title: Inspector French And The Starvel Tragedy
author:  Freeman Wills Crofts 
description: Freeman Wills Crofts was born in Dublin in 1879 and died in 1957. He worked for a Northern Irish railway company as an engineer until 1929, before turning to detective fiction His plots reveal his mathematical training and he specialised in the seemingly unbreakable alibi, laying layer upon layer within his stories. He loved ships and trains and the intricacies of transport timetables feature in many of his stories. Crofts best-known character is Inspector Joseph French. French appears for the first time in Inspector Frenchs Greatest Case. He is a detective who achieves his results through dogged persistence.
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  ![Cover image: Inspector French: Death on the Way by Freeman Wills
  Crofts](../images/cover.png)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # Contents
  
  
  * [Cover](cover.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Title Page](title.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Copyright](copyright.xhtml)
  
  
  * [Contents](contents.xhtml)
  
  
  * [1\. Prelude to Tragedy](chapter001.xhtml)
  
  
  * [2\. Tragedy](chapter002.xhtml)
  
  
  * [3\. Inquest](chapter003.xhtml)
  
  
  * [4\. Enter Inspector French](chapter004.xhtml)
  
  
  * [5\. Concerning a Bicycle](chapter005.xhtml)
  
  
  * [6\. Progress](chapter006.xhtml)
  
  
  * [7\. The Day's Work](chapter007.xhtml)
  
  
  * [8\. Tragedy Again](chapter008.xhtml)
  
  
  * [9\. Inquest Again](chapter009.xhtml)
  
  
  * [10\. The Torn Print](chapter010.xhtml)
  
  
  * [11\. Fraud!](chapter011.xhtml)
  
  
  * [12\. French on the Fraud](chapter012.xhtml)
  
  
  * [13\. The Drawn Blinds](chapter013.xhtml)
  
  
  * [14\. The Payment in Notes](chapter014.xhtml)
  
  
  * [15\. Elimination](chapter015.xhtml)
  
  
  * [16\. Light at Last](chapter016.xhtml)
  
  
  * [17\. Brenda Takes a Hand](chapter017.xhtml)
  
  
  * [18\. Bre