Silence for the Murderer

Last updated

Silence for the Murderer
Silence for the Murderer.jpg
First Edition (UK)
Author Freeman Wills Crofts
Country United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Inspector French
GenreDetective
Publisher Hodder and Stoughton (UK)
Dodd Mead (US)
Publication date
1949
Media typePrint
Preceded by Death of a Train  
Followed by French Strikes Oil  

Silence for the Murderer is a 1949 detective novel by the writer Freeman Wills Crofts. [1] It is the twenty-seventh entry in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his methodical technique. [2] The book attempt to create more complex characterisation than was usual in the series. [3]

Contents

Synopsis

After leaving the army the raffish Frank Roscoe manages to secure employment in the household of a wealthy invalid. Seeing a chance for a scam he enlists the help of Dulcie Heath to assist him. Dulcie has been waiting for Frank to marry her when he returns from the army. However, her suspicions are raised when his employer dies and she suspects Frank of planning to marry his daughter for the inerhitance.

Related Research Articles

<i>Sudden Death</i> (novel) 1932 novel

Sudden Death is a 1932 detective novel by the Irish writer Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the eighth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a prominent figure of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

<i>The Sea Mystery</i> 1928 novel

The Sea Mystery is a 1928 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the fourth in a series of novels featuring Inspector French of Scotland Yard. As with a number of his works Crofts creates a puzzling mystery which French is then able to solve using a Tide table and Bradshaw's Guide to the railways. The plot has some similarities with his debut novel The Cask (1920).

<i>The Cask</i> 1920 novel

The Cask is a 1920 detective novel by the Irish-born writer Freeman Wills Crofts. His debut novel, it is considered his masterpiece. Long after the author's reputation had declined, this book was still hailed by critics as a cornerstone of the genre Crofts had been working as a railway engineer before writing the novel, but its success launched him as one of the leading writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. He later went on to create the character of Inspector French of Scotland Yard who appeared in a long-running series of novels.

<i>Enemy Unseen</i> (Crofts novel) 1945 novel

Enemy Unseen is a 1945 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the twenty fifth in his series of novels featuring Chief Inspector French, a prominent figure of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. A review by Anthony Boucher in the San Francisco Chronicle noted it was "For the patient only, but for them a rewarding treasure."

<i>The Affair at Little Wokeham</i> 1943 novel

The Affair at Little Wokeham is a 1943 detective novel by the Irish writer Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the twenty-fourth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a prominent figure of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. It was published in the United States under the alternative title of Double Tragedy.

<i>Fear Comes to Chalfont</i> 1942 novel

Fear Comes to Chalfont is a 1942 detective novel by the Irish writer Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the twenty-third in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a prominent figure of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. Like much of the author's work it combines a traditional mystery with a police procedural.

<i>Antidote to Venom</i> 1938 novel

Antidote to Venom is a 1938 detective novel by the Irish-born novelist Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the eighteenth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective known for his methodical technique. It was reissued in 2015 by the British Library Publishing as part of a group of crime novels from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

<i>The End of Andrew Harrison</i> 1938 novel

The End of Andrew Harrison is a 1938 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the seventeenth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his methodical technique. The title character closely resembles Sigsbee Manderson, the murder victim of E.C. Bentley's celebrated 1913 novel Trent's Last Case.

<i>The Loss of the Jane Vosper</i> 1936 novel

The Loss of the Jane Vosper is a 1936 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the fourteenth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his thorough technique. It particularly dwells on the process of police procedure.

<i>Found Floating</i> 1937 novel

Found Floating is a 1937 detective novel by the Irish writer Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the sixteenth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his methodical technique.

<i>Inspector Frenchs Greatest Case</i> 1924 novel

Inspector French's Greatest Case is a 1924 mystery detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a Scotland Yard detective of the Golden Age known for his methodical technique. Like much of the following series the plot mixes the traditional form of the puzzle mystery with that of a police procedural. French has to carefully study railway and shipping timetables and crack a cipher in order to solve his case.

<i>Golden Ashes</i> (novel) 1940 novel

Golden Ashes is a 1940 detective novel by the Irish writer Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the twentieth in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a prominent investigator of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction.

<i>The Corpse in the Car</i> 1935 novel

The Corpse in the Car is a 1935 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twentieth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. A review by Ralph Partridge in the New Statesman commented "Mr. Rhode has written a humdrum, workaday book in The Corpse in the Car. He belongs to the English school of Freeman Wills Crofts, with which it is impossible to find technical fault." In The Spectator Rupert Hart-Davis considered that "The Corpse in the Car is greatly inferior to his last book, Shot at Dawn."

<i>The Paper Bag</i> 1948 novel

The Paper Bag is a 1948 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty sixth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America by Dodd Mead under the alternative title The Links in the Chain.

<i>The Two Graphs</i> 1950 novel

The Two Graphs is a 1950 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the fiftieth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America by Dodd Mead under the alternative title Double Identities. Writing in The Observer Maurice Richardson noted a "slight slackening of tension towards the finish but an excellent specimen of Rhode’s later period."

<i>The Telephone Call</i> (novel) 1948 novel

The Telephone Call is a 1948 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty seventh in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America by Dodd Mead under the alternative title Shadow of an Alibi. It is based on the real-life Wallace Case of 1931 in which William Herbert Wallace was convicted of murdering his wife Julia, a conviction which was later overturned on appeal.

<i>Blackthorn House</i> 1949 novel

Blackthorn House is a 1949 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty eighth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.

<i>Death Invades the Meeting</i> 1944 novel

Death Invades the Meeting is a 1944 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty ninth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Reviewing the novel for the Times Literary Supplement Maurice Willson Disher noted "His ingenuity is becoming as delicate to handle as high explosive. His stories may become so difficult to review without saying too much that his triumph will come when they cannot, for discretion’s sake, be reviewed at all."

<i>Anything to Declare?</i> (novel) 1957 novel

Anything to Declare? is a 1957 detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts. It is the twenty ninth and final entry in his series of novels featuring Inspector French, a prominent figure of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The author had been in poor health for much of the decade, and struggled to finish this book which was published a few weeks before his death.

<i>Death on the Boat Train</i> 1940 novel

Death on the Boat Train is a 1940 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty second in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. As in most of the later novels much of the detective footwork is done by Inspector Waghorn of Scotland Yard. The construction of the murder setting bears similarities to Death in the Tunnel, written by Street under his other pen name Miles Burton. With is focus on seemingly unbreakable alibis and railway and ship timetables, it is also similar in style to the Inspector French novels of Freeman Wills Crofts.

References

  1. Reilly p.396
  2. Evans p.185
  3. Reilly p.398

Bibliography