Customer Reviews

The French Key (Linford Mystery Library (Large Print))

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Johnny Fletcher and his sidekick Sam Cragg are locked out of their apartment room for non-payment of rent. If that's not bad enough, when they illegally enter the room to get some belongings, they notice a body that they didn't leave there... These mysteries from the early part of this century (somewhere around the 1930 or 40s) are just plain fun to read.

This is the first of the Johnny Fletcher and Sam Cragg books. Fletcher and Cragg are a couple of drifter con men types who seem to have a knack of attracting trouble. Fletcher is a fast-talking character who fancies himself as a bit of a detective, while Cragg is his muscle-bound partner. Their favourite way of making a fast buck is to peddle books on the street, titled "Every Man A Samson", Fletcher doing the talking and Cragg displaying his power, thanks to the book.

In this book, Fletcher and Cragg are locked out of their apartment for failure to pay their rent. They eventually manage to gain entry, hoping to grab their belongings and go when they find something in their room that they're sure they didn't leave there. A dead body.

Along with the body they also find a rare coin and this leads them to search for some answers to some specific questions. Who's the dead guy? Who killed him? How can they convince the police they didn't kill him? Where did the coin come from? Are there any more? How can they best profit from the situation? This provides ample opportunity for Johnny to run his little scams as he gathers information evades the law and solves the mystery.

This is on the lighter side of hardboiled with Fletcher and Cragg making a very off-beat yet entertaining couple of detectives.