桶子 (1920)

《桶子》是福里曼·威利斯·克劳夫兹1919年患病无聊时所写，于1920年发表的推理小说。这本小说除了被后人认为开展了推理小说的黄金时期外，同时奠定了日后所谓的写实推理学派。

故事简介

住在伦敦的艺术家费礼斯收到来自巴黎的木桶，费礼斯原以为是朋友寄来的金币，谁知道一打开木桶发现一具女尸，费礼斯当场晕倒。伦敦和巴黎的探长联手调查，认为尸体是费礼斯故意寄给自己，故弄玄虚。在被审判前，辩护律师聘请私家侦探调查，查出死者的丈夫制造虚假的不在场证据，栽赃嫁祸予费礼斯。

The Cask is a 1920 detective novel by the Irish-born writer Freeman Wills Crofts. His debut novel, it is considered his masterpiece. Long after the author's reputation had declined, this book was still hailed by critics, as a cornerstone of the genre. Crofts had been working as a railway engineer before writing the novel, but its success launched him as one of the leading writers of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. He later went on to create the character of Inspector French of Scotland Yard who appeared in a long-running series of novels.