Listen to a sample
The Groote Park Murder
Detective Club Crime Classics (Related to this series)
- Narrator
- Crawford Logan
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Publish Date
- 2 May 2019
- Run Time
- 8 hours 31 minutes
- Format
- x-book®
- Rating
- 5.0 (2 reviews)
What to expect
From a murder in South Africa to the tracking down of a master criminal in northern Scotland, this is a true classic of Golden Age detective fiction by one of its most accomplished champions.
When a signalman discovers a mutilated body inside a railway tunnel near Groote Park, it seems to be a straightforward case of a man struck by a passing train. But Inspector Vandam of the Middeldorp police isn’t satisfied that Albert Smith’s death was accidental, and he sets out to prove foul play in a baffling mystery which crosses continents from deepest South Africa to the wilds of northern Scotland, where an almost identical crime appears to have been perpetrated.
The Groote Park Murder was the last of Freeman Wills Crofts’ standalone crime novels, foreshadowing his iconic Inspector French series and helping to cement his reputation (according to his publishers) as ‘the greatest and most popular detective writer in the world’. Like The Cask, The Ponson Case and The Pit-Prop Syndicate before it, here were a delightfully ingenious plot, impeccable handling of detail, and an overwhelming surprise ‘curtain’ from a masterful crime writer on the cusp of global success.
This Detective Club classic is introduced with an essay by Freeman Wills Crofts, unseen since 1937, about ‘The Writing of a Detective Novel’.
Critics Review
-
‘If there is a better writer of detective stories alive, I would like to know his name.’ Glasgow Citizen
User Reviews
Book 5.0
Narration 5.0
-
5.0 5.0
Brilliant narration by Crawford Logan of a serpentine whodunit by the sadly not well enough known Freeman Wills Crofts. The denouement is a wonderful surprise that l did not see coming. This book makes me understand why Dame Agatha Christie thought so highly of the superb Irish novelist. I'm glad l purchased all of the great man's novels on xigxag which is itself a magnificent platform. Well done xigxag in producing a platform which is so much better than Audible.
Thomas Reilly 2025-10-19
Details
- Author
- Freeman Wills Crofts, Introduction by Freeman Wills Crofts
- Narrator
- Crawford Logan
- Duration
- 8 hours 31 minutes
- Release Date
- 2 May 2019
- ISBN
- 9780008342432
- Format
- x-book®
- Publisher
- HarperCollins Publishers
- Genre
- Classic fiction: literary and general, Classic crime and mystery fiction
- Rating
- 5.0(2 reviews)
- Narration
- 5.0(2 reviews)
Synopsis
From a murder in South Africa to the tracking down of a master criminal in northern Scotland, this is a true classic of Golden Age detective fiction by one of its most accomplished champions. When a signalman discovers a mutilated body inside a railway tunnel near Groote Park, it seems to be a straightforward case of a man struck by a passing train. But Inspector Vandam of the Middeldorp police isn’t satisfied that Albert Smith’s death was accidental, and he sets out to prove foul play in a baffling mystery which crosses continents from deepest South Africa to the wilds of northern Scotland, where an almost identical crime appears to have been perpetrated. The Groote Park Murder was the last of Freeman Wills Crofts’ standalone crime novels, foreshadowing his iconic Inspector French series and helping to cement his reputation (according to his publishers) as ‘the greatest and most popular detective writer in the world’. Like The Cask, The Ponson Case and The Pit-Prop Syndicate before it, here were a delightfully ingenious plot, impeccable handling of detail, and an overwhelming surprise ‘curtain’ from a masterful crime writer on the cusp of global success. This Detective Club classic is introduced with an essay by Freeman Wills Crofts, unseen since 1937, about ‘The Writing of a Detective Novel’.
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