The Cask by Freeman Wills CroftsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is the first novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, and it has both similarities to and differences from his later works. The main thing that's the same is that the criminal is highly intelligent and capable and comes up with a complicated plot that initially baffles the investigators, but, by dogged perseverance, they eventually solve it. The main difference is a spoiler: (view spoiler)
The appeal in this author's books is the puzzle or mystery, rather than the characters and their interactions, and the systematic approach to solving the mystery can become tedious at times. Also, in this case at least, there are multiple people who are involved in the solution, so there isn't a single protagonist that we follow all the way through. Among the careful checking of alibis and interviewing carters, porters, and other witnesses are a couple of action scenes, but mostly it's very procedural.
There's a scene, too, where a couple of things don't make sense. The detective is interviewing an informant, a typist who has been laid off, and observes that her good dress shows that her loss of employment hasn't placed her in want. However, she only lost her job a few weeks before, and presumably bought the dress while still employed, so it doesn't show anything of the kind. Also, when asked if she can prove that she worked for a particular firm for two years, she says she can't, but later in the same scene hands over a reference letter which proves exactly that. It has the feel of a scene that was added late and not properly revised or thought through, though of course I have no way of verifying that guess.
Otherwise, though, it's a meticulously crafted puzzle with some twists and turns, and an intriguing mystery. Not as good as this author's books later became, which is to be expected from a first novel, but I can see why it was popular enough that he kept writing.
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