{"product_id":"2940170328390","title":"Pit-Prop Syndicate, The (Detective Club Crime Classics)","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom the Collins Crime Club archive, the third stand-alone novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, dubbed 'The King of Detective Story Writers'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSeymour Merriman's holiday in France comes to an abrupt halt when his motorcycle starts leaking petrol. Following a lorry to find fuel, he discovers that it belongs to an English company making timber pit-props for coal mines back home. His suspicions of illegal activity are aroused when he sees the exact same lorry with a different number plateamp;mdash;and confirmed later with the shocking discovery of a body. What began as amateur detective work ends up as a job for Inspector Willis of Scotland Yard, a job requiring tenacity, ingenuity and guile....\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFreeman Wills Crofts' transition from civil engineer on the Irish railways to world-renowned master of the detective mystery began with The Cask when he was fully 40 years old, but it was his third novel, the baffling \u003ci\u003eThe Pit-Prop Syndicate\u003c\/i\u003e, that was singled out by his editors in 1930 as the first for inclusion in Collins' prestigious new series of reprints 'for crime connoisseurs'.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis Detective Club classic is introduced by John Curran, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Hooded Gunman\u003c\/i\u003e, and includes the bonus of an exclusive short story by Crofts, 'Danger in Shroude Valley'.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins UK","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47115169005808,"sku":"2940170328390","price":27.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170328390_p0.jpg?v=1765232732","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170328390","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}