes a regular mystery. The reason for this has to do with the structure, the plotting and the detection style of Chief Inspector French.
The novel is divided into four sections which alternate between crimes and investigation. Essentially French cannot find sufficient proof to bring the first crime to a successful prosecution. The author therefore has to introduce another crime which IS susceptible to proof using French's combination of meticulous investigation and inspiration so that the criminals can be brought to justice.
For me this means that, unusually for Crofts, there are a few holes, glaring omissions and unlikelihoods of behaviour in the plot. Why for instance did the perpetrators set up an elaborate body-in-a-burnt-car plot, which was a failure, rather than use the extensive knowledge of tides and currents which one of them had in order to lose the body at sea?
Ultimately it is the greed of two of the suspects which gets the better of them and which leads to a second crime which is their downfall.
Even French himself categorises this as " a particularly long and tedious case" and while I do not entirely agree with him, I do wonder about four pages taken up with the explanation of how sugar cubes were doped and administered to a victim by a criminal who made no attempt to disguise himself.
Despite my reservations, this is surprisingly easy-to-read and has an interesting structure.
3.5 stars.
The novel is divided into four sections which alternate between crimes and investigation. Essentially French cannot find sufficient proof to bring the first crime to a successful prosecution. The author therefore has to introduce another crime which IS susceptible to proof using French's combination of meticulous investigation and inspiration so that the criminals can be brought to justice.
For me this means that, unusually for Crofts, there are a few holes, glaring omissions and unlikelihoods of behaviour in the plot. Why for instance did the perpetrators set up an elaborate body-in-a-burnt-car plot, which was a failure, rather than use the extensive knowledge of tides and currents which one of them had in order to lose the body at sea?
Ultimately it is the greed of two of the suspects which gets the better of them and which leads to a second crime which is their downfall.
Even French himself categorises this as " a particularly long and tedious case" and while I do not entirely agree with him, I do wonder about four pages taken up with the explanation of how sugar cubes were doped and administered to a victim by a criminal who made no attempt to disguise himself.
Despite my reservations, this is surprisingly easy-to-read and has an interesting structure.
3.5 stars.
January 5, 2021
Scotland Yard Chief Inspector French investigates a serious of suspicious events related to a cement manufacturing plant on Southampton Water and the Isle of Wight, including several mysterious deaths. It's a complex English police procedural in the traditional style. The technical detail can make for some tedious reading, although it lends authenticity to the story. French is his usual efficient self.
Recommended for Golden Age mystery fans.
Recommended for Golden Age mystery fans.
September 29, 2021
Well! At first I was disappointed. The book started off in a very dry and slow fashion. But with every page I was drawn into the story more and more. It all connected up neatly in the end, and, I must admit, this was one of the better books in the inspector French series. Well done FWC
December 10, 2021
Really didn't enjoy this. I don't know what it was about it, maybe that it was in really clear sections? Maybe that it featured several cocksure criminals without a Columbo figure to take them down? Dunno. But not for me.
Want to read
December 24, 2019Synopsis: aka Crime on the Solent. A group of criminals set up and try to pull off industrial espionage. Someone dies and French looks into it.
March 11, 2022
4.5*
Excellent dovetailing of a inverted mystery and a straight one . Full of twist and turns and inventive too .One of the best from Crofts .
Excellent dovetailing of a inverted mystery and a straight one . Full of twist and turns and inventive too .One of the best from Crofts .
January 30, 2023
The first inverted detective story I've read and it did not disappoint! While parts of the plot are predictable, this was a fun and easy read.
November 27, 2023
Having read all the books in the series up to this one I found this the most compelling so far; intricate as ever but not too much, deep characters, surprises, it’s all there.
February 13, 2024
Just couldn’t grab my attention
March 21, 2024
Over complicated and unbelievable plot, stultifying prose: DNF
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews