Something of a collectors' item, this - a Crofts novel without a timetable or mode of transport anywhere to be seen (other than a hypothetical bicycle).  What we get is a fairly entertaining exercise in detection, in which Chief Inspector French (and his bright new sidekick, Rollo) come up with at least as many possible answers as J J Connington's Case With Nine Solutions. As ever, the characters are somewhat superficial, but there are enough of them to provide some variety of tone and atmosphere. The main problem is that several of the incorrect solutions offered would have been just as satisfactory as the 'true' one, and there is no particular 'Aha' moment as the denouement is reached. Nevertheless, I found this a relaxing and - for Crofts - reasonably well-paced read.

Terry Saunders