Chapter I: Front Matter

THE CRIME CLUB

VOLUME 25

*

THE CASK

This is the Story

This book introduced to the public a new Master of Detective Fiction, and Mr. Crofts is now a very famous name indeed to the many enthusiastic students of detective novels. It has all the great virtues; a mysterious murder cunningly conceived and carried out; the strongest suspicion ingeniously thrown on an innocent man; a subtle alibi brilliantly shattered by an unfaltering process of analysis. The book is flawless in design and presents an intellectual problem of supreme interest. The lover of detective stories can want nothing better. As the _Outlook_ said, “In construction and invention Mr. Crofts has no living equal.”

By the Same Author

THE BOX OFFICE MURDERS MYSTERY IN THE CHANNEL

SUDDEN DEATH DEATH ON THE WAY

THE SEA MYSTERY INSPECTOR FRENCH’S GREATEST CASE

THE STARVEL TRAGEDY THE GROOTE PARK MURDER

THE PONSON CASE THE PIT-PROP SYNDICATE

THE CRIME AT GUILDFORD THE LOSS OF THE JANE VOSPER

INSPECTOR FRENCH AND THE CHEYNE MYSTERY

MAN OVERBOARD

THE CASK

by

FREEMAN WILLS

CROFTS

Published for

THE CRIME CLUB

by COLLINS FORTY-EIGHT PALL MALL

LONDON

First Impression - - - - June, 1920

Second ” - - - - December, 1921

Third ” - - - - January, 1922

Fourth ” - - - - February, 1923

Fifth ” - - - - May, 1924

Sixth ” - - - - April, 1925

Seventh ” - - - - December, 1926

Eighth ” - - - - January, 1927

Ninth ” - - - - October, 1928

Tenth ” - - - - January, 1931

Eleven ” - - - - September, 1934

Twelfth ” - - - - February, 1935

Thirteenth ” - - - - December, 1936

Fourteenth ” - - - - July, 1937

Fifteenth ” - - - - January, 1938

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

COLLINS CLEAR-TYPE PRESS : LONDON AND GLASGOW

COPYRIGHT

CONTENTS

PART I--LONDON

I. A STRANGE CONSIGNMENT

II. INSPECTOR BURNLEY ON THE TRACK

III. THE WATCHER ON THE WALL

IV. A MIDNIGHT INTERVIEW

V. FELIX TELLS A STORY

VI. THE ART OF DETECTION

VII. THE CASK AT LAST

VIII. THE OPENING OF THE CASK

PART II--PARIS

IX. M. LE CHEF DE LA SÛRETÉ

X. WHO WROTE THE LETTER?

XI. MM. DUPIERRE ET CIE

XII. AT THE GARE ST. LAZARE

XIII. THE OWNER OF THE DRESS

XIV. M. BOIRAC MAKES A STATEMENT

XV. THE HOUSE IN THE AVENUE DE L’ALMA

XVI. INSPECTOR BURNLEY UP AGAINST IT

XVII. A COUNCIL OF WAR

XVIII. LEFARGE HUNTS ALONE

XIX. THE TESTING OF AN ALIBI

XX. SOME DAMNING EVIDENCE

PART III--LONDON AND PARIS

XXI. A NEW POINT OF VIEW

XXII. FELIX TELLS A SECOND STORY

XXIII. CLIFFORD GETS TO WORK

XXIV. MR. GEORGES LA TOUCHE

XXV. DISAPPOINTMENT

XXVI. A CLUE AT LAST

XXVII. LA TOUCHE’S DILEMMA

XXVIII. THE UNRAVELLING OF THE WEB

XXIX. A DRAMATIC DÉNOUEMENT

XXX. CONCLUSION