A boat notionally carrying pit props from the Gironde to the Humber is in fact engaging in illegal smuggling. This leads on to a murder in a Londontaxi and an investigation by the slow but sure Inspector Willis of Scotland Yard.
Evans, Curtis. Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961. McFarland, 2014.
Reilly, John M. Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers. Springer, 2015.
