Title Matter

Freeman Wills Crofts was born in Dublin in 1879. He attended the Methodist College Belfast and Campbell College.

The Cask has thirty chapters:

PART I—LONDON
1) A Strange Consignment
2) Inspector Burnley on the Track
3) The Watcher on the Wall
4) A Midnight Interview
5) Felix Tells a Story
6) The Art of Detection
7) The Cask at Last
8) The Opening of the Cask

PART II—PARIS
9) M. le Chef de la Sûreté
10) Who Wrote the Letter?
11) MM. Dupierre et Cie
12) At the Gare St. Lazare
13) The Owner of the Dress
14) M. Boirac Makes a Statement
15) The House in the Avenue de L'Alma
16) Inspector Burnley up Against It
17) A Council of War
18) Lefarge Hunts Alone
19) The Testing of an Alibi
20) Some Damning Evidence

PART III—LONDON and PARIS
21) A New Point of View
22) Felix Tells a Second Story
23) Clifford gets to Work
24) Mr. Georges la Touche
25) Disappointment
26) A Clue at Last
27) La Touche's Dilemma
28) The Unravelling of the Web
29) A Dramatic Dénouement
30) Conclusion

List of all Crofts' novels:

The Cask (1920)
The Ponson Case (1921)
The Pit-Prop Syndicate (1922)
The Groote Park Murder (1923)
Inspector French's Greatest Case (1924)
The Cheyne Mystery (1926) a.k.a. Inspector French and the Cheyne Mystery
Inspector French and the Starvel Tragedy (1927) a.k.a. The Starvel Hollow Tragedy
The Sea Mystery (1928)
The Box Office Murders (1929) a.k.a. The Purple Sickle Murders
Sir John Magill's Last Journey (1930)
Mystery in the Channel (1931) a.k.a. Mystery in the English Channel
Sudden Death (1932)
Death on the Way (1932) a.k.a. Double Death
The Hog's Back Mystery (1933) a.k.a. The Strange Case of Dr. Earle
The 12:30 from Croydon (1934) a.k.a. Wilful and Premeditated
Mystery on Southampton Water (1934) a.k.a. Crime on the Solent
Crime at Guildford (1935) a.k.a. The Crime at Nornes
The Loss of the Jane Vosper (1936)
Man Overboard! (1936) a.k.a. Cold-Blooded Murder
Found Floating (1937)
The End of Andrew Harrison (1938) a.k.a. The Futile Alibi
Antidote to Venom (1938)
Fatal Venture (1939) a.k.a. Tragedy in the Hollow
Golden Ashes (1940)
James Tarrant, Adventurer (1941) a.k.a. Circumstantial Evidence
The Losing Game (1941) a.k.a. A Losing Game
Fear Comes to Chalfont (1942)
The Affair at Little Wokeham (1943) a.k.a. Double Tragedy
Enemy Unseen (1945)
Death of a Train (1946)
Young Robin Brand, Detective (1947) A Juvenile Detective Novel
Silence for the Murderer (1949)
French Strikes Oil (1951) a.k.a. Dark Journey
Anything to Declare? (1957)

Crofts was not only a railway engineer and writer, but also an accomplished musician: organist and choirmaster in Killowen Parish Church, Coleraine, St Patrick's Church, Jordanstown and the parish church of St Martin's in Blackheath.