Inspector Crewe

The care with which the story is written, the complicated plot, and the clash of the different practices of man-hunters lift it out of the common run of mystery tales and make this an absorbing book.

"The Hampstead Mystery" is a 1916 novel by Arthur J. Rees. Arthur John Rees (1872–1942), was an Australian mystery writer. Set in Hampstead, England, the story revolves around the murder of Sir Horace Fewbanks, a distinguished High Court judge who is mysteriously shot. Private Detective Crewe, a wealthy bachelor and chess enthusiast who solves crimes as a hobby, takes on the investigation with the aid of his fourteen year old Cockney sidekick, Joe. A thrilling whodunit rich in mystery and intrigue, this novel is not to be missed by fans of crime fiction. Investigator: Private Detective Crewe, a wealthy bachelor who has taken up crime detection as a hobby, because it provides intellectual challenges more satisfying even than playing twelve simultaneous boards against Russian chess champion Turgieff.

An unusually mystifying tale even for a detective story, for it contains a mystery within a mystery. The authors are two ex-detectives of Scotland Yard.