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

Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard was made to look a fool in the Sherlock Holmes stories. Now he gets his own back, introducing 16 tales of detectives whose abilities rival that of the great Sherlock Holmes.

Die attraktive Edith Grant wird brutal ermordet in einem Erste-Klasse-Zugabteil aufgefunden. Wenig später verhaftet die Polizei einen jungen Maler, der mit dem Opfer kurz zuvor in Streit geraten war und zudem ein Medaillon vom Tatort mitgenommen hat. Dessen Unschuld zu beweisen, stellt für Sherlock Holmes keine leichte Aufgabe dar, denn alles scheint gegen den Beschuldigten zu sprechen.

Eccentric collector Daniel Penrose fails to return home after being involved in a fatal car accident. In his absence, his house is burgled, apparently by someone possessing a key to the room in which he secretly stores a collection of valuable gemstones and coins; and then, as Penrose's wealthy father nears death, questions of inheritance arise. Dr John Thorndyke is asked to establish what has become of the missing man.

On a sultry afternoon in July, a man stumbles through thick foliage, making for the coast. He wears prisoner's garb and guards are hot on his heels. Happening upon a bather's clothes, the escapee leaves the scene looking the part of the average beachcomber. But it can be hard to stay hidden forever. When a blackmailer intrudes upon the promising life of the man who now calls himself Mr. Pottermack, a violent fate befalls him, and the stakes are set: Pottermack must avoid discovery at all costs to escape the hangman's noose.

A collection of 31 tales of mystery and murder from the career of the great scientific detective, Dr John Thorndyke. Including every story from John Thorndyke's Cases (1909), The Adventures of Dr Thorndyke (1912), Percival Bland's Proxy (1913), The Missing Mortgagee (1914), Dr Thorndyke's Case-book (1923), and The Puzzle Lock and Other Stories (1925)

A complete collection of R Austin Freeman's short stories of his great scientific investigator, Dr John Thorndyke. Including every story from John Thorndyke's Cases (1909), The Adventures of Dr Thorndyke (1912), Dr Thorndyke's Case-book (1923), The Puzzle Lock and Other Stories (1925), and The Magic Casket (1927); along with the two stand-alone stories Percival Bland's Proxy (1913), and The Missing Mortgagee (1914) (collected with others in The Great Portrait Mystery and Other Stories (1918)).

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.

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?

Four more full-length adventures of R. Austen Freeman's great 'scientific investigator', Dr John Thorndyke: First, young Helen Vardon marries a man she detests in order to save her father from imprisonment; but her selfless act only precipitates a still greater disaster, and puts her under suspicion of murder. Then, in The Cat's Eye, Thorndyke unravels both an apparent robbery gone wrong and the still more complex mystery of Miss Blake's family inheritance and the cat's eye pendant.

In The Red Thumb Mark, the doctor works to clear young Reuben Hornby of stealing a parcel of diamonds from his uncle's safe, despite the apparently damning evidence. Then, in The Eye of Osiris, an amateur Egyptologist abruptly goes missing, leaving behind a strangely vexatious will. In The Mystery of 31 New Inn, Thorndyke's long-time collaborator Dr. Jervis consults his mentor regarding a mystery who may be being slowly poisoned. And in A Silent Witness, someone is making very determined attempts to murder inoffensive newly-qualified Doctor Humphrey Jardine.

Seven more tales of mystery for the great forensic investigator Dr. John Thorndyke, involving missing jewels, stolen bullion, a disappeared will, an ancient family tale of piracy and betrayal, the wrong hat, curious white footprints, and a body incinerated in a burning hay rick....

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.

Someone is making very determined attempts to murder inoffensive newly-qualified Doctor Humphrey Jardine. Could this be related to the body which he discovered in Hampstead - and which when he returned with the police had entirely disappeared? Or perhaps the odd circumstances surrounding the death of Septimus Maddock may be the key? Fortunately, celebrated medical jurist Dr. John Thorndyke comes to the aid of his erstwhile student to unravel the mystery....

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....

A third collection of full-length adventures for R. Austen Freeman's great forensic detective, Dr John Thorndyke.

Peerless medical jurist Dr. John Thorndyke unravels nine more tales of greed, deceit, theft, and murder—including the sinister meaning behind a pickpocket's discarded plunder; a man terrorized by a vengeful ghost; a young wife accused of poisoning her older husband; a body concealed beneath the floor of a cottage; and the case of an unknown criminal mastermind and a strong room with an impossibly complex lock...

Overworked locum Dr. Jervis is called to the bedside of a gentleman who refuses to see a doctor except on the condition that the doctor must be told neither his name nor his address. After a strange ride in a closed carriage, Jervis finds his patient apparently suffering the effects of morphine poisoning, and departs with a sense of uneasiness. Anxious to trace the man again, Jervis consults his old friend and colleague, the eminent scientific investigator Dr. John Thorndyke.

Seven stories of mystery and adventure from R Austin Freeman; including an audacious theft from London's National Gallery; the sudden self-confidence of a normally timid curate; a very remarkable funeral; a ghostly lawyer's repentance; a lucky find for a rural bricklayer; and two investigations for the celebrated forensic detective Dr. John Thorndyke...

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.

"[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.