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.