Golden Ashes

Rating:
Summary: One of Crofts' best "time table" mysteries.
Review: Freeman Wills Crofts was an Irish railway engineer. His entrance into the Golden Age of Detective Fiction occurred in 1920, concurrently with Agatha Christie's. Much as they admired each other's work, they provided different types of mystery fiction. Don't expect the cosy country house murder, the family feuds, the focus on personal relationships in "Golden Ashes". Expect instead an engineer's approach to creating and solving mysteries. The mystery to be solved is not usually the identity of a murderer. The mystery instead might be a clever fraud, an ingenious smuggling racket, or a blackmail scheme. In "Golden Ashes" an insurance fraud is suspected and investigated. Crofts' sleuth is a Scotland Yard man, Inspector French. For most of the book we follow French with his dogged, "leave no stone unturned" investigation. Every possible witness is questioned. In the 1940s, there were of course plenty of servants, railway staff, and lift operators to swell the ranks of possible witnesses. Every suspect is watched. Every route is measured. Every alibi is timed and tested. Strangely enough, this apparently boring and unimaginative approach makes fascinating reading. Crofts perfected to so-called "time-table" mystery, and "Golden Ashes" displays this genre admirably. Over the years I have read and re-read all Crofts' mysteries. "Golden Ashes" is as good as any of them. If you might enjoy what used to be called "a good yarn", well crafted and immensely readable, then I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: One of Crofts' best "time table" mysteries.
Review: Freeman Wills Crofts was an Irish railway engineer. His entrance into the Golden Age of Detective Fiction occurred in 1920, concurrently with Agatha Christie's. Much as they admired each other's work, they provided different types of mystery fiction. Don't expect the cosy country house murder, the family feuds, the focus on personal relationships in "Golden Ashes". Expect instead an engineer's approach to creating and solving mysteries. The mystery to be solved is not usually the identity of a murderer. The mystery instead might be a clever fraud, an ingenious smuggling racket, or a blackmail scheme. In "Golden Ashes" an insurance fraud is suspected and investigated. Crofts' sleuth is a Scotland Yard man, Inspector French. For most of the book we follow French with his dogged, "leave no stone unturned" investigation. Every possible witness is questioned. In the 1940s, there were of course plenty of servants, railway staff, and lift operators to swell the ranks of possible witnesses. Every suspect is watched. Every route is measured. Every alibi is timed and tested. Strangely enough, this apparently boring and unimaginative approach makes fascinating reading. Crofts perfected to so-called "time-table" mystery, and "Golden Ashes" displays this genre admirably. Over the years I have read and re-read all Crofts' mysteries. "Golden Ashes" is as good as any of them. If you might enjoy what used to be called "a good yarn", well crafted and immensely readable, then I recommend it.