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A review by jlmb
The Cask by Freeman Wills Crofts
3.0
Somehow I managed to get to the year 2020 without having heard of Crofts, even though I have been a big fan of classic mysteries for years and years. At one time, his name was mentioned as a great writer alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers but unlike their lasting popularity, his has faded. Not sure what the accepted reason why is.
I do feel that this novel seems more dated than Christie and Sayers. There also wasn't a compelling lead detective in the book, a la a Poirot or Wimsey. The solving or the mystery had more of an old-school Sherlock Holmes feel to it. Lots of searching the ground for clues, using a magnifying glass. All the vintage crime detection tricks are in here - measuring mysterious footprints, handwriting experts debating if a letter is forged or not, a typewriter with a messed up key so an anonymous letter can be traced by the machine it was typed on, etc. I find it diverting to read, how different it all used to be.
One thing that really struck me was the leisurely pace of the investigation. At one point, after a cop has finished interviewing a suspect, it's decided that the cop will just sleep in the suspect's living room, in an armchair, until morning because...I didn't really grasp the rationale. Another time, a cop comes to interview another suspect who has just gotten home so the cop waits for an hour in the suspect's library, reading a book, while the suspect changes clothes and then eats dinner. "Ok, now I'm ready to be interrogated!" Haha. When the English cop goes to Paris to follow some clues, he makes sure to leave himself plenty of time to try out some new restaurants and go to the Folies Bergere. There is a lot of pointless traveling to check out alibis. I mean, they had phones back then - why didn't they just make some phone calls? Why the constant traveling for a 5 minute discussion with a hotel clerk? Quite the easy pace of living!
I probably won't be rushing out to read another book of his but I am glad I read this so I could form my own opinion of Crofts.
I do feel that this novel seems more dated than Christie and Sayers. There also wasn't a compelling lead detective in the book, a la a Poirot or Wimsey. The solving or the mystery had more of an old-school Sherlock Holmes feel to it. Lots of searching the ground for clues, using a magnifying glass. All the vintage crime detection tricks are in here - measuring mysterious footprints, handwriting experts debating if a letter is forged or not, a typewriter with a messed up key so an anonymous letter can be traced by the machine it was typed on, etc. I find it diverting to read, how different it all used to be.
One thing that really struck me was the leisurely pace of the investigation. At one point, after a cop has finished interviewing a suspect, it's decided that the cop will just sleep in the suspect's living room, in an armchair, until morning because...I didn't really grasp the rationale. Another time, a cop comes to interview another suspect who has just gotten home so the cop waits for an hour in the suspect's library, reading a book, while the suspect changes clothes and then eats dinner. "Ok, now I'm ready to be interrogated!" Haha. When the English cop goes to Paris to follow some clues, he makes sure to leave himself plenty of time to try out some new restaurants and go to the Folies Bergere. There is a lot of pointless traveling to check out alibis. I mean, they had phones back then - why didn't they just make some phone calls? Why the constant traveling for a 5 minute discussion with a hotel clerk? Quite the easy pace of living!
I probably won't be rushing out to read another book of his but I am glad I read this so I could form my own opinion of Crofts.