Showing results by author "R. Austin Freeman" in All Categories

In this two-part mystery, first a determined and uncompromising young Englishman traveling under the name 'John Walker' arrives in West Africa, on the run from events back home. Soon, he finds himself embroiled in adventure and romance by land and by sea. Meanwhile, in part two, the equally implacable forensic detective Dr. John Thorndyke investigates the theft that provoked 'Walker' to flee England in the first place and soon discovers unexpected mysteries.

"[T]he longer I practise, the more I become convinced that the microscope is the sheet-anchor of the medical jurist." So declares "scientific investigator", Dr John Thorndyke, as he interprets the clues found in the likes of bloodstains, dust, ash, hairs and fibres, and broken glass, to evolve "an ordered train of evidence from a mass of facts apparently incoherent and unrelated," leading to the solution of the mystery. This book contains five tales of intrigue, murder, mutiny, pathos, and romance - including four in Freeman's then revolutionary "inverted detective story" format.

Nine more cases of theft and murder for the great "scientific investigator" Dr. John Thorndyke. Including a woman harassed over a Japanese casket of dubious artistic merit; an allegation of murder where the victim has already been cremated; a Suffragist accused of theft and murder; a man found drowned in a ditch, and a woman found with her throat cut; the grizzly contents of a salesman's sample box; a mysterious death and a missing ornament; and a man blown to pieces in an explosion.

During the last part of the nineteenth century, the detective story took off as a popular genre as literary magazines vied with each other to draw in readers with gripping page-turners by the likes of Arthur Conan Doyle, G. K. Chesterton, Guy Boothby and Wilkie Collins. This collection brings together some of the great detectives of the Victorian era, from the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes, to the mild mannered Father Brown, to the feisty J. G. Reeder.

R. Austin Freeman presents eight cases for his ingenious Edwardian "scientific investigator", Dr. John Thorndyke, including: a classic locked-room murder mystery; a race to find a disappeared child; a dead woman discovered on a train; the story of the vengeful ghost of a murdered Chinese mandarin; and the enigmatic Moabite Cypher. As ever, Dr. Thorndyke meticulously collects the evidence of footprints, dust, hairs, and fibres, and even a single blue sequin, to unravel the mystery and see that justice is done.

The great medical jurist Dr John Thorndyke must unravel three intricate cases, as a wealthy American attempts to prove a preposterous claim to an English earldom, based only upon a startlingly tall old family tale; a hundredweight of platinum, worth a fortune, is stolen; and, most bizarrely of all, a severed human head is discovered in a box in the left luggage office of London's Fenchurch Street Station...

While acting as a locum in London, young Dr. Strangeways is called to treat a woman following a violent attack by her drug-addled husband. A year later, as he begins a new practice in Rochester, he encounters the same woman again; but Mrs. Frood is now in hiding from her husband, who is actively searching for her in the area. And then, abruptly, she disappears into the evening fog, and the items she was carrying begin to turn up near the river—but there is no sign of a body.

Enjoying his last day of holiday before entering upon the duties of his first professional appointment, newly qualified Dr. Stephen Gray discovers the body of Julius D'Arblay, beneath the surface of a shallow woodland pond. He befriends the dead man's daughter, and to help her seeks the aid of his old teacher the great forensic investigator Dr. John Thorndyke—who soon discovers that Mr. D'Arblay was the victim of a very calculated murder. And the murderer is now threatening both Miss D'Arblay and young Dr. Grey himself.

Young Dr Oldfield is puzzled by the strangely intractable illness of his recently acquired patient, the Modernist potter Peter Gannet, and he calls upon his old teacher, Dr Thorndyke, to consult. Thorndyke quickly identifies the true cause of the illness as arsenic poisoning, and there seems little doubt that the poison has been administered by someone in Gannet's household. After his discharge from the hospital, what will be the result when Gannet returns to his home?

When her beloved father is threatened with imprisonment over misappropriated trust funds, Helen Vardon agrees secretly to marry the man who holds her father's fate in his hand, to save both her father and herself from poverty and social disgrace. But the marriage merely precipitates a terrible personal disaster, and a series of events involving death and blackmail, which puts Helen herself under suspicion of murder. Can Dr. Thorndyke unravel the mystery in time to save her?

When irascible clergyman Amos Monkhouse, visiting from the North, finds the condition of his invalid brother Harold so much worse than he had expected, he calls in a specialist. But when Harold then suddenly dies an investigation reveals that he was poisoned with arsenic. The police can make nothing of the conflicting evidence beyond the certainty that only someone in the dead man's immediate domestic circle could be responsible. A childhood friend of Harold's wife, young barrister Rupert Mayfield, convinced that there must be another explanation, enlists the help of Dr John Thorndyke to lift the shadow that hangs over his friends.

Fourteen mysteries to test your inner sleuth! This collection includes "The Stolen White Elephant" by Mark Twain, narrated by Mauro Hantman; "The Fenchurch Street Mystery" by Baroness Orczy, narrated by Davina Porter; "Problem of the Superfluous Finger" by Jacques Futrelle, narrated by Stephen R. Thorne; "The Blue Sequin" by R. Austin Freeman, narrated by Simon Vance; "An Intangible Clue" by Anna Katharine Green, narrated by Angela Brazil; and "The Oblong Box" by Edgar Allan Poe, narrated by Mauro Hantman, among others.

'Eye Of Osiris' A classic detective tale features the brilliant Dr. John Thorndyke, a masterful investigator with a unique blend of legal and medical expertise. Experience the story through young Dr. Paul Berkley, a former student of Thorndyke, as he becomes entangled in the enigmatic case of John Bellingham, an esteemed archaeologist who vanished without a trace. Berkley’s curiosity leads him into a web of intrigue involving Bellingham’s family, secrets, and the haunting legacy of his archaeological pursuits. With each twist and turn, Freeman crafts a narrative that keeps listeners on the...

When Robin Anstey KC comes upon the beautiful Miss Blake, who has been wounded while courageously attempting to detain a fleeing murderer, he calls upon his long-time legal collaborator Dr. John Thorndyke to investigate the killing. But what at first looks like a mere robbery gone wrong, leaving a scene awash with clues, in fact proves to be far from straightforward. And while trying to untie that knot, Thorndyke also interests himself in the still more complex mystery of Miss Blake's family inheritance, and the cat's eye pendant....

When Sherlock Holmes began his practice as a consulting detective, his ideas of scientific criminal investigations caused the London police to look upon him as a mere ‘theorist’. And yet, through his work, the science behind catching criminals became so important that it's hard now to imagine the world without them. Many famous great detectives followed in Holmes's footsteps, but before they began their careers - and while Holmes was still in practice in Baker Street - another London consultant, Dr John Thorndyke, opened his doors using the scientific methods of Holmes.

A wonderful collection of 30 of the greatest detective and mystery stories ever written. Featuring all the great classic sleuths, including Sherlock Holmes, Father Brown, Max Carrados, Dr. Thorndyke and Madame Rosika Storey. 1. 'Who killed Charlie Winpole?' By Ernest Bramah 2. 'The Blue Cross' by G. K. Chesterton 3. 'The Problem of the Five Marks' by Melville Davisson Post 4. 'The Comedy at Fountain Cottage' by Ernest Bramah 5. 'The Mysterious Card' by Cleveland Moffett 6. 'The Card Unveiled' by Cleveland Moffett

Originally published as The Singing Bone, this captivating book was later unveiled under a new guise, The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke. It holds a unique place in literary history as it presents the first use of the inverted detective formula, seen in the gripping story, The Case of Oskar Brodski, first published in Pearsons Magazine in 1912. This is not the only example of this intriguing formula in the book, making it a must-read for detective story enthusiasts.

Journey into the captivating world of detective John Thorndyke as he skillfully unravels mysteries in this anthology of Freemans intriguing crime narratives. - Summary by A. K. Morton

Introducing Dr. John Thorndyke and his friend Mr. Jervis. Together the sleuths solve through scientific means murders and mysteries, using logic and material evidence and Dr. Thorndyke's indispensable little green case.

A fascinating collection of classic short stories featuring unusual ways of making a living, including 'The Umbrella-Mender' by Beatrice Harraden, 'The Triumphs of a Taxidermist' by H. G. Wells, 'A Pair of Silk Stockings' by Kate Chopin, 'A Skinful of Trouble' by Arthur Morrison, 'White Magic' by Ella d'Arcy, 'A Deal in Ostriches' by H. G. Wells, and many more.