When a deadly fire swept through Starvel House, in the English village of Thirsby, it burned the entire place to the ground, apparently trapping three of its residents inside the house. The master of Starvel House, an elderly man named Simon Averill, was killed, along with two other people in the house. It was thought to be a terrible accident. But then Inspector French was sent in by Scotland Yard. And French quickly confirmed suspicions that the fire was no accident - but a triple murder. Details will be found in Inspector French and the Starvel Hollow Tragedy, a 1927 mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts. It's the subject of my audio review this week on the Classic Mysteries podcast. You can listen to the entire review by clicking here.
Freeman Wills Crofts, widely respected during his lifetime as one of the best and most popular authors of England's Golden Age of Detection, has been maligned over the years since his death as a “humdrum” writer. I think that’s a most unfair description of a man whose plots – especially some of the ones featuring Inspector French – are well-thought out puzzles. French’s first appearance was in Crofts’s fifth book, Inspector French’s Greatest Case, and he appeared in many of the author’s best books thereafter. Inspector French and the Starvel Hollow Tragedy was among the earliest of these. It remains a mystery which I think you would enjoy very much.
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