When a mutilated body is found beside a railway tunnel in Groote Park the tragedy appears a straightforward case of accidental death, but Middeldorp police Detective-Inspector Vandam senses foul play. Vandam begins an investigation into the dead man, Albert Smith, which takes the case from the wilds of South Africa to mountains and glens of Scotland, where a near-identical crime has been perpetrated... ABOUT THE AUTHOR Freeman Wills Crofts, the 'King of Detective Story Writers', was one of the pre-eminent writers in the ...
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When a mutilated body is found beside a railway tunnel in Groote Park the tragedy appears a straightforward case of accidental death, but Middeldorp police Detective-Inspector Vandam senses foul play. Vandam begins an investigation into the dead man, Albert Smith, which takes the case from the wilds of South Africa to mountains and glens of Scotland, where a near-identical crime has been perpetrated... ABOUT THE AUTHOR Freeman Wills Crofts, the 'King of Detective Story Writers', was one of the pre-eminent writers in the golden age of British crime fiction. Acclaimed by his contemporaries, Agatha Christie and Raymond Chandler, he wrote more than 30 detective novels and was a founder member of the hugely influential DETECTIVE CLUB. Crofts's most famous creation was Scotland Yard detective, Inspector French ('As near the real thing as any sleuth in fiction' THE SUNDAY TIMES). Born in Dublin, Crofts became an engineer and wrote his debut novel, THE CASK: A DETECTIVE STORY ('An imaginatively ingenious mystery' THE EVENING STANDARD) in 1919 during a long absence from work due to illness. He became a full-time writer in 1929 and moved to England with his wife Mary to live in Guildford. He died in 1957. PRAISE FOR FREEMAN WILLS CROFTS 'One of the classics of modern crime fiction' NEW YORK TIMES; 'Exactly what a detective novel should be - ingenious, lucid, reasonable, intricate and exciting' THE DAILY TELEGRAPH; 'The author who goes from strength to strength with every book he writes. The construction is flawless' THE DAILY MAIL; 'Yet another instance of his unfailing ingenuity' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT; 'If there is a better writer of detective stories alive, I would like to know his name' GLASGOW CITIZEN; 'A detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts is always an event' THE DAILY EXPRESS; 'Freeman Wills Crofts' crimes are solved with dogged diligence and attention to detail... they seem to have improved with age.' THE INDEPENDENT; 'Supremely good' YORKSHIRE POST; 'Freeman Wills Crofts is the only author who gives us intricate crime in fiction as it might really be, and not as the irreflective would like it to be' THE OBSERVER; 'Brilliant... will delight all lovers of detective fiction' THE DAILY TELEGRAPH
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Add this copy of The Groote Park Murder to cart. $3.98, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2019 by Independently Published.
Add this copy of The Groote Park Murder to cart. $17.71, good condition, Sold by Seagull Bookshop rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hove, EAST SUSSEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2000 by House of Stratus.
Add this copy of The Groote Park Murder to cart. $23.79, fair condition, Sold by Wonder Book - Member ABAA/ILAB rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Frederick, MD, UNITED STATES.
Add this copy of The Groote Park Murder to cart. $26.91, very good condition, Sold by Reuseabook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester, GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2000 by House of Stratus.
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Seller's Description:
Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. Though second-hand, the book is still in very good shape. Minimal signs of usage may include very minor creasing on the cover or on the spine.
Add this copy of The Groote Park Murder to cart. $37.16, very good condition, Sold by Halcyon Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from LONDON, LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1946 by Penguin Books.
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Very good. First Edition. Penguin Books 1946, first thus. Softcover. Tanning to page margins. Binding firm. Book appears unread. ALL ITEMS ARE SENT BY ROYAL MAIL.
Add this copy of The Groote Park Murder to cart. $40.00, fair condition, Sold by Becker's Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Houston, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1925 by A. L. Burt.
Add this copy of Groote Park Murder to cart. $65.00, new condition, Sold by BookScene rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hull, MA, UNITED STATES, published 2001 by House of Stratus.
In this book, published in 1923 when the author was 44, we are treated, in the first half, to the description of the discovery of a crime in a South African city, and a subsequent investigation and trial, which has inconclusive results. The author's training as a railway engineer gave him good insight in order to describe the opening scenes accurately (one wonders whether he had actually visited similar locations while in South Africa on an engineering field trip?) The location of the second part of the novel switches to Scotland where there are a number of mysteries which our 'hero' has to solve. A romantic element is also present, which plays a key part in the tale. There is a tense 'cliffhanger' chapter in which the hero is rescued from a burning house, and a thrilling surprise denouement - one of my favourite moments in all the thrillers written by this author (and I have read most). There is scarcely a dull chapter; descriptions and characterisations are detailed (but not ponderously so), and the language and style are not dated. It's not a powerhouse page-turner, as are so many American thrillers, nor does it exhibit a huge but pompous vocabulary: it relies for its effect on the gradual revelation of clues and the investigators' attempts to unravel the mystery. It's a "thinking" person's thriller, written before the author introduced us to Joseph French of Scotland Yard. I give it 5 stars, on a par with the author's first thriller "The Cask", which launched his career as one of the top mystery writers of the 20th century.
