The Girl Who Wasn't There

"Virtue has its own reward, but no box office"

- Mae West

When in doubt, read a Crofts.

Inspector French series
Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927)
Inspector French and the Box Office Murders (1929)
The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
The Loss of the Jane Vosper (1936)
Fatal Venture (1939)

Miss Thurza Darke had been advised by a mutual acquaintance to confide her strange tale to the police, but at first, Inspector French had no expectations of whatever the box office girl could tell him. That is of course, until she actually told him why she feared for her life. The young woman had been duped into a debt through a devious con scheme, and by the time she realized that her friend, another box office girl who had died some months earlier in a supposed suicide, had been swindled too by this same person, it was already too late. Her creditors now want Thurza to perform a certain, but yet unspecified action at her film theatre to repay her debt, but she is terribly afraid she'll eventually be killed, just like her friend in a way so the police will think it's a suicide. Inspector French tells Thurza to pretend she'll go along with the scheme, and that the police will stake-out their meeting tomorrow to nab the gang, but Thurza disappears the same day, and her body is found later drowned in, as she had feared, an apparent suicide. Realizing that the gang is far more dangerous than he had first suspected, Inspector French vowes to find the people who kiled Thurza in Freeman Wills Crofts' Inspector French and the Box Office Murders (1929).

If I had to describe Crofts' mystery novels with one single word, it'd be schemes. The criminals in Crofts' work like to plan, schedule, ploy, strategize and arrange. They don't do things haphazardly, they carefully define their goals, make lists of what has to be done, prepare for every single stage in the process and then execute their scheme. These schemes can be (barely) legal or illegal: Fatal Venture was about an ingenious business plan involving a cruise ship turning into a casino whenever it was in international waters, while The Loss of the Jane Vosper was about an insurance swindling scheme, and the inverted mystery novels The 12:30 from Croydon and Mystery on Southampton Water are about murder schemes, told from the viewpoint of a would-be murderer who carefully plans how they're going to kill their target. What these schemes all share, is the sheer attention to detail: every aspect, every single step of the plan has a purpose, whether it is of practical use for the scheme itself, or for protection, for example to delude the eyes of the public and the police. Crofts' novels are about first identifying the weak links in those schemes, which allows French to trace the individual steps in the plan, eventually revealing the complete image of the otherwise obscure plan. 

Inspector French and the Box Office Murders is a novel that does not stray from this focal point in Crofts' writing. Right from the start, this novel is basically only looking at the murky scheme involving the box office girls, with the actual murders of the box office girls playing second fiddle (at best), despite featuring in the title of the book! French's investigation is methodical, and the novel shows every single step in the police investigation. Order and method reigns here, as each action of French is a logical answer to whatever discovery or event preceeded it, which in turn is followed by a rational action. French's method is a mirror of the detailed crime scheme: he takes the time to consider each part of the flowchart, and then follows it to the next (or previous) process, taking care to understand why each action is taken by the schemers.

With the members of the gang already identified in the first chapter by Thurza's story, and the deaths of the box office girls basically confirmed as murder, the whole mystery of the book revolves around how the gang's plans involve the theatre box offices. To be honest, this part was rather easy to guess. Perhaps it was harder to guess back when this book was first published, but as soon as you hear the gang tries to involve box office girls, I'd guess that this would be one of the options to first cross your mind. Sure, Inspector French's investigation itself is fairly entertaining to follow, and the gang has laid a few traps here and there to trip French up, but ultimately, the scheme is far less... impressive than you'd hope it'd be. The road to the truth (French's investigation) is alright, but it's not something we haven't seen before in Crofts' work. Indeed, that's what makes this novel a bit underwhelming: Inspector French and the Box Office Murders does little that other Inspector French novels don't do, and what it does, is not bad per se, but certainly not remarakable compared to the other novels.

Inspector French and the Box Office Murders is thus a very typical Inspector French novel. It does everything you'd expect from such a novel, but does little beyond that and if you've read a few other Crofts before, you're sure to feel déjà vu. It does nothing really wrong, but Inspector French and the Box Office Murders is certainly not a work that stands out if compared to other novels in the series.

Go Away Ghost Ship

"It was no disgrace, French thought, for any detective to take a leaf out of Holmes' book."

"The Loss of the Jane Vosper"

Never been that long on a ship, actually, now I think about it. The longest was spending the night on the ferry from Busan back to Fukuoka, but that was actually mostly lying for hours right in front of Fukuoka Harbor as it was still too early to land...

Inspector French series
Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927)
The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
The Loss of the Jane Vosper (1936)
Fatal Venture (1939)
  

The Jane Vosper was a steamer owned by the Southern Ocean Steam Navigation Company and like her captain, the ship was nearing retirement, but still more than capable of performing her job splendidly, like carrying various shipment towards South-America. Of course, mentioning one's retirement is close-by is what we call raising a death flag, so the genre-savvy reader is probably not as surprised as the Jane Vosper's crew by a series of mysterious experiments sinking the steamer to the bottom of the ocean, with luckily no human casualties. As the shipments and the steamer itself were insured by various companies, the financial hit for the primary victims is not huge, but the underwriters themselves find themself in a predicement, as the pay-out is not insignificant for them. An inquest and investigation by the various insurance companies show however that the explosions probably did not occur by accident, which means there was design behind the sinking of the Jane Vosper and its shipments. An insurance detective hired by the Land and Sea Insurance Company is sent to investigate whether their client might've sunk the ship on purpose, but he disappears one day without a trace, and Chief-Inspector French, a personal acquintance of the missing detective, steps in the world of insurance fraud in Freeman Wills Crofts The Loss of the Jane Vosper (1936).

When people think of Crofts and Inspector French, they think of time-tables and alibi tricks, which is of course correct, but there are also few themes as Crofts-like, like the industry. Previous books I've read had introduced me to the financial worries of various young entrepeneurs, but also daring new ventures that tried to make a big buck. Crofts' debut work, The Cask, too opened with a look at the London docks and the various shipping companies. It's this world we see again in The Loss of the Jane Vosper, as we take a good look at the shipping companies again, as well as the insurance companies who have underwritten them. The opening chapter for example is probably the most tenseful text I've read by Crofts until now, as it details the ordeals of the captain of the Jane Vosper and his crew as they are caught off-guard by sudden explosions in the hold and their courageous, but ultimately hopeless efforts in trying to save the ship. Crofts is often accused of being a boring writer, but there's absolutely nothing boring about this opening and it's almost surprising how much happens in this first chapter, as it's definitely not what you'd normally expect from Crofts.

It's only when we are back in London, with the various insurance companies trying to find out whether the sinking was foul play for insurance fraud, that we are shown in detail why Crofts has the reputation of being boring. As much as I've enjoyed previous Crofts I've read, and I like to think myself to have gotten somewhat acquainted with his writing, but man, things move slowly in this book. The first few chapters are dedicated to the insurance detective's investigation into the sinking of the Jane Vosper, but he disappears soon, which paves the way for an entrance by Chief-Inspector French. What follows are chapters that show how incredibly meticulous the police works, but also how incredibly slow things go. French's method is to check things out in detail, so we see him tracing the last-known movements made by the insurance detective, but 90% of the middle part of the book consists of French learning very little new information, only getting confirmation on fact X or statement Y we had learned already. A lot of the book feels simply like its repeating what was said earlier already, and that can feel very tedious.

Of course, this is what Crofts does. But I never experienced it as intrusive in the other novels I read. For one, several of the other Crofts I read are inverted mystery novels. There the narrative follows both the culprit and French, and that results in a very different kind of story: that of the culprit first planning an ingenious detailed plan, who is then slowly cornered by Inspector French's meticulously conducted investigations. In these stories, seeing French chasing every possible lead thoroughly feels as a tool of creating tension, there is dynamic and there is momentum. In The Loss of the Jane Vosper however, a true suspect remains absent throughout most of the novel, so what you get is French investigating a lead, figuring it leads to nothing, moving on to the next lead, rinse and repeat. There is no momentum until the latter quarter of the book, so the path towards the end is very slow for most of the time. This is the first time I truly thought a Crofts was boring to read, and it made me understand the people saying that a lot better.

In a way, the book is built around the investigation of two alibis: Inspector French is trying to find out where the insurance detective went, so that means an investigation into his alibi on the day of his appearance. French does this like he'd do with a suspect, tracing every step the target is known to have taken, timing them, finding witnesses to collaborate the stories. Meanwhile, French is also taking a look at the sinking of the Jane Vosper, as an investigation into that means also an investigation into the footsteps of the disappearing detective. It is assumed explosives were smuggled into the hold of the Jane Vosper to sink them, but it seems impossible for the explosives to suddenly appear among the cargo. So this is a reverse alibi-investigation into an object: how did the object appear at a certain time in a certain place (its alibi), even though there is no trace as to how it could've appeared there. In theory, this structure should've been quite interesting, but again, the lack of any developments until very late in the book makes The Loss of the Jane Vosper less engaging that it should've been.

The truth revealed about the fate of the insurance detective, as well as the mystery of how the Jane Vosper was sunk the bottom of the ocean is, well, not bad. There is an ingenious scheme going on behind this all, and one has to admit, Inspector French was only able to solve this case because he works so incredibly meticulously, because he checks, double-checks and triple-checks every little detail he comes across. The question is: how many readers are still there when he finally unveils the plot?

For those interested in a mystery(-oriented) series about an insurance investigator: the manga Master Keaton is great!

So I find it difficult to be really positive about The Loss of the Jane Vosper. When you turn the final page, you're left with a mystery plot that is certainly what you'd expect from Crofts, with a crafty scheme going on set in an industry background which is described in detail, but the way the story is told is quite slow, and I thought that as someone who has read Crofts for a while now and never found his writing as dreadful as his reputation goes. Dreadful is not the word I'd use for The Loss of the Jane Vosper either, not at all, but I wouldn't pick this book as my first Crofts either.

Dead Weight

僕にしか言えない言葉を今君に届けたい

「君に届け」（Flumpool）

I want to send you the words only I can say to you now

"Reaching You" (Flumpool)

 
'T was in the summer of 2012 that I first read a novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, as Mystery on Southampton Water had been selected as the topic of a book club session. I wasn't the only person at the session to never had read a Crofts before though, so the discussion eventually broadened to Crofts in general, and it didn't take long for Crofts' debut work to be mentioned. The people who had read The Cask (originally published in 1920), were quite reserved about it. While the reception of the plot was, by and large, positive, I distinctly remember several people point out it was tedious to read. Note that we're talking about a Japanese book club here, so the people here were talking specifically about the Japanese translation of the novel, but it appeared it was very old-fashioned, making it less enjoyable that it could've been. I had not read the book, so unfortunately, there was little I could comment on whether this was also true for the original text.

But the idea, the image of The Cask being a tedious to read book did stick with me. I have read some more Crofts in the meantime, both in Japanese and English, and I can definitely say the Japanese text is not always a smooth read (though I think there is a more modern translation available of some works). Still, the idea of "The Cask = Tedious Experience" was very much alive in my mind when I started reading the book, five years after my first encounter with Crofts. The novel starts at an English harbor, where a newly arrived ship is being relieved of its cargo. A small incident leads to damage to a cask, which is supposed to be a shipment of statues from France. Glimpsing through the hole they made in the cask, the workers however find that the thing is packed with gold sovereigns, as well as something that looks a lot like a human hand. The alarm is raised at the shipping company, but by the time management has informed the police about the incident, the recipient of the cask has already made off with his shipment. Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard and the rest of the police force however soon give chase after the disappearing cask in Freeman Wills Crofts The Cask (1920).

Crofts' debut novel does not feature Inspector French, who starred in all the other Crofts I read, but The Cask certainly feels like a genuine Crofts, even at this earliest stage in his career as a mystery author. The introducing chapters of the novel for example are set at a harbor, detailing the work at a shipping company. Businesses are a setting very often utilized in Crofts' work, as seen in for example Murder on Southampton Water and Fatal Venture, where the settings are also two water-related companies. This story however does not stick with this setting, and jumps from setting to setting as the narrative follows the titular cask back to where it came from.

This does lead to one of the elements that can be seen as a source of tediousness. Soon after the harbor setting, we switch over to our main point of view, that of the police in their investigation of the whereabouts of the cask, and things are described rather meticulously here. We'll see a scene, then a report is made to a higher official explaining the scene we just saw, then the inspector talks about the scene we just saw twice already, then we see another party enter the scene who needs more explanation about that same event... Sure, police work is detailed, and one can at least say The Cask is very eager to make sure the reader is not left behind by its story, but it happens more than once that you might feel certain events could've been handled more briefly in the story. Sometimes it feels like we're just circling around the same matter again and again, and this can be a bit vexing.

This extreme focus on a singular point is also basically what this novel is about. The titular cask is without a doubt the most important object in the story, and very detailed enquiries are made about how it made its way to England with a body inside it. The mystery plot, I thought, was quite interesting, as leads to surprising reveals about the route the cask made on its way to the final destination, as well as an alibi deconstruction subplot, something very much associated with Crofts. There's of course a time table made over the course of the story, detailing a seemingly perfect alibi of a potential murderer, and it's up to the police, and readers, to find the weak spot and break it down. The precise method used is a bit shaky, as it relies slightly on faulty memory of third parties, but as an element of a much larger, and very carefullly constructed mystery plot, I thought it was entertaining enough. That said though, the fact the whole book is about the route a cask took can be bit boring for some readers, I can definitely imagine, especially combined with the way the narrative is set-up.

Though I guess that in this respect, it's better than Ayukawa Tetsuya's Kuroi Trunk (1956). Ayukawa was one of the most respected puzzle plot mystery authors, and was very much inspired by Crofts. His debut novel, Kuroi Trunk, was obviously an homage to The Cask, as it too revolves around a meticulous investigation around a recepticle containing a body (a black trunk in this case) and an alibi deconstruction subplot, but while I like the book, it's also even more detailed and tedious than The Cask, as it's packed with time tables, and you're expected to track the movements of persons and objects in units of minutes (over a distance from one side of Japan to the other). Again, I think Kuroi Trunk is a great mystery, but people who have trouble with The Cask will find this one even more a problem.

The Cask in the end was luckily not as awful as I had feared, and I actually quite liked it. Yes, it can be a very slow novel, but I guess I was already used to Crofts' style, and I have read books that do worse on aspect. I wouldn't consider this my favorite Crofts though, and even I think that of the few I have read, The Cask might be the one that that is the least suitable to start with, but this is certainly more than a worthy debut novel for Crofts.

Straight Chaser

Sarge, there's some French gent at the door. 

- No-no-no-no, I am not some French gent. I am some Belgian gent.

"Agatha Christie's Poirot: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook"

Now I think about it, I don't have that many Penguin books actually. Probably not even ten of them. I have a lot more Prisma pockets though, a Dutch series of pocket books similar to Penguins. But that's enough off-topic thoughts for today...

Inspector French series
Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927)
The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
Fatal Venture (1939)

Ruth Averill lost everything in the tragedy that happened in silent Starvel Hollow. In an all-destroying fire, she lost her uncle Simon (her only living relative), the two servants and her home. Even most of the fortune her miser uncle had accumulated over the years, had been lost in the fire, which left Ruth, while not penniless, less fortunate an heir than she should have been. But there might be more behind the tragedy than seems at first sight. A money bill thought to have been burnt to ashes in the fire turns up at a bank and suspicion starts to rise about whether the money had been really lost in the fire, and whether it was just an accident. Inspector French is sent to Starvel and the town of Tirsby to find out if there was foul play in Freeman Wills Crofts' Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927).

So many Crofts in so short a period? Actually, after I read The 12:30 From Croydon, I asked for some more Crofts suggestions and I was recommended Fatal Venture and today's book. Well, I was actually recommended the Japanese version of Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy, because that book contains an afterword by Kitamura Kaoru that is apparently a great overview of Crofts' works, but as the good old Penguin pocket was easier to find...

Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy is the third novel in the series and feels very different from the other (later) Crofts I've read. For one, Inspector French actually appears very early in the story! Whereas in Mystery on Southampton Water, The 12:30 From Croydon and Fatal Venture, the focus was mostly set on some young man caught up in some kind of (legal or illegal) scheme, this time we get to follow French from start to finish in his investigation and it is great. We see how he slowly but surely unravels the truth. And that is maybe all I can say about the book: French slowly unravels the truth. It's a sober investigation and French seldom has real strokes of genius during his work, but he doggedly chases every trail he can find, he checks them out and if it turns out to be a dud, he moves on to the next trail.

Which is of course a style which could end up as the most boring, meandering story ever, but Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy isn't. The developments are structured in a way to keep the reader's attention, the 'false' trails are never completely useless to the investigation and as you proceed in the book, you feel that French is always, even if not with lightning speed, nearing the truth. It is a very neatly plotted story and that might be its biggest merit. The presentation is sober, but one has to admire how Crofts must have meticulously played around with all elements of the story until it all fitted together, not only in terms of fabula, but also as sujet.

And now I think about it, even though the presentation of Crofts' novels is always very modest and subdued, the plot often isn't. I mean, Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy starts with theft, arson, murder and between the first and final pages, French will uncover a lot more sinister and imaginative scheme than you'd associate with the prose it is presented in. As a mystery plot, it is an okay story, though it is a bit disappointing that despite all the doggedness of French, despite all his efforts throughout the book, he still has to rely on something almost as trivial as coincidence to completely solve the case.

With the other three Crofts I've read fairly similar, I quite enjoyed Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy for following a different structure. Plotwise, it also satisfied and it makes me quite curious to see what Crofts did more with French in other novels. So yes, I am quite sure you'll see Crofts' name appear in the future too on this blog.

A Sea of Troubles

波の上漂う海月をみるのが好きで

 いつまでもどこか遠い世界想い馳せるよう

「君という光」 (Garnet Crow)

I like watching the jellyfish floating on the waves

Always as if my mind flies off to some world far away 

"A Light Called You" (Garnet Crow)

Sometimes it's weird switching reading languages halfway through a series. This is actually the first time I read Crofts in English instead of Japanese...

Inspector French series
The 12:30 from Croydon (1934)
Mystery on Southampton Water (1934)
Fatal Venture (1939)

Chance brought travel expert Henry Morrison on board of a scheme hatched by barrister Bristow of a cheap holiday liner that cruises along the British Isles. Bored millionaire Stott in turn was responsible for the necessary financial means and the idea of turning the cruise ship into a casino ship. The cruise ship would go up and down the coast line of the British Isles allowing for one day excursions on the mainland, while at night the ship would move outside the British territorial waters and the gambling rooms would be opened. Fullfilling the wish of the wealthy British well-offs of exploring the hidden attractions of the homeland, as well as providing the thrills of the roulette table, the project becomes an instant success. But not all is well on the floating heaven and one day, Money-Bags Stott is murdered during one of the day excursions on the mainland. But with wronged business partners, vengeful business rivals and inheriting relatives around, it's not easy finding the right man. Fortunately Chief Inspector French and his wife were already on board of the wicked ship and French wouldn't be French if he didn't make quick work of the Stott Slaying Scheme in Freeman Wills Crofts' Fatal Venture (1939).

My third Crofts and the first that isn't an inverted mystery. Yet it follows the same basic pattern seen in the other books I read: we follow the adventures of a young man busy with some kind of business scheme, a murder happens and French appears late in the story to unravel a deadly intrigue (and Fatal Venture does have some elements of the inverted mystery). While I loved Mystery on Southampton Water, I was, while not disappointed, not very impressed with The 12:30 From Croydon. How did Fatal Venture fare?

Not bad, actually, but I am not sure if for the right reasons. Fatal Venture is clearly split into two parts: the first part is about how the business plans between Morrison, Bristow and Stott came to be. I love this part. You see the three coming up with the idea, slowly gathering information to see if it's doable, outwitting rivals and finally setting sail with their seaworthy goldmine. It's thrilling, it has a sense of adventure and.... it has absolutely nothing to do with a mystery. It's a swashbuckling account of three men coming up with a neat business scheme, but that is it. The story moves into the second half with the murder on Stott, but then you realize that the first enterprising half has very little to do with the actual murder mystery. Even if the first hundred or so pages of this book had been compressed in a five page explanation, the mystery plot wouldn't have suffered at all. No crucial hints, no foreshadowing, nothing. Heck, the murder isn't even commited on board of the cruise ship!

The second half features an alibi-cracking mystery with French and while it's an okay plot, I think the trick was much better suited for a neat and clean short story, rather than extending it with almost hundred pages of introduction that weren't really necessary for the trick to work in the first place. And I don't mind short story tricks being extended into longer stories per se, but I expect the plot to be made a bit more complex to compensate for the larger amount of pages in such case: a red herring here, a sub-plotline there, maybe two mysteries.... I don't expect two stories that genre-wise don't really feel connected stuck together. Because that is it. Fatal Venture feels like two stories, only one of them a mystery. And strangely enough, I liked the non-mystery part better.

In the three Crofts' I read, young men in business have all played a large role in the story. This is actually the first time that business actually goes well however, which was a nice change of pace after the depressing "I need money or I'm finished and others will go with me" stories of Mystery on Southampton Water and The 12:30 From Croydon. I also think I know understand why I found The 12:30 From Croydon less entertaining than Mystery on Southampton Water, despite their similarities (see reviews). In Croydon, problems with the business of the protagonist were basically solved with the murder and the inheritance. In Southampton Water, the business problems don't go away after the murder though and it stays a point of fear throughout the novel. So in Southampton Water, you have the dread of both Inspector French hunting the protagonist and the future of the business, while in Croydon, it's actually just the police. Sounds like a small difference, but I thought Southampton Water was a lot more entertaining. The build-up of Fatal Venture might not be related to the actual murder mystery, but the question of whether the scheme is going to succeed is urging the reader to go on, and by the time the anxiety surrounding the business is dispersed and we know it's become a success, we're given something new in the form of Stott's murder.

I had a great time with Fatal Venture, but strangely enough not because of the mystery plot. Is the mystery bad? No, but in the form as it was published, Fatal Venture is basically one business novel and a slightly too long mystery short story. If you want a focused mystery novel and/or don't like reading about business schemes and such, Fatal Venture is definitely not for you. I enjoyed the book, but I can definitely understand if people don't like this one.

Cloudy Skies

「あの、私は今から鹿児島にいくのですけど、どちらに行かれるのですか？」

「一緒だ！　バカかてめえ。　鹿児島行きの便だろ、これ」

 『哀川鳥』 （サンドウィッチマン）

"I'm going to Kagoshima today. Where are you heading?"

"The same place of course! Are you stupid?! This is the plane to Kagoshima!"

"Aikawa Chou" (Sandwichman sketch)

Am I the only person who for a long time, kept confusing Freeman Wills Crofts and R. Austin Freeman? Also, I keep writing Will instead of Wills!

The retired Andrew Crowther's daughter Elsie has been in an accident in Paris, and now the old man, his son-in-law and granddaughter are on their way to France on (Freeman Wills Crofts') The 12.30 From Croydon (1934). When they arrive in France though, they discover that Crowther has not survived the jump over the pond. Flashback some weeks earlier, where we learn about Crowther's nephew Charles Swinburn and the imminent danger his factory is facing because of the Great Depresson. Pleading with his wealthy uncle doesn't help, as Crother thinks Charles isn't doing his best and he should try harder. But trying harder won't help a business that will go belly-up in maybe two weeks, so Charles decides that to save the factory, his employees and the chance to marry his love, Crowther must die, so he can inherit. Charles concocts an intricate plan to poison his uncle, which succeeds, but after the crime other problems pop up he hadn't foreseen, one of which the famous Inspector French.

Two years ago, I read Freeman Wills Crofts' Mystery on Southampton Water and I loved the thrilling inverted adventure. In fact, I loved it so much I bought The 12.30 From Croydon soon after finishing that book (a Japanese translation because I was in Japan at the time). And it took me over two years to read it. Well, it took me three days once I actually got started, but I have read the prologue at least five times the last two years... I should probably just read Crofts in English, instead of an old Japanese translation...

Anyway, so the only other Crofts I've read is Mystery on Southampton Water, which is very similar to The 12.30 From Croydon: they were published in the same year (1934), both are inverted mystery stories starring Inspector French, both are about a man trying to save a business in trouble, both plans initially work, but other unforeseen problems pop up that force the protagonist to take emergency measures..  So I am very tempted to compare the two novels, and in my opinion, The 12.30 From Croydon is the less entertaining one. Not that it is bad, but it I find it less alluring. One of the reasons I liked Mystery on Southampton Water was the tension of the story and the presentation: it starts out as an inverted mystery with spy-thriller theme, jumps to a police procedural part starring Inspector French and turn jumps back to a second inverted mystery plot, and even though the writing style (in the Japanese translation) was very bland and dry, I was still captivated from start till finish.

The 12.30 From Croydon however sticks with Charles for practically all of the story: French appears a few times, but he is only allowed to talk about his investigation in the final two chapters of the novel. Until that part, we just follow Charles in his adventures and even though there are some thrilling events after the murder on Crowther, especially past the 70% mark when everything starts to fall apart, the story misses a kind of tension because the reader doesn't know why everything is going wrong. Suddenly the police is very suspicious of Charles, and neither he nor the reader knows why. It just happens and the reader and Charles just have to sit still and accept it all. Of course, Inspector French does explain how he first came to suspect Charles in the end, but I didn't like the way the story suddenly switched to a very passive role for Charles.

In Mystery on Southampton Water, we saw a lot more of Inspector French's investigations, so we knew why he started to haunt the suspects. It's the same with Columbo: after the murder, the murderer and Columbo usually share screentime and we see how both sides react to each other. Tension is created, because the reader is aware of what is going on at both sides (to an extent), like seeing a chess game. In comparison, The 12.30 From Croydon is like watching a chess game where you only see the white pieces and you're only told what happened and where the opponent's pieces were after you lost the king. Emphasis lies on the criminal's psychology and the thoughts he has as he reacts to each new development, which can be fun, I guess, but I personally prefer the excitement of seeing how both sides react to each other, rather than just one side of a game with an inverted mystery.

The 12.30 From Croydon is an okay inverted mystery, but so many of its elements are featured in the more amusing Mystery on Southampton Water, I am tempted to say you're better of reading that novel than Croydon. If you're more into criminal psychology and so, Croydon might have more to offer than Southampton though.

Troubled Waters

「東京に行きたいんだよ」

「でしたら、１２時３８分発、特急はやぶさ２号に乗ってもらって、一旦に京都で降りてください」

「えっ、一旦降りるの？」

「え。降りたら、すぐに東京行きの東京トンビが来ますけど、それを敢えて見送って、次のマックスはげたかで東京に向かえば、アリバイはばっちりだと思います」

「西村京太郎か？！お前」

 『もどりな窓口』　

"I want to go to Tokyo"

"Well, please first take the special express Hayabusa 2 departing at 12.38 and get off at Kyoto."

"Get off?"

"Yes. Get off there and then the Tokyo-bound Tokyo Tonbi will come, but don't get on that train, but take the Max Hagetaka that comes next to Tokyo. Your alibi will be perfect!"

"Do you think you're Nishimura Kyoutarou?!"

"The Greenish Counter" (Sandwichman Sketch)

Like I said last week, I like spending time in the Mystery Club room as it beats having to cycle back and forth from and to my room. But there is one big drawback of being in the club room. All of my clothes start to smell of katori-senko. Seriously, I've been forced to wash my clothes more often because of the distinct smell that sticks to my clothing. On the other hand, it is probably better than getting stung by mosquitoes...

Mystery on Southampton Water is actually the first Crofts I've read, and consequently the first Inspector French novel I've read. And despite the novel feeling immensely British, I've read it in Japanese. Anyway, the story starts with the people of Joymount Cement Works having severe financial troubles, being slowly pushed out of the market by a new, better and cheaper cement produced by rival company Chayle. King, chief scientist of Joymount, tries to replicate the formula for the new cement, but all of his experiments end up in failure. So as his last resort he decides to break into the Chayle factory to steal the formula. King comes up with a perfect plan to enter Chayle, complete with ablibis and such and together with one of Joymount's directors, Brand, he manages to break into Chayle.

However, they are surprised by a watchman, Clay, and accidently kill him. King quickly comes up with a plan to make the watchman's death seem like an accident and the next day, King and Brand are sure they are free of any suspicion. That is, until chief inspector French enters the scene, who suspects that Clay's death might not have been an accident and starts to sniff around Joymount, but is not able to proof anything. Unlike the directors of Chayle themselves, who have strong suspicions (and possibly even evidence) of King and Brand's guilt and they start to blackmail Joymount. How are King and Brand going to get out of this pinch?

My first Crofts and I thoroughly enjoyed it. But I have severe troubles pointing out what I liked about it precisely. Was it the inverted mystery at the beginning of the story, that detailed King's plans to infiltrate Chayle and the subsequent plans surrounding Clay's death? Was it the police procedural of the second part starring French who finds all kinds of little contradictions that pile up to one big suspicion? Or is the third part, which features the blackmailing of Joymount by the Chayle directors and the fact that a new (non-inverted!) mystery is added to the story? No idea, but I at least know that the story's tension never slacked and that I was entertained from start to finish.

I do think that the different parts I just described make up for a large part of this novel's entertainment. It is not only the inverted mystery and the police procedural parts (and the added 'non-inverted' mystery part), it is also how the atmosphere changes from a (company) spy thriller to a more familiar police investigation, back to a thrilling blackmail scene. While there are actually few events in the story, the way it is written makes it feel like an amazing rollercoaster that keeps surprising you.

And as I am writing this, I still have no idea how to explain better why this was so entertaining. The text is quite dry, there is very little that actually happens, there is certainly a 'echo-ing' effect of plot-elements that might seem redundant as we see both the crime itself and the subsequent police investigation, but still, I can't but be positive about Mystery on Southampton Water. Which is really bothering me, because there is really little I can point to that supports my stance on it. There are no locked rooms here, no challenges to the reader, no logic-chains that point to the one and only murderer, no particularly rememorable settings, nothing cultural-specific, no meta-discussions, no linguistic games, no Greek mythology, no courtroom scenes, no phantom thieves, no writer-detectives, no mitate murders, none of the things I usually point to. So why do I like it? No idea, but Mystery on Southampton Water was definitely a fun introduction to Crofts.

Though I guess I should read Crofts in English. Which would be a lot more easier actually. This reading English fiction in Japanese is getting a bit silly now.