Sudden Death

Rating:
Summary: A classic locked room mystery.
Review: Readers of old-fashioned, can't put it down detective yarns can be grateful to British publishers, The House of Stratus, for republishing in a uniform edition of 35 volumes the complete detection novels and short stories of Freeman Wills Crofts. Crofts was one of the supreme masters of plot construction in this genre. Raymond Chandler praised Crofts' plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all". Crofts began his literary career with his masterpiece "The Cask" in 1920. He produced, on average, one book a year during the rest of his life. "Sudden Death" was his 1932 production. If the detective fiction genre can de divided into categories, then this book belongs to the "locked room" category. Two deaths occur in locked rooms in the same house. Each is assumed to be suicide but Inspector French discovers them to be murders.

Ingenious as is the plotting and planning, I must say that (a rare occurrence for me) I was easily able to guess the identity of the murderer long before arriving at the final chapter. The reading and the guessing was pure pleasure throughout, of course, and I guarantee they will be for you too.

Rating:
Summary: A classic locked room mystery.
Review: Readers of old-fashioned, can't put it down detective yarns can be grateful to British publishers, The House of Stratus, for republishing in a uniform edition of 35 volumes the complete detection novels and short stories of Freeman Wills Crofts. Crofts was one of the supreme masters of plot construction in this genre. Raymond Chandler praised Crofts' plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all". Crofts began his literary career with his masterpiece "The Cask" in 1920. He produced, on average, one book a year during the rest of his life. "Sudden Death" was his 1932 production. If the detective fiction genre can de divided into categories, then this book belongs to the "locked room" category. Two deaths occur in locked rooms in the same house. Each is assumed to be suicide but Inspector French discovers them to be murders.

Ingenious as is the plotting and planning, I must say that (a rare occurrence for me) I was easily able to guess the identity of the murderer long before arriving at the final chapter. The reading and the guessing was pure pleasure throughout, of course, and I guarantee they will be for you too.