Review: The Hog's Back Mystery, by Freeman Wills Crofts

Title: The Hog's Back Mystery

Authors: Freeman Wills Crofts

Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press

Date of Publication: July 7, 2015 (first pub. 1933)

Number of Pages: 336

*I've received an ARC of the book via Netgalley. Thank you to the publisher.

Summary

Dr James Earle and his wife live in comfortable seclusion near the Hog’s Back, a ridge in the North Downs in the beautiful Surrey countryside. When Dr Earle disappears from his cottage, Inspector French is called in to investigate. At first he suspects a simple domestic intrigue – and begins to uncover a web of romantic entanglements beneath the couple’s peaceful rural life. 

The case soon takes a more complex turn. Other people vanish mysteriously, one of Dr Earle’s house guests among them. What is the explanation for the disappearances? If the missing people have been murdered, what can be the motive? This fiendishly complicated puzzle is one that only Inspector French can solve. 

Freeman Wills Crofts was a master of the intricately and ingeniously plotted detective novel, and The Hog’s Back Mystery shows him at the height of his powers. This new edition of a classic mystery is introduced by the crime fiction expert Martin Edwards.

Review

As a fan of classic British mysteries like Agatha Christie and Arthur Conan Doyle, I've always wanted to explore the genre some more. The Hog's Back Mystery by Freeman Wills Crofts sounds like the perfect book to do that, and I'm so happy that I was sent a copy via NetGalley. And if I like it, there are many more to read, as this is the 10th book in the Inspector French series.

My first impressions of The Hog's Back Mystery is that it's not the typical mystery novel. Freeman Wills Crofts has a truly unique writing style, which I don't think that I've encountered before. More specifically, it invites readers to not just discover the plot, but take active participation into the investigation. The introduction of the book mentions that the author wanted to play fair with the readers, and since then, I've discovered that the "fair-play mystery" is a whole subgenre. 

In the beginning, I wasn't really sure if I would like the book. However, as the events unfolded and we explored more possibilities, I began feeling extremely invested. In the middle mark, where I didn't know what could possible happen to keep the book going, we got a new disappearance, which made things thrilling. By the end, I just couldn't put this book down because I wanted to learn what had transpired. And in the last couple of chapters, Inspector French goes in detail through his theory, with references to the pages where we'd encountered the corresponding clue.

Yet, this element was also what reduced my enjoyment of the book a little. Because the author wanted to be fair, he over-explained every detail, every description, and every theory. I won't deny that I was tempted to skip some paragraphs because I felt I had already read enough around that particular element.

All in all, The Hog's Back Mystery was a story full of twists. Inspector French felt like a memorable detective (even though I'm not sure I would prefer him over Hercules Poirot), and I would be more than willing to read from Freeman Wills Crofts in the future- in fact, I think I will do so pretty soon.