I’ve been a fan of the British Library Crime Classics series for many years, whose purpose is to bring to modern readers long-forgotten classics or overlooked gems from the golden age of crime, generally thought to have been between the wars (although there are titles in the series from earlier and much later in time). This is a highly recommended collection of books, for those looking for something from a more sedate, bygone age of writing.

The 12.30 From Croydon by Freeman Wills Crofts is an inverted murder. That is to say that it’s quite the opposite to a ‘whodunnit’, which is the standard fare of these kind of novels. In an inverted murder we know right from the start who the killer is, as often the story is told from the murderer’s point of view. The plot usually involves a degree of suspense, of a cat and mouse aspect to the investigation, and generally there is an element of psychology woven into the story. These are all fine qualities in crime fiction, and it often acts as a refreshing change to the more intricately-plotted yet bafflingly complex narratives of the whodunnit.

This particular novel details the financial troubles and romantic yearnings of Charles Swinburn, who one day decides that the answer to his problems is to murder a member of his family, in order to inherit a sum of money which will give him a future more hopeful than the bleak one it promises to be. We follow his plotting and the intricacies of how he commits the murder, and then see things very much from his viewpoint as the police investigation takes over and he comes under the scrutiny of Inspector French.

There is a great deal of suspense created by the format of the novel, and the pacing is well formed. There are a few twists and turns. For a novel originally published in 1934 it is rather well-written and will definitely appeal to a modern reader, although the final two chapters are a bit heavy on exposition, as the detective explains the elements of the story that put him onto certain paths with the investigation. Nevertheless, this is a wonderful read, and adds another welcome credit to the Crime Classic series. As such, it comes recommended for aficionados of crime fiction from the golden age.

Interesting to read a classic crime story from the point of view of the murderer, a device which still manages to seem fresh. The Croydon airport element reminds me of Agatha Christie’s Death in the Clouds, published a year after this work. Interesting to compare how the two writers deal with a similar setting.

Classic crime that provides an afternoon's escapism. It is pleasing to see the resurgence of these classics allowing a new audience to enjoy them.

The link to the review will be added once the review has been finalised.

Every once in awhile I like to go back and read classics, those wonderful mysteries written in the Golden Age. I need a break from contemporary cozies and police procedurals. So, leave your computer and your cell phone behind and go back to the 1930's, to a flight from Croyden, England to Paris, France. As they say, murder is afoot or, in this case, aloft. Instead of who killed grandfather Andrew, we know it was his nephew, Charles. A bit like Columbo, we know who the killer is but, unlike Columbo, the entire mystery is from the killers point of view. Charles needed money, really, really needed lots of it - now. So he commits murder and the reader goes along for a tension filled ride. Will he get away with it? Who will be suspected? I will say no more as I don't want to spoil it for you.

This was a rather revolutionary book when it came out, I think. For most of the plot there is no doubt who the killer is, but only the exact details and whether he'll get away with it or not. All it will take is a cool head and deliberation, just as he showed in the planning and execution of the murder – but can he maintain it?

It's well-written, gripping stuff – a fascinating look at the other side of the whodunnit.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.

The 12:30 From Croydon is told from the viewpoint of the murderer which makes it very different from most of the British Library Crime Classics. It also makes it a bit disturbing. Charles Swinburne decides that the best way to escape from his financial difficulties and thus be able to marry the woman he loves is to murder a relative. He concocts what he believes to be a perfect crime and the reader follows him through every step of the ensuing drama. The reader is pulled into Charles' life and reasoning and it is only at the end of the novel that you, and Charles, realize what mistakes he has made. It was an enjoyable and engrossing book. My only minor quibble is that the ending was a bit abrupt.

Columbo-style approach to the poisoning of a rich old uncle with sympathetic characters and lots of meticulous details. Inspector French takes a decided back seat here, which can be a bit frustrating if you really want procedural, shoe leather to pavement story, but I think the divergence from the normal line pays off very well. It's a bit of a slow start but sticking with it past the first three chapters or so is worth it.

Through the eyes of a killer...

It's 10-year-old Rose Morley's first trip on an aeroplane so she's excited, despite the fact that the reason for the trip is to go to Paris where her mother has had an accident and is in hospital. With her are her father, Peter, and her elderly and rather ill grandfather, Andrew Crowther, whose manservant and general carer Weatherup is with him too. Before they take off, they get a telegram to say Rose's mother will be fine after all, so they can enjoy the journey with no fear. But when they arrive in Paris, it turns out that grandfather Andrew is not sleeping as they had all thought – he's dead. And it's soon discovered that he's been murdered.

This is an interesting take on the crime novel, and innovative for its time. We may have seen crimes from the perspective of the murderer fairly often now, but apparently this was one of the first when it was published in 1934. Following the rather brilliantly described flight to Paris, at a time when planes were still held together by little more than chewing-gum and prayer, the book flashes back a few weeks in time and we meet Charles Swinburn, nephew of the murdered man. It's from Charles' perspective that the story unfolds from there on.

Charles had inherited his uncle's successful manufacturing business but the depression of the 1930s has brought him near bankruptcy. Unfortunately, he's also fallen hopelessly in love with the beautiful but mercenary Una, who makes no secret of the fact that she will only marry a rich man. So when his attempts to raise a loan meet with failure, Charles begins to imagine how convenient it would be if his rich uncle would die so that Charles can get his hands on the inheritance he's been promised. The reader then follows along as Charles decides to turn this dream into reality.

I found the first section of the book fairly slow. Croft describes Charles' business difficulties in great and convincing detail, with much talk of profit margins and wage bills and so on. It's actually quite fascinating, giving a very real picture of a struggling business in a harsh economic climate, but after a bit it began to feel a little like I was reading financial reports.

However, once Charles decides to do the deed, I became totally hooked. It carries that same level of detail over into the planning of the crime, and I should warn you all that I now know lots of incredibly useful stuff should I ever decide someone needs to be murdered – just sayin'. In the planning stage, it's almost an intellectual exercise for Charles and he goes about it quite coldly. But in the aftermath of the crime, we see the effect it has on him – not guilt, exactly, but a kind of creeping horror at the thought of what he's done. And when Inspector French arrives on the scene to investigate, we see Charles swaying between confidence that he's pulled off the perfect crime, and terror that he may have missed some detail that will give him away. I won't give any more away, but there are a couple of complications along the way that ratchet up the tension and the horror.

There's a final short section, an afterword almost, when we see the investigation from Inspector French's perspective. To be honest, this bit felt redundant to me – I felt it would have been more effective had it finished before that part. I suspect it may only have been added because French was Croft's recurring detective, and perhaps Croft felt existing fans would have felt short-changed if his part in the story didn't get told.

So, a slow start and an unnecessary section at the end, but the bulk of the book – the planning, the crime itself, and the investigation as seen through Charles' eyes – is excellent. I like Croft's writing style – it's quite plain and straightforward, but the quality of the plotting still enables him to make this a tense read. The question obviously is not who did the crime, but will he be caught. And, like Charles, I found myself desperately trying to see if he'd left any loopholes. In fact, it was a bit worrying how well Croft managed to put me inside Charles' head – I wouldn't say I was on his side, exactly, but I was undoubtedly more ambivalent than I should have been. The format leads to some duplication as we see the same events from different angles and perspectives, but this was a small weakness in what I otherwise thought was a very well crafted and original novel. Highly recommended – another winner from the British Library Crime Classics series. Keep 'em coming! 4½ stars for me, so rounded up.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Poisoned Pen Press.

Read the title The 12:30 from Croydon, and it seems quite innocuous. You probably think about a bus or train where some mishap occurred or crime took place. Well, there’s a crime alright, but the 12:30 from Croydon is a flight. That must have been unusual in the 1920s, the era the book is set in.
There is an aura about this book. And it is dark. There is a pall hanging over the reader and the characters. I think the skill in the writing is that even though the crime happens in front of you, you still expect something else to come up. At least I did. Other than that, the story drags in places. This is more of a tale of what happens when you stray on the righteous path, or how one lie leads to another lie, how one crime makes you commit another, etc.

Andrew Crowther is rich, old and retired. He has already announced his heirs, and maybe that’s where he went wrong. His nephew Charles is in a bind. He lives beyond his means to impress a girl. He is overextended in business and he needs ready cash to be bailed out. Uncle Andrew refuses. The young man is enraged. He plots to kill Uncle. The reader is then subjected to a step by step account of how the protagonist goes about plotting a murder, how he does it successfully and the aftermath of said crime.

As far as books written in the Golden Age of Detective fiction go, I found this to be pretty dark. This was a peculiar read. That’s all I can say about it really. You think there’s no suspense, but you still keep turning the pages. That has to be one fine mystery then, right?

I have not read any of Freeman Wills Crofts works before, although I am a devotee of the "Golden Age" detectives. What a pleasure!

In The 12.30 from Croydon (which incidentally is a flight, not a train), the author takes a totally different slant on both the crime and investigation.

<i>We begin with a body. Andrew Crowther, a wealthy retired manufacturer, is found dead in his seat on the 12.30 flight from Croydon to Paris. Rather less orthodox is the ensuing flashback in which we live with the killer at every stage, from the first thoughts of murder to the strains and stresses of living with its execution.

Seen from the criminal's perspective, a mild-mannered Inspector by the name of French is simply another character who needs to be dealt with. This is an unconventional yet gripping story of intrigue, betrayal, obsession, justification and self-delusion. And will the killer get away with it?</i)

The chapter headings are delightful - 'Charles Suffers a Setback', the writing is compelling and the characters oh so very human!

The final few chapters are devoted to the events from the detective's viewpoint.

All together, very different but it works superbly!

Thank you to Poison Pen Press via NetGalley for a digital ARC of the 12.30 from Croydon for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

The 12:30 from Croydon is a mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts and a departure from the usual style of Golden Age detective stories. In the first chapter Andrew Crowther is murdered. The 12:30 flight from Croydon to Paris is the scene of the crime. It is a small plane with not many passengers and so the suspects are limited.

And then Crofts turns the story on its head because Chapter Two identifies the murderer and, in flashback, the reader follows Charles Swinburn as he contemplates the murder, plans it, and carries it out. The reader is inside the head of the murderer. Today this is not an uncommon device, witness the popularity of Dexter. In 1934 it was unique.

And Crofts does not create an evil murderer. He creates an ordinary man who does an evil act. The reader even understands his motives and can sympathize with his problems. It may be self-serving, but when Swinburn considers murdering his uncle in order to get the inheritance which will save his business, he rationalizes that he is saving the jobs of his employees, many who were with the company when it was founded. And, indeed, the first thing he does is order new equipment for the factory when he gets the money.

And so, from the first fleeting thought to what Swinburn believes is the foolproof plan and execution, we see his doubts, bouts of conscience, and moments of exhaltation when he pulls off a particularly tricky aspect of his plan.

When Crofts’ Inspector French enters the story at the very end it is almost anticlimactic.

This must have caused the same sensation as Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.
And, like the Christie novel, it stands the test of time. A highly recommended read.

“All this morality business was just an old wives’ tale.”

The 12:30 from Croydon, a 1943 crime novel from Freeman Crofts Wills, refers, not to a train schedule as I first thought, but to a flight from Croydon to France. The plane carries a handful of passengers on board: Andrew Crowther, his son-in-law Peter Morley, Peter’s daughter Rose, and Crowther’s butler/manservant Weatherup. The family members are making an emergency trip to Paris following the news that Crowther’s only daughter Elsie, Peter’s wife, has been knocked down by a taxi. However, when the plane lands, Crowther is dead. Crowther was a sickly man, and so at first it’s thought that he died of natural causes, but following an autopsy, poison is the known cause of death

This British Library Crime Classic reprint is not concerned with the mystery of the killer. The book steps back in time and quickly reveals the murderer to be Andrew Crowther’s nephew, Charles Swinburn, a middle-aged man whose business is about to go bankrupt. Swinburn hits his uncle for a loan–after all reasons Charles, he’s going to inherit half of his uncle’s estate. Everyone is of the opinion that Andrew Crowther doesn’t have many months of life left in him, and so reasons Charles, where is the harm of advancing the money in order to keep him afloat?


Andrew Crowther is shown to be crotchety, unreasonable and completely out-of-touch with the 30s economy, and he thinks bankruptcy can be avoided if everyone just works harder, so it’s easy for us to have sympathy for Charles’s dilemma when faced with his uncle’s irrational objections. At the root of Charles’s distress is a woman–he’s head-over-heels in love with a local heiress, the coldly materialistic Una. He doesn’t have a hope in hell of winning her hand, and yet sadly he thinks he does as long as he can stay solvent. There’s also a degree of sympathy roused for Charles when his peers begin avoiding him yet hypocritically re-friend him when they learn that he won’t go bankrupt after all.

How strange it was, Charles ruminated, that the useless and the obstructive so often live on, while the valuable and progressive die early!

The 12:30 from Croydon, a very strong entry in the British Library Crime Classics oeuvre is primarily a psychological novel. First murder is contemplated as an abstraction but then Charles hatches a plan. The plot follows Charles’s reasoning as he argues himself into murder, and then meticulously follows the plan which Charles is sure is foolproof. …

Author Freeman Wills Crofts shows complete mastery over the plot as he creates each stage of Charles’s emotions; we see his anxieties, his paranoia and then his joy when he thinks he’s got away with murder, but then Chief Inspector French from the Yard arrives on the scene. There’s a lot of detail here as we move through the preparation for the crime, two inquests, jury selection and a murder trial. Apart from the last couple of chapters, we always see things through Charles’s eyes, and what a convincingly deluded Dostoyevskian view it is.

Once again Charles felt a wave of bitterness sweep over him. If his uncle had only acted with reasonable decenecy. this horrible enterprise into which he had been forced would have been unneccesary. Well Andrew had only himself to thank.

Antidote to Venom is my favourite Freeman Wills Crofts to date followed by The 12:30 from Croydon and then The Hog’s Back Mystery.

A little wordy in places, but a well-plotted novel. Recommended.

It’s terribly relentlessly horrifying. Crofts has created a mystery that will keep you on the edge of your seat with suspense, horror, and helplessness. By the end, you will be completely torn. You will rather like the villain, but you will also thoroughly detest him.
Somehow, he used the very familiarity of his villain’s day to day routine to make it all the more suspenseful. Each small detail becomes so vital. You’ll find yourself searching for clues, but not in the normal fashion. You’re looking to see if anything as been overlooked, anyway justice will be able to catch him. Could this really be the perfect crime? You’ll want to scream at the villain, ‘Just stop! You’ll never get away with it.’ But you can’t. It’s inevitable the crime will be committed, but will he get caught? (Spoiler!) Then comes the conclusion. You'll wonder why it wasn't completely obvious from the very beginning. I found myself wondering why I was so worried. The hero does such a wonderful job of logically smashing the seemingly perfect alibi.
It was very well done.
The only objectionable parts were five curse words, on the mild side if we were to grade curse words, and two instances of very vulgar slang.
I received this book as a free ARC from NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press. No review was required.

Freeman Wills Croft was a technician of mystery writer with well-crafted puzzle plots populated by flat characters, overelaborate murder schemes, disguises, transportation timetables and stock motivations. They are clearly and simply written, not a lot of fun to read, but logical and thorough. They have some added interest due to their painstaking account of minor features of everyday life in the 1920s and 30s, filling in precise details that are often missing in higher level accounts.

This was an early version of the inverted murder mystery where the author describes the crime first and the detection afterwards. So there is never any doubt about the identity of the murderer or how or why the crime was committed, the suspense (such that there is) is how the detective will figure it out. This is a familiar subgenre today, but was an experiment in 1934.

There are some difficulties with this approach, starting with the fact that it's a murder mystery without the mystery. The preparation and execution of the crime has to be compelling and intricate enough to fill a third of the book, and the psychology of the murderer must be interesting. Croft neglected to address either of these issues. Next, the procedural investigation must be satisfying even though the reader knows which approaches are dead ends and which ones will lead to the solution. Croft is better about this, he describes a reasonable plodding solution to the crime that includes a credible number of wrong turns and lapses, but methodically zeroes in on the murderer. I find it satisfying that the detective doesn't get things exactly right, and ends up with only an arguable case rather than a smoking gun. The murderer does not break down and confess at some trick, nor does he pull out a gun and try to shoot his way out of some staged presentation of the solution, he shuts up and hires a top attorney who gives the prosecutor a run for his money.

I prefer better stories with interesting characters who develop, and more stylish writing and plot flair, so I find this a three-star book. If you are a puzzle aficionado willing to give up literary merit for tight plotting, this is a four-star novel.

I enjoy reading some of these British classics but not so this one. Felt it was too drawn out, or maybe I just don't like it when you are with the murderer right from the start.
It's about a wealthy retired businessman who's nephew is struggling to keep the company going in a very hard economy. Not totally his fault you would say. However he is wanting to marry a wealthy women who's not up to marrying anyone who can not keep her in the fashion she is accustomed to, so he needs to do something and fast. Murder the uncle!
I received a copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

Princess Fuzzypants here:
Since I am a young cat, I am so glad that we can read the British Crime Classics, of which this is one. Because they wer written at the time they are set, they reek with atmosphere of time and place. It is fun to be transported back and to take part in a mystery.
There is little mystery in whodunit. We know early in the piece both the whom, the why and the how. What we do not know is whether he will get away with his crime. We get to experience his ups and downs as his emotions and conscience swirl. Sometimes he thinks he is justified and other times he is horrified by his actions. Sometimes he thinks he will get away with it and other times he is convinced he will swing. It is not until the end that we know for sure. Of course, I am not going to tell you.
The characters are multi-dimensional with lots of layers and flaws. It makes for an interesting read. The style, of course, is the early 20th Century British Crime novels. If you enjoy going back in time, this will be a good choice for you.
I give it four purrs and two paws up.

They're making an emergency trip to Paris. The old man's daughter was injured in an accident and the family is on the way to her bedside. When they arrive, her husband gets word that it's not a serious accident and she's well. But the old man has died on the airplane flight. Even worse, it's not from old age...

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published February 7th.

The fascinating part of this read is that the story is from the killer's point-of-view. He's losing his business due to bad economic times and he needs money. Not only that but he has a bad case of love of a woman who isn't sure about him. He wants her, he wants his inheritance to impress her and save his business, and he's willing to do what he must to get it. After all, his uncle is an old man going downhill. Helping him down the slope might be the right thing to do.

From here, we go through all his thoughts, all his actions so carefully thought out and carried out, and when he emerges from the end of the tunnel, he acts shocked at the death and is happy to see it ruled accidental death. They think his uncle killed himself. Perfect!

Except it doesn't stay that way. When the butler tries to blackmail him, he kills him too. Scotland Yard was already on the case looking into things. They deal with the second death as a matter of more of the same. The killer still thinks he's clear of danger. But the cops are smarter than he is...

This is very much a police procedural and it was fascinating to see how many clues were left behind. You know the saying: "The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Alas, his plans did.

This is the second book by Freeman Wills Crofts that I’ve read. The first was Mystery in the Channel, which is a complicated murder mystery with plenty of red herrings and I had no idea about the identity of the killer. The 12.30 from Croydon couldn’t be more different – it begins with a murder but the identity of the murderer is known before he even thought of committing the crime.

The result is there is little mystery, as Charles Swinburne sets about murdering his uncle, Andrew Crowther, in order to inherit his fortune. It’s set in the early 1930s when the country is suffering the effects of the ‘slump’ and Charles’ business is on the edge of bankruptcy, and he is unable to raise the money to keep it going.

The major part of the book is taken up with describing how Charles became convinced that the only way out of his dilemma and the only way he could convince Una, a mercenary rich young woman, to marry him, was to kill Andrew. Consequently Andrew died on the 12.30 plane from Croydon. From that point onwards we see how Charles devised a plan and created an alibi that he thought would be perfect – and how it went wrong and how he was drawn into committing yet another murder.

Inspector French appears later on in the book to explain Charles’ thoughts and actions, and how he broke his alibi, just as Poirot sums up his thoughts and methods of deduction in Agatha Christie’s books.

The 12.30 from Croydon focuses on the psychology of the murderer and from that point of view I think it works well. Charles’ personality is thoroughly explored, showing his ingenuity, efficiency, and the ways he overcame his scruples about murder were in the main convincing. But the in-depth detail of the planning means that it is hardly riveting reading. So whilst the plotting is clever my interest in the outcome flagged as the only thing to work out is would Charles get caught out, and would Inspector French break his alibi. But I did want to know how it would end.

What I found more interesting is the description of the thrill of the early passenger flights. In the opening chapter Rose Morley, Andrew’s young granddaughter flies to France with him and her father, Peter, because her mother had been knocked down and seriously injured by a taxi in Paris. Rose thinks the plane looks like a huge dragonfly. From her seat her view through the window was of the lower wing with its criss-cross struts connecting it to the upper wing. She was delighted by the whole process the increasing speed and the roar of the motors as the plane miraculously left the ground. Peter remarks that it was a wonderful improvement on the early machines when you had to stuff cotton wool in your ears. Rose loved the whole experience.

I also like the setting Crofts created for the novel – the enormous pressure that drove Charles to take such drastic action due to the financial disasters of the period in the 1930s is well presented. I liked the book but as I enjoy trying to work out the why and the how for me it needed more mystery, and more red herrings.

My thanks to Netgalley and Poisoned Pen Press for a review copy of The 12.30 From Croydon. It was first published in 1934; this edition with an introduction by Martin Edwards was published in 2016 by Poisoned Pen Press in association with the British Library.