The Cask

Front Cover
Courier Dover Publications, May 15, 2019 - Fiction - 288 pages

"One of the classics of modern crime fiction." — The New York Times

While London dockworkers are struggling to unload a shipment of French wine, one of the heavy casks falls, shatters and reveals its cargo—sawdust, gold coins, and a female corpse. But by the time the police arrive, the barrel has vanished along with its macabre contents. Enter Inspector Burnley of Scotland Yard, who traces the cask to Paris, where he enlists the help of detective M. Lefarge of the Sûreté. Together, they hunt for the identity of the anonymous victim and her devious killer, traversing a maze of clues, alibis, red herrings, and lies.
This top-notch procedural, along with Agatha Christie's first novel, marked the start of the golden age of the detective story. Freeman Wills Crofts, one of the "Big Four" mystery writers of the era, provides fascinating insights into early twentieth-century methods of murder investigation as well as atmospheric glimpses of the shipping business in London and Paris in the years after World War I.
 

Contents

PART 1LONDON
1
Inspector Burnley on the Track
15
The Watcher on the Wall
25
A Midnight Interview
31
Felix Tells a Story
38
The Art of Detection
47
The Cask at Last
60
The Opening of the Cask
69
A Council of War
138
Lefarge Hunts Alone
148
The Testing of an Alibi
159
Some Damning Evidence
171
PART 3LONDON AND PARIS 21 A New Point of View
183
Felix Tells a Second Story
191
Clifford Gets to Work
205
Mr Georges La Touche
213

PART 2PARIS
75
Who Wrote the Letter?
83
At the Gare St Lazare
98
The Owner of the Dress
106
Boirac Makes a Statement
113
The House in the Avenue de lAlma
119
Inspector Burnley Up Against It
128
Disappointment
220
A Clue at Last
227
La Touches Dilemma
240
The Unravelling of the Web
253
A Dramatic Dénouement
262
Conclusion
279
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