Freeman Wills Crofts (1879-1957) was born in Dublin, Ireland. He attended Methodist College and Campbell College in Belfast. At the age of 18, he was employed as a pupil on the civil engineering staff of the Belfast Counties Railway. He held various positions in railway engineering, becoming Chief Assistant Engineer at the Railway, then known as the L.M.S. Northern Counties Committee. While there, Crofts wrote his first novel, The Cask (1920), which established him as a new master of detective fiction. Thereafter he wrote several fine mysteries about his favorite detective, Inspector French, including Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924). He also wrote one religious book, The Four Gospels in One Story, several short stories, and short plays for the BBC.
In 1912 he wed Mary Canning, the daughter of J.J. Canning of Coleraine, Northern Ireland. In 1939 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. After a full and successful writing career, he died in 1957.
Select novels
- The Cask (1920)
- The Ponson Case (1921)
- The Pit Prop Syndicate (1922)
- Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924)
- The Sea Mystery (1928)
- The 12.30 from Croydon (1934) (U.S. title: Wilful and Premeditated)
- Man Overboard! (1936)
- Enemy Unseen (1945)
- Death of a Train (1946)
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