{{Short description|1936 novel}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{infobox book | name = Man Overboard! | title_orig = | translator = | image =File:ManOverboard.jpg | caption = First edition (UK) | author = Freeman Wills Crofts | illustrator = | cover_artist = | country = United Kingdom | language = English | series = Inspector French | genre = Detective | publisher = Collins Crime Club (UK) <br /> Dodd, Mead (US) | release_date = 1936 | english_release_date = | media_type = Print | pages = | isbn = | preceded_by = The Loss of the Jane Vosper | followed_by = Found Floating }}
'''''Man Overboard!''''' (also known as '''''Cold-Blooded Murder''''') is a detective novel by Freeman Wills Crofts, first published in 1936.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Isaac |date=1936-10-11 |title=MAN OVERBOARD. By Freeman Wills Crofts. 344 pp. New York: Dodd, Medal & Co. $2. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/10/11/archives/man-overboard-by-freeman-wills-crofts-344-pp-new-york-dodd-medal-co.html |access-date=2024-12-06 |work=The New York Times |pages=12}}</ref> It is the fifteenth novel in the Inspector French series. The book is set largely in Northern Ireland,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Inspector French: Man Overboard! |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/inspector-french-man-overboard-freeman-wills-crofts?variant=42469493506082 |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=HarperCollins |language=en}}</ref> 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, the novel centres on a supposedly newly discovered (though possibly fraudulent) reversible chemical process that converts petrol 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.<ref>{{Cite news |last=C |first=C |date=1936-12-12 |title=O Most Bloody Sight! |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/ca/manitoba/winnipeg/winnipeg-free-press/1936/12-12/page-33 |access-date=2024-12-06 |work=Winnipeg Free Press |pages=33}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1936-11-14 |title=Did he fall or was he pushed? |url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/au/new-south-wales/sydney/sydney-daily-telegraph/1936/11-14/page-8 |access-date=2024-12-06 |work=Sydney Daily Telegraph |pages=8}}</ref>
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Category:1936 British novels Category:1936 English-language novels Category:Novels by Freeman Wills Crofts Category:Novels set in Northern Ireland Category:Dodd, Mead & Co. books Category:Collins Crime Club books Category:British mystery novels Category:1930s mystery novels {{1930s-crime-novel-stub}}