A railway engineer by training, Freeman Wills Crofts often relied on railway themes for his plots, with careful attention to details and schedules. Having retired from the railway in 1929 to devote himself full time to writing, he is considered part of the golden age of detective fiction, along with Raymond Chandler and Agatha Christie. Until his death in 1957, he produced more than 30 novels, short-stories, and plays. In his fifth book in 1924, he introduced the character of Inspector Joseph French, a Scotland Yard detective whose approach to crime was far more workman-like than most other fictional sleuths. In this book, he tells the story of Maxwell Cheyne, who is mysteriously drugged in a country inn and awakens to find that his home has been burgled, although nothing is missing. As Cheyne is pursued by a gang of relentless criminals, Inspector French of Scotland Yard must untangle their mysterious conspiracy. - Summary by ASharma