A review by briarfairchild
Antidote to Venom by Freeman Wills Crofts

2.0

I think Freeman Wills Crofts was better at writing the traditional whodunnit than these would-be psychological crime stories. I've come to this straight after 12.30 From Croydon and liked it even less. It doesn't help that the author put a note at the start explaining that he had made "an effort to tell a story of crime positively", an endeavour at which he completely failed. The motive for the murder is that the protagonist dislikes being poor and wants to support his mistress. Not exactly calculated to make the reader feel sympathetic towards him! In addition, he's entirely selfish - it's clear that he is interested only in himself and cares little for anyone else. You can see the author trying to make it look as though he finds himself forced into a corner where the only option is to connive in a murder, but it just isn't convincing. Also there's a really weird religious enlightenment bit at the end which doesn't fit in with the rest of the story, doesn't fit with the protagonist's character, adds nothing to the plot... it's just a bit odd!

I'm hoping Freeman Wills Crofts didn't try too many more of these experiments with the detective novel and stuck with what he was good at!