The Hog's Back Mystery

June 1, 2015
Here is another entry in the British Library series of out-of-print masterpieces from the golden age of British crime fiction in the 1920s and '30s. Crofts wrote more than 30 mysteries, many of them starring his cerebral Detective-Inspector French, of New Scotland Yard. This is a reissue of a novel first published in 1933. The setting is the variegated landscape of the North Downs, in Surrey. A house party has gathered at the home of Dr. Earle, retired, and his wife, Julia. It quickly becomes clear that neither husband nor wife can bear each other's company. During the house party, made up of old school chums of Julia's, Dr. Earle, last seen reading a paper and wearing slippers downstairs, disappears within a 10-minute period. Inspector French is called to determine what happened. Did Earle vanish voluntarily? Was he kidnapped? Was he murdered? The focus here is on Inspector French's painstaking methods, especially on the amazing things he can decipher from tiny scraps of evidence (like a portion of a parking ticket) and careful comparisons of statements. Utterly absorbing traditional mystery fare.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)