Inspector French's Greatest Case

A sacred Indian diamond vanishes from a country house and Sergeant Cuff of Scotland Yard is called in to find it. Often named the first full-length detective novel in English, it is told by a chain of witnesses who each hold part of the truth.

Wilkie Collins

A ruthless financier is found shot on his estate, and the painter and journalist Philip Trent races Inspector Murch of Scotland Yard to explain it. A clever turn on the detective story, with a solution that keeps shifting until the final pages.

E. C. Bentley

A cask unloaded at the London docks holds gold coins and a woman's body. Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard and the Paris police follow shipping records, timetables and alibis in the novel that made Crofts the master of the police procedural.

Freeman Wills Crofts

Sir William Ponson is found drowned near his manor, and every suspect seems to have a perfect alibi. Inspector Tanner of Scotland Yard takes them apart one by one in a classic puzzle of times, trains and footprints.

Freeman Wills Crofts

Two amateurs notice something wrong at a timber business that ships pit props across the Channel. When a murder follows, Inspector Willis of Scotland Yard takes over and turns their hunch into a full smuggling investigation.

Freeman Wills Crofts