Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery

Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery
Freeman Wills Crofts

From the Collins Crime Club archive, the second Inspector French novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, once dubbed ‘The King of Detective Story Writers’.THE RETURN OF INSPECTOR FRENCHWhen young Maxwell Cheyne discovers that a series of mishaps are the result of unwelcome attention from a dangerous gang of criminals, he teams up with a young woman who is determined to help him outwit them. But when she disappears, he finally decides to go to Scotland Yard for help. Concerned by the developing situation, Inspector Joseph French takes charge of the investigation and applies his trademark methods to track down the kidnappers and thwart their intentions . . .

Copyright (#ulink_daac3124-fe27-584c-8cc4-6fcf5a4f7c44)

Published by COLLINS CRIME CLUB

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)

First published in Great Britain by Wm Collins Sons & Co. Ltd 1926

Copyright © Estate of Freeman Wills Crofts 1926

Cover design by Mike Topping © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2016

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008190613

Ebook Edition © November 2016 ISBN: 9780008190620

Version: 2016-10-14

Contents

Cover (#u5f1f4423-6700-57da-9235-a4e6619651b8)

Title Page (#u7d8a4501-f726-5122-83c9-2bc82d36845f)

Copyright (#u86528771-5bf2-5dbd-858e-f99507e238ce)

1. The Episode in the Plymouth Hotel (#u235c00f7-2c53-5cde-b684-9caf8cbc05a4)

2. Burglary! (#u4ec364a9-2df2-58e9-8f37-d057ffa094d8)

3. The Launch ‘Enid’ (#ua1bade3c-c112-5b69-9107-5816ddf7fd1a)

4. Concerning A Peerage (#u10a48f2c-0755-5407-b84e-9e7635288aa8)

5. An Amateur Sleuth (#u76dd2b6d-3354-51f1-8578-72db22833475)

6. The House in Hopefield Avenue (#litres_trial_promo)

7. Miss Joan Merrill (#litres_trial_promo)

8. A Council of War (#litres_trial_promo)

9. Mr Speedwell Plays his Hand (#litres_trial_promo)

10. The New Firm Gets Busy (#litres_trial_promo)

11. Otto Schulz’s Secret (#litres_trial_promo)

12. In the Enemy’s Lair (#litres_trial_promo)

13. Inspector French Takes Charge (#litres_trial_promo)

14. The Clue of the Clay-Marked Shoe (#litres_trial_promo)

15. The Torn Hotel Bill (#litres_trial_promo)

16. A Tale of Two Cities (#litres_trial_promo)

17. On the Flood Tide (#litres_trial_promo)

18. A Visitor from India (#litres_trial_promo)

19. The Message of the Tracing (#litres_trial_promo)

20. The Goal of the ‘L’Escaut’ (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Also in this Series (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

1 (#ulink_60fa3eea-9fe9-5db3-9df3-4b2d1a7ec0ae)

The Episode in the Plymouth Hotel (#ulink_60fa3eea-9fe9-5db3-9df3-4b2d1a7ec0ae)

When the White Rabbit in Alice asked where he should begin to read the verses at the Knave’s trial the King replied: ‘Begin at the beginning; go on till you come to the end; then stop.’

This would seem to be the last word on the subject of narration in general. For the novelist no dictum more entirely complete and satisfactory can be imagined—in theory. But in practice it is hard to live up to.

Where is the beginning of a story? Where is the beginning of anything? No one knows.

When I set myself to consider the actual beginning of Maxwell Cheyne’s Adventure, I saw at once I should have to go back to Noah. Indeed I was not at all sure whether the thing could be adequately explained unless I carried back the narrative to Adam, or even further. For Cheyne’s adventure hinged not only on his own character and environment, brought about by goodness knows how many thousands of generations of ancestors, but also upon the contemporaneous history of the world, crystallised in the happening of, the Great War and all that appertained thereto.