''Man Overboard!'' (also known as ''Cold-Blooded Murder'') is a
detective novel
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as specu ...
by
Freeman Wills Crofts
Freeman Wills Crofts FRSA (1 June 1879 – 11 April 1957) was an Irish engineer and mystery author, remembered best for the character of Inspector Joseph French.
A railway engineer by training, Crofts introduced railway themes into many of h ...
, first published in 1936. It is the fifteenth novel in the
Inspector French
Inspector Joseph French is a fictional British police detective created by Irish author Freeman Wills Crofts. French was a prominent detective from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, appearing in twenty-nine novels and a number of short storie ...
series. The book is set largely in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...
, and re-uses two of the characters from the earlier novel ''Sir John Magill's Last Journey'' (1930) which was set in the same country. As a
MacGuffin
In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself. The term was originated by Angus MacPhail fo ...
, the novel centres on a supposedly newly discovered (though possibly fraudulent) reversible chemical process that converts
petrol
Gasoline (North American English) or petrol ( Commonwealth English) is a petrochemical product characterized as a transparent, yellowish, and flammable liquid normally used as a fuel for spark-ignited internal combustion engines. When formul ...
into an inert form which is much safer for transport and storage. The potential commercial value of this discovery leads to intrigue, theft and murder, with everything finally solved by Inspector French after his usual dogged legwork and some flashes of inspiration.
References
1936 British novels
Novels by Freeman Wills Crofts
Novels set in Northern Ireland
Dodd, Mead & Co. books
Collins Crime Club books
British detective novels
British mystery novels
British crime novels
{{1930s-crime-novel-stub