A Certain Dr. Thorndyke

R. Austin Freeman

John Osborne is a young gentleman who has left England for some, as of yet, unknown reason. He settles in Adaffia, an ends-of-the-earth type of town on the Gold Coast. Almost immediately he gets into a fight defending the only other white man in town, a drunken trader. And we see that Osborne is a tremendous fighter skilled at ju-jitsu, boxing, wrestling and strategy. These skills will come into play again and again, in a mutiny, a rebellion and other struggles with formidable opponents. His adventures at one point throw him into the company of a willful young lady who has an appetite for danger, and she and Osborne fall in love. Meanwhile back in England, a certain Dr. Thorndyke is investigating the crime that Osborne is supposed to have committed. This second half of the book is just as much fun as the first, involving bizarre searches for clues and meticulous examinations of minutiae, from mustache hairs to wormwood dust.

As a Thief in the Night

R. Austin Freeman

R. Austin Freeman was one of the best mystery writers ever and this book is one to prove it. Harold Monkhouse is a very sick man but no one including his doctor seems to know what is wrong with him. When he is found dead of arsenic poisoning, his brother demands an investigation and everyone in the household is a suspect. Who was behind this cruel death; the loving wife, Barbara; her friend, Madeline or Wallingford, the rather eccentric secretary? They all inherit something when Harold Monkhouse dies. Rupert, their loyal friend enlists the help of Dr. Thorndyke who with a lot of twists and turns solves the case. In researching the crime, Thorndyke and his charming assistant Polton do some fascinating analyses with X-rays. And the reader learns a lot about the versatility of arsenic in the hands of a creative murderer.

A Silent Witness

R. Austin Freeman

All the Dr. Thorndyke books are outstanding. This one is no exception. In this installment, the action centers on one Dr. Humphrey Jardine, who is the narrator of the story, and who himself is the focus of several strange events. Jardines troubles begin with a casual walk, where he comes across the body of a man and runs to fetch the police, only to come back and find that the dead man has disappeared. The police can find no trace that the man was ever there, so Jardine takes it upon himself to examine the scene for clues. His findings lead him into a very strange adventure which can only be solved with the technical expertise of Dr. Thorndyke, but not before Jardine finds his life in danger, and not just once.

Death at the Inn

R. Austin Freeman

John Gillum arrives in London from Australia apparently a wealthy man and then proceeds to cheerfully gamble his entire fortune away. During this period he cultivates the friendship of Mortimer, the bank official after meeting him at the scene of a murder near the bank. He mentions in conversation that he felt suicide was a very understandable option to someone who had lost everything. When Gillums body is found, the inquest duly returns a verdict of suicide and blackmail is suspected of being a contributory factor. However Gillums cousin is so convinced that he would never have killed himself, he engages Thorndyke to try to find the blackmailers and bring all the issues to light. The problem is, no one knows who the blackmailers are or even what the man was being blackmailed for.

Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes

R. Austin Freeman

This is a delightful Thorndyke mystery full of suspicious happenings, like the ugly human head found in a box checked at a railway station cloakroom. Other peculiar things are afoot too. A rich American gentleman has come to London to make a claim for an earldom, based on some far-fetched evidence. His lawyers seem particularly unsavory. And theres been a daring robbery of precious platinum, with a British vessel somehow implicated. The plot evolves around all these suspicious goings-on. It takes the clever Dr. Thorndyke to discover how they interrelate. The good doctor must solve these seemingly unrelated cases using his usual bag of forensic tricks and a few new ones for good measure. The crooks involved are unusually clever, but as usual, justice is served when... Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes!

Dr. Thorndykes Case-Book

R. Austin Freeman

This book is a collection of short stories about one of Sherlock Holmes most prominent rivals: Dr. Thorndyke and Jervis. Doyles characters may be better, but Freeman spins a lot of mysteries based on reasoning.

Dr. Thorndykes Crime File. A Selection of His Most Celebrated Cases

R. Austin Freeman

Dr. John Thorndike is a fictional detective in a series of novels. He is a medical lawyer a doctor by origin, he turned to the bar and became one of the first, in modern terms, forensic experts. His decisions were based on his method of collecting all possible data.

Flighty Phyllis

R. Austin Freeman

This little novel is a total departure from the Dr. Thorndyke mysteries, the classic British detective novels that made Freemans reputation. The heroine is a perfectly proper but adventurous young woman named Phyllis, who takes over her cousin Charlies chambers in Clifford Inn. The presence of some of Charlies clothes in the closet gives her the idea of dressing as a man for a fancy dress ball. Unfortunately, Phyllis looks just like the charming Charlie when wearing his clothes, and this gets her into some difficulties, because Charlie is a bit of a scalawag. Phyllis as Phil gets into fights, performs heroic acts and falls in love with a man who thinks shes just his pal. Her adventures are tremendous fun. From impersonating a man to discovering mysterious trap doors, Flighty Phyllis is an entertaining glimpse at the times and trials of a wayward woman.

For The Defence. Dr. Thorndyke

R. Austin Freeman

Dr. Thorndyke is the CSI of his day. Most of the book is taken up with the account of how an innocent man gets himself thoroughly entangled in what looks like the certainty that he will be hanged, either for the death of a man he saw only once, or amazingly, for his own death! But, of course, Dr. Thorndyke is able to extricate him from this awful situation and triumph yet again. This is the amazing story of a polite, artistic gentleman who, by a series of mistakes, accidents, bad decisions and bad luck finds himself accused of two murders and a fraud. One of the murder victims is himself! No one but Dr. Thorndyke could possible clear up the confusion.

Helen Vardons Confession

R. Austin Freeman

Helen Vardon narrates her own story and one in which Dr. Thorndyke barely features until the final chapters. Helen Vardon contracts to a marriage without full knowledge of the circumstances regarding her fathers financial status. This leads to a dastardly trail of intrigue and deception and ends in murder. Dr. Thorndyke appears at the eleventh hour but does he save the day? Dr. Thornedyke is left to piece together the clues in this enticing mystery. This novel is a departure from the previous Dr. Thornedyke mysteries in narrator choice, form, and eventual resolution, with much less of the medical and scientific reasoning of prior volumes.

John Thorndykes Cases

R. Austin Freeman

Dr. Thorndike is a physician and lawyer who lectures on medical jurisprudence. He is also a Grade A detective with a first-rate brain and excellent powers of observation, as well as a talent for scientific analysis. He aids the purposes of justice by reading out a completely unforeseen decision from a set of clues that the authorities have misinterpreted.

Mr. Polton Explains

R. Austin Freeman

R. Austin Freemans character Dr. Thorndyke is considered the first modern forensic scientist in literature. This is one of the oddities of detective fiction. The first part of this story is an autobiography of Thorrndykes lab assistant Polton. Polton, Dr. Thorndykes lab assistant and a servant has graced every Thorndyke mystery with his mechanical ingenuity, his sumptuous meals and teas, and his crinkly smile. The second part is a mystery tale, which builds on some of the characters we first saw in the earlier portion. Polton and Dr. Thorndyke faced with a mystery involving a mysterious fire in a Soho house filled with supposedly inflammable objects and a body charred beyond recognition by the fire. Poltons understanding of the mechanisms of clocks leads to a breakthrough in the case.

Mr. Pottermacks Oversight

R. Austin Freeman

Mr. Pottermack, wrongly convicted for forgery of checks, has escaped from jail, made his fortune in the US and come back to England to find his fiance. The only one who is cleverer than Mr. Pottermack is Freemans detective, Dr. Thorndyke. In this novel, the sympathetic, engaging and enterprising Mr. Pottermack commits the perfect crime, only to discover that a perfect crime is the last thing in the world he wants. Then Mr. Pottermack comes up against the legendary Dr. John Thorndyke, physician and lawyer, the dean of scientific detection, who seems to know far too much about what Mr. Pottermack did on a night when there was nobody around to see him. Will Dr. Thorndyke celebrate another triumph? Or will Mr. Pottermack avoid detection and finally find happiness?

Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke

R. Austin Freeman

Dr.Thornedykes methods of detection are characterised by investigations of apparently irrelevant facts and lengthy explanations of his train of hypothetical reasoning. In this novel, Dr. Thorndykes ability to identify fish scales and rope material sets his investigation in motion. The crime is the murder of an aristocrat staged to look like a suicide. There are really two stories alternating, which eventually become one. We watch Dr. Thorndyke follow a thin and improbable trail of forensic evidence. And we observe the seemingly unrelated adventures of a stationers delivery boy, who innocently gets in the way of a cutthroat gang. Dr. Thorndyke calls Jasper after hearing his amazing story. The complex, gripping and rather romantic plot once again demonstrates the greatness of A. Austin Freeman as a writer of totally engaging and original crime fiction.

The Case of Oscar Brodski

R. Austin Freeman

A suburban train runs over a man lying on the rails. Passengers at the nearest station recognize the famous gem dealer Oscar Brodsky as the deceased. Was it an accident, suicide or murder? In less than half a day, Dr. Thorndike, known for his scientific method of solving crimes, solves the mystery.

The Cats Eye

R. Austin Freeman

Narrated by Robert Anstey, who is acting as Thorndykes counsel as Jervis is away in America. He walks right into a murder scene, attracted by the screams of a beautiful young woman. The dead man is a harmless old bachelor who collects objects of arcane appeal. Several pieces of inscribed jewelry are missing. Its a strange sort of burglary perpetrated by clumsy amateurs who nonetheless got clean away. Dr. Thorndyke takes on the case and enlists Anstey as his sidekick. Anstey makes a perfect foil for the great forensics expert, since he misses the significance of everything. There is murder, love, and a form of code to be deciphered to prove an inheritance. The plot, which is ingenious and complex, includes a contested inheritance with a fascinating history. And the reader is treated to plenty of scientific and analytic exploits by Dr. Thorndyke. We watch him test for poison; take impressions of fingerprints, handprints and footprints; detect secret chambers; and interpret coded messages.