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Inspector French #22
Inspector French: A Losing Game
A classic crime novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’, featuring Inspector French, coming soon to television. Moneylender Albert Reeve has added blackmail to his activities. When his cottage burns down and he perishes within the flames, his death comes as a shock to one of his victims and Tony Meadows finds himself accused of murder. Luckily for him, his sister remembers Inspector French and asks him to help. French fears a miscarriage of justice and agrees to commence one of his most challenging investigations.
- GenresMystery
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1941
6 people are currently reading
63 people want to read
About the author
Freeman Wills Crofts
137 books89 followersBorn in Dublin of English stock, Freeman Wills Crofts was educated at Methodist and Campbell Colleges in Belfast and at age 17 he became a civil engineering pupil, apprenticed to his uncle, Berkeley D Wise who was the chief engineer of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR).
In 1899 he became a fully fledged railway engineer before becoming a district engineer and then chief assistant engineer for the BNCR.
He married in 1912, Mary Bellas Canning, a bank manager's daughter. His writing career began when he was recovering from a serious illness and his efforts were rewarded when his first novel 'The Cask' was accepted for publication by a London publishing house. Within two decades the book had sold 100,000 copies. Thereafter he continued to write in his spare time and produced a book a year through to 1929 when he was obliged to stop working through poor health.
When he and his wife moved to Guildford, England, he took up writing full time and not surprisingly many of his plots revolved around travel and transport, particularly transport timetables and many of them had a Guildford setting.
In retirement from engineering, as well as writing, he also pursued his other interests, music, in which he was an organist and conductor, gardening, carpentry and travel.
He wrote a mystery novel almost every year until his death and in addition he produced about 50 short stories, 30 radio plays for the BBC, a number of true crime works, a play, 'Sudden Death', a juvenile mystery, 'Young Robin Brand, Detective', and a religious work, 'The Four Gospels in One Story'.
His best known character is Inspector Joseph French, who featured in 30 detective novels between 1924 and 1957. And Raymond Chandler praised his plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all".
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
In 1899 he became a fully fledged railway engineer before becoming a district engineer and then chief assistant engineer for the BNCR.
He married in 1912, Mary Bellas Canning, a bank manager's daughter. His writing career began when he was recovering from a serious illness and his efforts were rewarded when his first novel 'The Cask' was accepted for publication by a London publishing house. Within two decades the book had sold 100,000 copies. Thereafter he continued to write in his spare time and produced a book a year through to 1929 when he was obliged to stop working through poor health.
When he and his wife moved to Guildford, England, he took up writing full time and not surprisingly many of his plots revolved around travel and transport, particularly transport timetables and many of them had a Guildford setting.
In retirement from engineering, as well as writing, he also pursued his other interests, music, in which he was an organist and conductor, gardening, carpentry and travel.
He wrote a mystery novel almost every year until his death and in addition he produced about 50 short stories, 30 radio plays for the BBC, a number of true crime works, a play, 'Sudden Death', a juvenile mystery, 'Young Robin Brand, Detective', and a religious work, 'The Four Gospels in One Story'.
His best known character is Inspector Joseph French, who featured in 30 detective novels between 1924 and 1957. And Raymond Chandler praised his plots, calling him "the soundest builder of them all".
Gerry Wolstenholme
May 2010
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
September 27, 2024
Enjoyed this. The inspector didn't appear until halfway through and then I felt like I guessed the murderer sooner than I should have ...
December 16, 2022
Freeman Wills Crofts draws a pretty picture of the unpreposessing character of Arthur Reeve, moneylender, blackmailer and murder victim in this 1941 outing for the redoubtable Inspector French.
Fortunately for the man accused of murder, he and his family encountered and suitably impressed French during the cruise featured in "Fatal Venture" and the investigation is eventually put into the hands of Scotland Yard.
French sifts the existing police case and, not unexpectedly, finds a few fertile leads to follow which ultimately give him the correct solution. Much of his motivation for pursuing the case comes from the guilt he feels about his actions in the excellent "James Tarrant, Adventurer",
This 22nd entry in the series is not as good as its immediate predecessor, but still holds plenty of interest, including a suspect who is a writer of crime novels.
Fortunately for the man accused of murder, he and his family encountered and suitably impressed French during the cruise featured in "Fatal Venture" and the investigation is eventually put into the hands of Scotland Yard.
French sifts the existing police case and, not unexpectedly, finds a few fertile leads to follow which ultimately give him the correct solution. Much of his motivation for pursuing the case comes from the guilt he feels about his actions in the excellent "James Tarrant, Adventurer",
This 22nd entry in the series is not as good as its immediate predecessor, but still holds plenty of interest, including a suspect who is a writer of crime novels.
February 13, 2017
In A Losing Game (1941) by Freeman Wills Crofts the game is blackmail and the stakes are high. Albert Reeve has been running a lucrative blackmail business to supplement his already somewhat shady income from money-lending. But there comes a day when he pushes the pawns on his game board just a little too hard a little too often and one of his victims change the rules to fit the game of murder with Reeve as the loser.
There is a card catalog in his expensive safe with 39 suspects--those in debt to him and those whom he had been blackmailing. But the local police focus their interest on Tony Meadowes, a detective novelist whose penchant for complicated fictional murder methods make them wonder if he's finally tried out the real thing. Because somebody killed Reeve, then set up the murder scene to make it appear that he tumbled down the stairs with a lit candle and then set his house on fire. The fire, which was set up on a time delay, was meant to give the murderer an alibi and to cover up the fact that he was dead long before the blaze ever started. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out as planned.
When Tony admits to the police that he was actually at the cottage near the time Reeve was believed to be killed, things look very black indeed and he believes that for once British justice will let him down and an innocent man will be hanged. Fortunately for Tony, his girlfriend believes him to be innocent and is determined to prove it. She met Inspector French while on holiday and decides to ask him for unofficial advice--after all the murder isn't his case and, being part of Scotland Yard, he can't interfere unless the local officials request help. He manages, through a previous acquaintance with one of the local men, to get his toe in the door...which is all the clever Scotland Yard man needs. It isn't long until he's hot on the trail of an iron-clad alibi that's just begging to be broken and he's just the man to do it.
Now, I realize full well that I just got done complaining that Dr. Thorndyke didn't show up until late in the story in my previous read. And that this fact detracted from my enjoyment. So, why, you may ask, am I rating this story more highly when Inspector French isn't part of the proceedings until about half-way through? Well, Crofts does a much better job using the first half of the book acquainting the reader with Reeves--building up what a thoroughly nasty fellow he is (we certainly don't mind too much when he does get knocked off)--and introducing us to all the potential suspects. Unlike the Thorndyke novel, I didn't feel like the time was wasted. And, honestly, this is just a much more interesting mystery. Despite the fact that Reeves is a despicable blackmailer, we wind up despising his murderer just as much when we realize that s/he nearly let an innocent man pay the penalty for their crime.
One blatant error, which Curtis Evans points out as well in his Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery, is having Reeves send a blackmailing note to one of his victims where he signs his name and gives his address! The victim could have trotted right along to the police with that little gem. This is a particular problem because Crofts stresses earlier in story that Reeves was very careful in his blackmail dealings. Other than that, the story is highly entertaining and it was great fun watching French manage to insinuate himself into the investigation without stepping on any of his colleague's toes. ★★★ and a half (rounded up here)
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
There is a card catalog in his expensive safe with 39 suspects--those in debt to him and those whom he had been blackmailing. But the local police focus their interest on Tony Meadowes, a detective novelist whose penchant for complicated fictional murder methods make them wonder if he's finally tried out the real thing. Because somebody killed Reeve, then set up the murder scene to make it appear that he tumbled down the stairs with a lit candle and then set his house on fire. The fire, which was set up on a time delay, was meant to give the murderer an alibi and to cover up the fact that he was dead long before the blaze ever started. Unfortunately, it didn't quite work out as planned.
When Tony admits to the police that he was actually at the cottage near the time Reeve was believed to be killed, things look very black indeed and he believes that for once British justice will let him down and an innocent man will be hanged. Fortunately for Tony, his girlfriend believes him to be innocent and is determined to prove it. She met Inspector French while on holiday and decides to ask him for unofficial advice--after all the murder isn't his case and, being part of Scotland Yard, he can't interfere unless the local officials request help. He manages, through a previous acquaintance with one of the local men, to get his toe in the door...which is all the clever Scotland Yard man needs. It isn't long until he's hot on the trail of an iron-clad alibi that's just begging to be broken and he's just the man to do it.
Now, I realize full well that I just got done complaining that Dr. Thorndyke didn't show up until late in the story in my previous read. And that this fact detracted from my enjoyment. So, why, you may ask, am I rating this story more highly when Inspector French isn't part of the proceedings until about half-way through? Well, Crofts does a much better job using the first half of the book acquainting the reader with Reeves--building up what a thoroughly nasty fellow he is (we certainly don't mind too much when he does get knocked off)--and introducing us to all the potential suspects. Unlike the Thorndyke novel, I didn't feel like the time was wasted. And, honestly, this is just a much more interesting mystery. Despite the fact that Reeves is a despicable blackmailer, we wind up despising his murderer just as much when we realize that s/he nearly let an innocent man pay the penalty for their crime.
One blatant error, which Curtis Evans points out as well in his Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery, is having Reeves send a blackmailing note to one of his victims where he signs his name and gives his address! The victim could have trotted right along to the police with that little gem. This is a particular problem because Crofts stresses earlier in story that Reeves was very careful in his blackmail dealings. Other than that, the story is highly entertaining and it was great fun watching French manage to insinuate himself into the investigation without stepping on any of his colleague's toes. ★★★ and a half (rounded up here)
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
October 5, 2016
Inspector French doesn't even appear until about halfway through this tale of the death of a money-lender and blackmailer. Young Tony Meadowes had fallen into debt to the money-lender, and becomes the main suspect in the murder. Fortunately, his sister remembers meeting Inspector and Mrs. French on a cruise, and appeals for help. Poor Inspector French! He can't nose into another jurisdiction's case, yet he agrees that Tony is a most unlikely murderer. An amusing take on pre-war England.
April 14, 2016
A good basic mystery.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews