Inspector French's Greatest Case

A man is found dead in a London diamond merchant's offices, and it soon transpires that a large number of jewels are missing. But that's just the start of a complicated case which takes Inspector Joseph French all over Europe, including visits to Holland, France and Spain. <br /><br />I really enjoyed this detective novel, from 1924, the first in the long-running series featuring French. It is rather slow-building, but that's the point, as it shows the amount of painstaking, unglamorous detective work which goes into solving a case, and how many blind alleys need to be explored before the truth is discovered.<br /><br />French must be one of the earliest Golden Age detectives to be a career policeman rather than a Holmes-style amateur genius. His determined character and stolid presence reminded me of Maigret, so I wondered if the author was influenced by <a href="https://goodreads.com/author/show/9693.Georges_Simenon" title="Georges Simenon" rel="noopener">Georges Simenon</a> and even whether the name "French" was a tribute - but I was wrong there, as in fact Maigret only made his fictional debut in 1931. <br /><br />The edition I read, from Collins Crime Club, has an enjoyable introduction added by the author in 1935, where he explains how he decided to make his hero "humdrum" and even interviews French during the article. Crofts mentions jokingly that he thinks he said French and his wife Emily had children in one book and then that they didn't in another, so he now steers clear of the subject as he can't find either reference. <br /><br />After reading this in the introduction, I was surprised to find a moving reference to French being a father in this first book. Someone asks him if the First World War affected him. <i>"Lost my eldest," said French gruffly. </i> Could Crofts really have forgotten writing that?

<b>"French once more felt baffled. Again in this exasperating case he was left at a loose end. The information he gained always seemed to fail him at the critical moment."</b> <br /><br /><i>Inspector French’s Greatest Case</i> is a 1924 Golden Age mystery novel featuring Scotland Yard detective Inspector French. Fans of puzzle mysteries or police procedural should find this book delightful. I was surprised to enjoy this one as much as any Agatha Christie book that I’ve read. Inspector French, like Hercule Poirot, is known for his suave manners and his methodical approach to solving a case. <br /><br /> A murder and theft occurred at Duke &amp; Peabody’s, a London diamond merchant, and Inspector French was assigned the case. The head clerk was found dead hunched over an open, empty safe when another clerk from the office returned there late. French learned that Mr. Duke kept one of the only two keys on his person that opens the safe, the other key was secured at a bank. Yet the safe in the office stood open. Who could have had access to the key? Factoring in a second branch office located in Amsterdam, it makes a long list of the number of people who knew about the unusual volume of diamonds being kept in the safe. <br /><br />This was not a quickly solved case. It took months of interviews, analysis of timetables, typewriting, and handwriting, cracking a code; and discovering the identity of an impersonator before French could conclude this complex plot with subplots. I enjoyed being privy to French’s thoughts as he turned “the matter over in his mind.” All the clues are laid out for the reader. <br /><br />The investigation takes French (and sometimes a side kick) all over Europe. He must collaborate with other police departments, undercover detectives, and a private inquiry agent during what I dub French’s “Greatest Chase.” Anyone with an interest in European geography would have an opportunity to track the chase for themselves. Towns and streets in several countries are mentioned, along with bodies of water and ports.<br /><br />I liked Inspector French from the start and that he was sometimes wrong in his hunches added to his appeal. Unlike Hercule Poirot, French has a wife who he occasionally presents all the facts to her about a troubling case, and, sometimes, Mrs. Emily French “takes a notion” about it. In other words, she points out a vital clue or logical reasoning French has missed. <br /><br />This was the first book I’ve read by Crofts and won’t be the last. Solid storytelling and quality writing made this story entertaining. The subplots enhanced the story without feeling like red herring filler material. I would recommend this book to fans who appreciate languid pacing, savoring the clues, and a well thought out plot. <br /><br />This book is public domain and can be downloaded from <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65553" rel="nofollow noopener">Project Gutenberg</a>.<br />

I do not think that Inspector French will ever be a favourite Golden Age author of mine, although I am glad that - having read later mysteries - I have finally read the first in the series. <br /><br />Mr Gething, the Head Clerk in a diamond merchants, is found dead by an open safe. The diamonds, and cash, kept inside, are gone and itis up to Inspector French to unravel the clues. This he does, and Freeman Wills Crofts is keen to make clear that his detective is no Sherlock Holmes, with unerring knowledge and flashes of brilliance. Rather, he investigates clues, interviews those involved and hunts down any possible leads, which involves him crossing to the Continent. Again, here he is also very human, indulging in a little sight-seeing along the way. Overall, I enjoyed this, but it is a little painstaking for me. <br /><br />Rated 3.5

A good mystery for the most part. You can read the blurb for a summary of the plot. I felt that the plot flatlined a few times. It could have built up more. Nevertheless, I liked Crofts usual tactic of having the reader follow French along as he, through trial and error, slowly works his way to the solution of the mystery.

I gave Inspector French’s Greatest case a good go, but I struggled to about half way and couldn’t face any more, I'm afraid. <br /><br />First published in 1924, the plot involves a theft of diamonds from a London merchant and the murder of the firm’s Chief Clerk. Inspector French diligently and ploddingly pursues enquiries which lead to blind alleys or more conundra. These enquiries include travelling to different places in Europe, which the author is keen to describe to us to show that he has been there.<br /><br />I’m afraid found it pedestrian in the extreme and, unlike some other other readers, the meticulous, repetitive spelling out of exactly what each piece of evidence might mean (but then didn't) began to bore me badly. I did quite like some of the travelogue aspects from a century ago, but that wasn't enough to maintain my interest.<br /><br />Dialogue was pretty terrible, I thought, with supposedly spontaneous remarks sounding like the reading out of a solicitor’s Prepared Statement, and even for 1924 the prose often felt stilted and creaky. I kept thinking of the writings of Kipling or Dorothy L. Sayers or C.S. Forester around that time and how, in their different ways, their prose was so very good by comparison. <br /><br />I'm glad others have enjoyed it, but Crofts isn't for me. In the High And Far Off Times when I collected (and actually read) those lovely old Penguin Crime Editions, I slogged my way through The Cask. I didn't enjoy it, but after all this time I was prepared to give him another try. Forty years on, I'm afraid I feel the same, so it's no more Freeman Wills Crofts for me, I think.

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://www.crimesegments.com/2019/11/back-to-20s-and-my-happy-place-again.html">http://www.crimesegments.com/2019/11/...</a><br /><br />In looking at this book, for me it all comes down to the reader and what he/she wants out of his/her detective reading. Inspector French, called "Soapy Joe" behind his back by his colleagues because of his intense politeness, may not be the most brilliant detective ever -- even his creator Freeman Wills Crofts reveals in the introduction to this edition which was actually written in 1935 that "many people call him dull" -- but he never lets go, remains completely methodical and detail oriented throughout, and he is not averse to listening to his wife's flashes of insight when she comes up with an idea that sparks the light bulb over his head that will move him another step along in his investigation. "Thoroughness and perseverance" are qualities that the author has given his detective, and admittedly, French does not "leap to his conclusions by brilliant intuition." In short, he's a regular guy, he gets things wrong, and keeps trying until he gets it right. Personally, I found myself rooting for Inspector French along the way and actually feeling sorry for him as things continued to go wrong. If you want dazzling detective, you won't find that here; Inspector French's Greatest Case has much more in common with police procedurals and Crofts had obviously spent a great deal of time meticulously plotting each step of this mystery; <br />French's progress in some ways mirrors that slow and meticulous attention to detail. <br /><br />As far as this particular case being his "greatest," well, I'll admit that I have no clue there, since there will be twenty-nine more cases for the Inspector to solve, the last published in 1957. In this book, the series opener and the first French mystery I've read, he is brought in to solve the case of a murder of a Mr. Gething, the head clerk of diamond merchants Duke and Peabody. The firm's safe is open, "three-and-thirty thousand pounds" worth of diamonds are gone, along with a thousand pounds in notes. Despite a number of clues and a number of suspects, the case is anything but open and shut, and "days slipped by" without any progress, causing the Inspector no end of frustration. It is a bafflement that will continue to dog French as the case takes him on a series of travels beginning in Switzerland, leading him eventually to a ship on its way to Brazil; he always seems to be close but at each step, just as he feels he's getting somewhere, he hits the proverbial wall as events transpire to put barriers between himself and a solution. <br /><br />I had actually figured the big twist here, which is normally cause to let loose an internal scream, but in the author's defense it was not too long before French himself did, so the experience was unlike when I read detective novels in which I guess things early on. And "humdrum" or not, I quite enjoyed Inspector French and I quite enjoyed the book, enough so that I've been slowly stockpiling these Harper editions so that I can look forward to more of Soapy Joe's cases in the future.

I had read two Inspector French books, but this is the first book in the series, and it seemed like a good idea to see how his character first started out. This book turned out to be pretty complicated with the plot encompassing not only murder, but also embezzlement, theft, fraud and impersonation. It really is a police procedural book, taking us through the discovery of the murder, and then every clue and half clue that French encounters. And, goodness this police inspector does travel chasing up the clues and suspects, both home and abroad. But French also shows us how much of the detection is down to tedious, time consuming work. I like the way when he is really stumped, he explains his case to his wife, who not being a police person is able to put a different slant on the subject.<br />I enjoyed reading this book, but have to say when an explanation of an encrypted message was being worked out and solved, I was still non the wiser. I did have my suspicions as to who the murderer was, but still enjoyed the journey getting it fully laid out.

In ' French's Greatest Case' we are introduced to a case of murder that occurs at the offices of Duke and Peabody, a diamond merchant located at Hatton Garden in London. On a cold night in the middle of November, the body of an employee, by the name of Mr. Charles Gething is discovered prostrate on the floor in the inner office of Mr. Duke. Mr. Duke's large Milner safe has been ransacked with the loss of thirty-three thousand pounds worth of diamonds and a thousand pounds in bank notes. Mr. Gething has undoubtedly been murdered as evidenced from the ugly wound made to the back of the skull by a blunt instrument.<br /><br />The theft of the diamonds and money previously secured in the safe are the motive behind the murder. To investigate the case, Inspector French of the Criminal Investigation Department of New Scotland Yard is called in.<br />Find a full review here: <a target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow" href="http://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/27/inspector-frenchs-greatest-case-by-freeman-wills-crofts/">http://bagfullofbooks.com/2015/10/27/...</a>

<blockquote>Five minutes later he was eagerly turning over the leaves. It took but a second or two to find page 328, and another second to count down to the sixth word. It was “French.”<br /><br />Without waiting to consider whether this might refer to himself, in which case he had found the solution, or merely be a coincidence, in which case he hadn't, he hastily went on to the next number. Page 568, word 5, was “On.”<br /><br />“French on.” Still it might make sense or it might not. He looked up No. 3.<br /><br />The fourth word on the 1039th page was “Your.” “French on your” was going all right, but when he turned up No. 4 and found that the ninth word on page 936 was “Track,” all doubt was at an end. “French on your track.” He had got it with a vengeance! </blockquote>

London, 1924. Freeman Wills Crofts’ Inspector French’s Greatest Case has been released by Spitfire Publishers (2019), but was originally published by William Collins &amp; Company, London, in 1924. The key item to remember when reading this Golden Age Mystery is that it was originally published in 1924. Inspector French’s of Scotland Yard had very few advantages of technology that are available to detectives today. Inspector French has to use his brain and his feet mostly as the technology he had in 1924 were only the telephone and the telegraph. The Crime: Murder, Stolen Diamonds from London Diamond Merchants. Inspector French from Scotland Yard reports to the crime scene, and he begins the lengthy investigation process of interviewing possible witnesses, traveling to the Amsterdam Office to interview those employees, and covering other countries on the Continent such as Switzerland for clues and/or answers. Inspector French eventually is aware that he is attempting to catch a ‘master criminal’. “..... a cool customer ........... putting her head into the lion’s mouth, but at the same time calling his attention to its being there.” After much brain and foot work, Inspector French successfully solves of the missing diamonds and murder. “As neat the real thing as any sleuth in fiction.” The Sunday Times. 4 stars.