9- The first INSPECTOR FRENCH novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, 'the King of Detective Story Writers' and one of the 'Big Four' Golden Age crime authors. - This 2019 Spitfire Publishers edition includes the original tables, which are critical to the plot. - 'As near the real thing as any sleuth in fiction' THE SUNDAY TIMES. - 'The soundest builder [of plots] of them all' RAYMOND CHANDLER. At 10 o'clock on a dreary November night in the back streets of London's Hatton Garden, a dead man is discovered beside an open safe in the offices of a firm of diamond merchants. Inspector Joseph French arrives to investigate - it doesn't take him long to realize that he's up against a master criminal. But, working his way through a snarl of false clues, hidden identities and devious motives, French finds a solution. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Freeman Wills Crofts, the 'King of Detective Story Writers', was one of the pre-eminent writers in the golden age of British crime fiction. Acclaimed by his contemporaries, Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, he wrote more than thirty detective novels and was a founder member of the hugely influential DETECTIVE CLUB. Crofts's most famous creation was Scotland Yard detective, INSPECTOR FRENCH ('As near the real thing as any sleuth in fiction' THE SUNDAY TIMES). Born in Dublin, Crofts became an engineer and wrote his debut novel, THE CASK: A DETECTIVE STORY ('An imaginatively ingenious mystery' THE EVENING STANDARD) in 1919 during a long absence from work due to illness. He became a full-time writer in 1929 and moved to England with his wife Mary to live in Guildford. He died in 1957. PRAISE FOR FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS'S 'INSPECTOR FRENCH' NOVELS: 'As near the real thing as any sleuth in fiction' THE SUNDAY TIMES; 'Exactly what a detective novel should be - ingenious, lucid, reasonable, intricate and exciting' THE DAILY TELEGRAPH; 'With every fresh detective story Mr Freeman Wills Crofts displays new fields of specialist knowledge. Nobody takes more trouble to get every detail absolutely correct. The most workmanlike of sleuths unravels really satisfying puzzles' THE DAILY MAIL; 'Inspector French at his indefatigable best' THE GUARDIAN; 'Another instance of Mr Crofts's unfailing ingenuity' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT; 'Excellent. He constructs his alibi with immense elaboration' DOROTHY L. SAYERS; 'Inspector French... good, sound absorbing Crofts' THE OBSERVER; 'To me Inspector French is the most human sleuth to be found in detective novels' PUNCH 'As pretty a piece of work as Inspector French has done' E.C. BENTLEY.