The Ponson Case by Freeman Wills CroftsMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
I remarked to my wife about this one that it doesn't matter if the inspector in a Freeman Wills Crofts novel isn't Inspector French, because he'll be functionally indistinguishable from him anyway. The author reserves personality for his suspects and victims, supplying none to his detectives. They're all efficient, dogged men who work patiently through the tedious investigative work that lets them unravel complicated and imaginative crimes.
The suspects are generally interesting, though, at least in spots. The deceased and his wife and daughter are lightly sketched, and have little role except as backstory, but his son, his nephew, the son's fiancée (a determined, intelligent woman who gets respect and approval from the police inspector), and another character who it would be a spoiler to describe have had more time spent on them, and come through as individuals.
There are elaborate and clever alibis, a tense chase leading eventually to Portugal, and a couple of unexpected twists, one of which I saw coming from a little distance off, but the other of which I definitely did not. While the resolution stretched my suspension of disbelief a little ((view spoiler)), it was emotionally satisfying.
These are enjoyable mystery stories in which the cleverness of the crime, and its gradual revelation through careful police work, are the biggest draws, but there's an awareness too of how the events affect the characters emotionally, and how their relationships impact events. There's also always admiration of the landscape through which the inspector travels, both in England and often, as here, on the Continent, and I have to wonder whether this was Freeman Wills Crofts' way of making his holidays tax deductible, as well as a reflection of his genuine enjoyment of travel and scenery. And we usually get a tense chase, fight, or other action sequence thrown in as well. The character work may be patchy, and the detectives interchangeable, but these are still well written stories in other respects.
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