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Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries #5
The Singing Bone
In the topsy turvy world of The Singing Bone, Richard Austin Freeman presents us with a solution. The reader is asked to deduce how different mysteries were solved rather than whodunit. Freeman introduces five distinct tales of intrigue, romance, mutiny and murder. The ingenuity of these detective stories lies in their fresh and original approach in what amounts to a tantalising read.
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First published January 1, 1912
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About the author
R. Austin Freeman
609 books86 followersRichard Freeman was born in Soho, London on 11 April 1862, the son of Ann Maria (nee Dunn) and Richard Freeman, a tailor. He was originally named Richard, and later added the Austin to his name.
He became a medical trainee at Middlesex Hospital Medical College, and was accepted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He married Annie Elizabeth Edwards in 1887; they had two sons. After a few weeks of married life, the couple found themselves in Accra on the Gold Coast, where he was assistant surgeon. His time in Africa produced plenty of hard work, very little money and ill health, so much so that after seven years he was invalided out of the service in 1891. He wrote his first book, 'Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman', which was published in 1898. It was critically acclaimed but made very little money.
On his return to England he set up an eye/ear/nose/throat practice, but in due course his health forced him to give up medicine, although he did have occasional temporary posts, and in World War I he was in the ambulance corps.
He became a writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. The first of the books in the series was 'The Red Thumb Mark' (1907). His first published crime novel was 'The Adventures of Romney Pringle' (1902) and was a collaborative effort published under the pseudonym Clifford Ashdown. Within a few years he was devoting his time to full-time writing.
With the publication of 'The Singing Bone' (1912) he invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in which the commission of the crime is described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator, with the story then describing the detective's attempt to solve the mystery). Thereafter he used some of his early experiences as a colonial surgeon in his novels.
A large proportion of the Dr Thorndyke stories involve genuine, but often quite arcane, points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology.
He died in Gravesend on 28 September 1943.
He became a medical trainee at Middlesex Hospital Medical College, and was accepted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He married Annie Elizabeth Edwards in 1887; they had two sons. After a few weeks of married life, the couple found themselves in Accra on the Gold Coast, where he was assistant surgeon. His time in Africa produced plenty of hard work, very little money and ill health, so much so that after seven years he was invalided out of the service in 1891. He wrote his first book, 'Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman', which was published in 1898. It was critically acclaimed but made very little money.
On his return to England he set up an eye/ear/nose/throat practice, but in due course his health forced him to give up medicine, although he did have occasional temporary posts, and in World War I he was in the ambulance corps.
He became a writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. The first of the books in the series was 'The Red Thumb Mark' (1907). His first published crime novel was 'The Adventures of Romney Pringle' (1902) and was a collaborative effort published under the pseudonym Clifford Ashdown. Within a few years he was devoting his time to full-time writing.
With the publication of 'The Singing Bone' (1912) he invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in which the commission of the crime is described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator, with the story then describing the detective's attempt to solve the mystery). Thereafter he used some of his early experiences as a colonial surgeon in his novels.
A large proportion of the Dr Thorndyke stories involve genuine, but often quite arcane, points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology.
He died in Gravesend on 28 September 1943.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
June 27, 2019
In the 1920s, R. Austin Freeman’s Dr. Thorndyke was almost as popular a character as Sherlock Holmes, but fell out of favour in subsequent decades, partly due to the author’s advocacy of eugenics, which didn’t sit comfortably with the liberal literary establishment.
Freeman’s writing is more mimimalist in style than Doyle’s, yet his Dr. Thorndyke has a warmer and more aristocratic demeanour (even down to a sense of noblesse oblige) than the rather cold-blooded Holmes.
Four of the five stories in this collection are inverted detective stories, that is, the reader knows from the outset who the criminal is, but takes pleasure in observing how the detective finds him out. (This is actually more interesting and page-turning than it sounds.)
The first story isn’t that great, but the other four are:
A Case of Premeditation
A cunning killer manages to throw a pack of slavering bloodhounds off his scent. Thorndyke observes that the culprit deserves to escape because “to kill a blackmailer is hardly murder”. One can’t imagine Holmes or Miss Marple saying that, ha ha.
The Echo of a Mutiny
A murder at sea. Contains the reference to the ‘Singing Bone’ of the collection’s title, a Grimm’s tale in which the bone of a murder victim sings; the ’bone’ in this story is the dead man’s pipe, which Thorndyke makes ‘sing’ through forensic analysis.
A Wastrel’s Romance
Thorndyke finds a criminal’s whereabouts in London simply by analysing the dust on his coat!
The Old Lag
This is a standard rather than inverted story, in which Thorndyke must clear the name of an innocent man; it could have been a Sherlock Holmes story.
Freeman’s writing is more mimimalist in style than Doyle’s, yet his Dr. Thorndyke has a warmer and more aristocratic demeanour (even down to a sense of noblesse oblige) than the rather cold-blooded Holmes.
Four of the five stories in this collection are inverted detective stories, that is, the reader knows from the outset who the criminal is, but takes pleasure in observing how the detective finds him out. (This is actually more interesting and page-turning than it sounds.)
The first story isn’t that great, but the other four are:
A Case of Premeditation
A cunning killer manages to throw a pack of slavering bloodhounds off his scent. Thorndyke observes that the culprit deserves to escape because “to kill a blackmailer is hardly murder”. One can’t imagine Holmes or Miss Marple saying that, ha ha.
The Echo of a Mutiny
A murder at sea. Contains the reference to the ‘Singing Bone’ of the collection’s title, a Grimm’s tale in which the bone of a murder victim sings; the ’bone’ in this story is the dead man’s pipe, which Thorndyke makes ‘sing’ through forensic analysis.
A Wastrel’s Romance
Thorndyke finds a criminal’s whereabouts in London simply by analysing the dust on his coat!
The Old Lag
This is a standard rather than inverted story, in which Thorndyke must clear the name of an innocent man; it could have been a Sherlock Holmes story.
August 7, 2023
ENGLISH: A set of atypical mystery stories, where we first learn how the murder (attempted or perpetrated) took place, then we get the explanation of how Dr. Thorndyke solved the case. This procedure applies to the first four stories. The fifth one is traditional.
I liked least the third and fourth stories. The fifth one is original, depending on the identification of the blood of a camel, albeit Dr. Thorndyke's activities are a little naif.
ESPAÑOL: Un conjunto de cuentos policiales atípicos, en los que el lector se entera primero de cómo tuvo lugar el asesinato o intento de asesinato, y luego se le explica cómo resolvió el caso el Dr. Thorndyke. Este procedimiento se aplica a los cuatro primeros cuentos. El quinto es de tipo tradicional.
Los cuentos tercero y cuarto me gustaron menos. El quinto es original, pues depende de la identificación de la sangre de un camello, aunque las actividades del Dr. Thorndyke son un poco inocentonas.
I liked least the third and fourth stories. The fifth one is original, depending on the identification of the blood of a camel, albeit Dr. Thorndyke's activities are a little naif.
ESPAÑOL: Un conjunto de cuentos policiales atípicos, en los que el lector se entera primero de cómo tuvo lugar el asesinato o intento de asesinato, y luego se le explica cómo resolvió el caso el Dr. Thorndyke. Este procedimiento se aplica a los cuatro primeros cuentos. El quinto es de tipo tradicional.
Los cuentos tercero y cuarto me gustaron menos. El quinto es original, pues depende de la identificación de la sangre de un camello, aunque las actividades del Dr. Thorndyke son un poco inocentonas.
April 9, 2018
3.5*
This short story collection contains 5 stories:
The Case of Oscar Brodski
A Case of Premeditation
The Echo of a Mutiny
A Wastrel's Romance
The Old Lag
As the preface explains, with the exception of the final story ("The Old Lag"), these stories were written to show that "The reader's curiosity is concerned not so much with the question "Who did it?" as with the question "How was the discovery achieved?" ... Would it be possible to write a detective story in which from the outset the reader was taken entirely into the author's confidence, was made an actual witness of the crime and furnished with every fact that could possible be used in its detection? Would there be any story left when the reader had all the facts? I believed that there would..."
Nowadays, this type of crime story is not uncommon but Freeman was the first to show that it could be commercially successful with "The Case of Oscar Brodski". While I had a good time reading all the stories, I must admit that my personal taste is for the more traditional approach as shown by the fact that I liked "The Old Lag" the best of the 5.
This short story collection contains 5 stories:
The Case of Oscar Brodski
A Case of Premeditation
The Echo of a Mutiny
A Wastrel's Romance
The Old Lag
As the preface explains, with the exception of the final story ("The Old Lag"), these stories were written to show that "The reader's curiosity is concerned not so much with the question "Who did it?" as with the question "How was the discovery achieved?" ... Would it be possible to write a detective story in which from the outset the reader was taken entirely into the author's confidence, was made an actual witness of the crime and furnished with every fact that could possible be used in its detection? Would there be any story left when the reader had all the facts? I believed that there would..."
Nowadays, this type of crime story is not uncommon but Freeman was the first to show that it could be commercially successful with "The Case of Oscar Brodski". While I had a good time reading all the stories, I must admit that my personal taste is for the more traditional approach as shown by the fact that I liked "The Old Lag" the best of the 5.
July 22, 2018
Three and a half stars.
I don't normally like inverted mysteries but I thought that I ought to read this collection as it purported to be the very first of its kind, in fact the genre is supposed to have been invented by Freeman. Although I am a great fan of Thorndyke, I have to say that after the first couple they seemed a bit formulaic. There is no doubt that the author was extraordinarily clever in dreaming them up but I much prefer the full length novels.
I don't normally like inverted mysteries but I thought that I ought to read this collection as it purported to be the very first of its kind, in fact the genre is supposed to have been invented by Freeman. Although I am a great fan of Thorndyke, I have to say that after the first couple they seemed a bit formulaic. There is no doubt that the author was extraordinarily clever in dreaming them up but I much prefer the full length novels.
December 15, 2019
The Case of Oscar Brodski. 7/10
A Case of Premeditation. 6/10
A Wastrel's Romance. 9/10
The Echo of a Mutiny. 7/10
The Old Lag. 7/10
Overall - 7/10
A Case of Premeditation. 6/10
A Wastrel's Romance. 9/10
The Echo of a Mutiny. 7/10
The Old Lag. 7/10
Overall - 7/10
July 9, 2018
This is my second book of Freeman and Thorndyke. Frankly, I liked 'The Red Thumb Mark' better though I guessed who the main culprit was.
The book has 5 cases in total, out of which have the crime and criminal detailed first and then shown how those are cracked.
They put a disclaimer hinting that anybody who does not prefer to read this experimental style is warned, but I read it anyway.
Overall, a decent book which can be read once.
The book has 5 cases in total, out of which have the crime and criminal detailed first and then shown how those are cracked.
They put a disclaimer hinting that anybody who does not prefer to read this experimental style is warned, but I read it anyway.
Overall, a decent book which can be read once.
May 3, 2021
على عكس الشائع في القصص والروايات البوليسية الكاتب يبدأ قصته بالجاني وكيفية حدوث جريمته بالتفاصيل وبعد اكتشاف الجريمة ...يحضر دكتور ثورندايك وصديقه ومساعده دكتور جيرفيز ونخطو معهم بطريقة متأنية -ومفرطة في العقلانية- نحو كيفية اكتشاف الجاني وملابسات جريمته وأسبابها...ما استمتعتش بها كتير يمكن عشان قديمة والقصص البوليسية الحديثة اكثر متعة.
May 1, 2023
This is a 1912 book and is a collection of five short stories written by British mystery author R. Austin Freeman involving his famous scientific detective John Thorndyke and his sidekick Christopher Jervis, as well as Thorndyke’s lab assistant Polton. Thorndyke is both a forensic scientist and lawyer. The short stories were originally published from 1910 in magazine format in Pearson's Magazine. The first four stories in the collection are inverted detective stories. As mystery story fans know, an inverted detective story is where the commission of the crime is described in the beginning of the story so the readers know who is the guilty party from the get go. The story then is about how the detective will solve the crime. Freeman invented the inverted detective story structure in the first story in this collection: The Case of Oscar Brodski. All the short stories were initially published in Pearson’s magazine. The setting of all the stories are in England at the dawn of the early 20th century.
For the 4 inverted stories in the collection, they are all divided into two parts. The first part describes the commission of the crime from a third person point of view. The second part describes how Thorndyke solved the crime with Christopher Jervis (Thorndyke’s Watson) as the narrator. I like all five stories in the collection. Having said that, out of the five, my favorite are A case of Premeditation and The Old Lag.
Spoiler Alert
Case 1 The Case of Oscar Brodski (4 Star). This story is the first inverted mystery ever written and is a very famous story. It is a case of murder for profit. It is divided into two parts. Part I: The Mechanism of Crime and Part II: The Mechanism of Detection. Out of all five stories, this one probably has the most variety of types of forensic evidence involved. The story is about Silas Hickler, who is a burglar and a fence of stolen diamonds. One night, he ran into a rich diamond merchant, Oscar Brodski, near his home. Hickler (whose house is near the train station) invited Brodski to stay with him while they waited for the train that would take both of them to catch the boat train to Amsterdam. Brodski is known in the industry to carry expensive diamonds from England to Amsterdam to have them cut. Hickler murdered Brodski, stole his diamonds, and dumped his body on the nearby train track to make it look like was either an accident or a suicide.
Thorndyke was asked to investigate. Thorndyke, being a forensic scientist, noticed the blood drip pattern on the dead man’s face mean he was sitting up when he died and not lying down on the train tracks. He was also able to determine in addition to a head wound, Brodski actually died of asphyxia and he was actually suffocated to death. Thorndyke followed the trail to Hickler’s house and found broken glass fragments that matches those of Brodski’s broken eyeglass fragments at the track. When Thorndyke performed particle analysis using a microscope on the suspected weapon found in Hickler’s home, he found red wool fiber, blue cotton fiber, and yellow vegetable fiber all stuck to the iron bar. The same three kinds of fibers were found inside the victim’s mouth, when he was suffocated. Thorndyke concluded they were from the same rug that Hickler used first to suffocate Brodski and later to wipe the bloodied iron bar. Added to the fact he also found outside Hickler’s house the same brand of tobacco and cigarette paper used by Brodski, Hickler’s fate is sealed. Police were waiting for Hickler when he stepped off the boat train in Amsterdam to arrest him but he committed suicide before they could do so.
Case 2. A Case of Premeditation (5 Star). This is a case of the murder of a blackmailer, Mr. Pratt, by his victim. It is divided into two parts. Part I: The Elimination of Mr Pratt and Part II: Rival Sleuth Hounds. Mr. Pratt is a retired warder who used to work at Portland Prison. Twelve years ago, a criminal called Francis Dobbs escaped from prison. Dobbs changed his name to Rufus Pembury and has since then become a rich man. Years later, Pratt now works as steward for General O’Gorman, a retired warder who keeps a pack of bloodhounds. One day, Pratt saw Dobbs (aka Pembury) on the street and decided to follow him. After six months of research, Pratt knew Pembury is rich and decided to confront him and to blackmail him for 200 pounds a year. The two set up a meeting where the first quarterly payment of 50 pounds were to change hand. Pembury devised a very sophisticated murder plot to kill Pratt that took advantage of the bloodhounds owned by Pratt’s boss. Pembury bought a cane, hollowed the bottom out, and stuffed it with cotton wool that he saturated with perfume. He then walked with the cane from a preplanned murder site (a tree in the big estate of General O’Gorman) to a police station where Jack Ellis, who used to work with Pratt at Portland Prison, works (Pembury was trying to frame Ellis for the murder). Pembury knew the path Ellis takes everyday to and from work. He bought a purse, coated it with perfume, and left it on the roadside for Ellis to pick up so he has the scent on him. Pembury also bought two identical Norwegian knives, one of which he will use to kill Pratt. The other one (the decoy) Pembury dipped the handle in perfume and made sure he does not get the smell himself by keeping that knife in a brush case and only handled it with a tong. On the day of the murder, Pembury and Pratt met at the location prepared by Pembury. Pembury stabbed Pratt to death and he took the real murder weapon away. He then placed the decoy weapon coated with perfume and animal blood at the crime scene. Later, when the body of Pratt was discovered, General O’Gorman ordered the bloodhounds to be used. They smelt the decoy weapon, followed the perfume trail to the police station, and all the way to Ellis.
Inspector Fox of Baysford police, the boss of Ellis, asked Thorndyke for a second opinion on what he perceived to be an open and shut case. Thorndyke performed some footprint analysis at the crime scene and studied the decoy murder weapon. Thorndyke soon realized perfume might have been used to trick the bloodhounds. Later, he found the tongs and the brush case used by Pembury to transport the decoy weapon. When he found Pembury’s fingerprints on the brush case, he was able to determine the murderer was Dobbs. The police circulated Dobbs’ photo in the neighborhood and were able to identify him as Pembury. By then, Pembury has fled and was never heard from again.
Case 3. The Echo of a Mutiny (3 Star). This is a case of involuntary homicide and revenge. It is divided into two parts. Part I: Death on the Girdler and Part II: The Singing Bone. Girdler is the name of a lighthouse. The story started with James Brown rowing a skiff boat out to the Girdler lighthouse to take up his post there as a lighthouse keeper. Girdler is managed by a two-person crew, and Brown was supposed to go and relieve one of the two people there, Harry. Unbeknownst to the coast guard, Harry broke his leg while on duty and has been ferried out by a passing ship before Brown arrived. When Brown arrived at the lighthouse, the only keeper there was Tom Jeffreys. The two actually knew each other when both were partners in a crime years ago. James’s real name is Amos Todd and Tom’s real name is Jeffrey Rorke. The two were involved in a crime where Rorke killed somebody. Todd testified against Rorke and also took all the loot. Before Rorke could be sentenced, he escaped and changed his name to Tom Jeffreys and became a lighthouse keeper. By now, Todd has lost his fortune as well and has also become a lighthouse keeper. Now when they met again, the two argued and Rorke and Todd fought. Todd lost his footing and fell into the sea and drowned. Rorke then pulled the plug on Todd’s boat and sank it to make it look like Todd has never arrived at the lighthouse and was lost at sea.
Thorndyke was asked to look at the case. In addition to Jervis, this is the first case in this book where his famous lab assistant, Polton, made his appearance. The coastguard finally found Todd’s dead body as well as his boat, which did not sink completely. By looking at Todd’s pocket watch, which stopped at 12:13, Thorndyke was able to discredit Rorke’s story that he never saw Todd that night. Thorndyke also found a pipe on Todd’s body with tobacco that does not match those in Todd’s tobacco pouch. Also, the mouthpiece on the pipe on Todd’s body shows strong bite marks but Todd has lost all his teeth. Thorndyke concluded it was actually one of the pipes Todd took from Rorke’s pipe case in the lighthouse. When Thorndyke went to the lighthouse to interview Rorke, he found there is a pipe there with no bite mark and has the kind of tobacco used by Todd. Later, Rorke confessed and claimed it was an accident and got 18 months for it.
The title of the book, “The Singing Bone” comes from this story. It basically says the inanimate things around us have each of them a song to sing to us if we are but ready with attentive ears.
Case 4 A Wastrel’s Romance (4 Star). This is a case of theft and love. It is divided into two parts. Part I: The Spinster’s Guest and Part II: Munera Pulveris. A wastrel is a good for nothing person, which is an apt description of the hero in the case, Augustus Bailey, who is a poor and not too successful thief. When a group of spinsters decided to host a big party at a mansion called Willowdale, Bailey decided to gate crash the party using a fake invitation to try to steal jewelry and cash from the guests. There he saw Mrs Jenu B Chater, a very rich American widow. Bailey and Chater recognized each other even though they have both forgotten the other’s name. Years ago, the two met one night at a dance in Portsmouth. The two were very close to each other that night and impressed each other greatly although they never saw each other again. Now that they have met again, Chater invited Bailey to have a dance with her later in the evening. In the meantime, Chater, who was wearing a lot of expensive jewelry, went out to the grounds of the estate. Bailey hid in a bush behind her bench and tried to subdue her with chloroform so he can steal her jewelry. However, he got scared after she fainted, thinking he had suffocated and murdered her, so he fled without taking anything. In his hurry, Bailey took the wrong coat from the cloak room and left his coat (with the key to his apartment) behind.
Jervis, who was at the dance with his wife, was called in to attend to the fainted Mrs. Chater. Next day, Superintendent Miller of Scotland Yard took Chater to see Thorndyke and seek his help to track down the assailant using his forensic techniques. Thorndyke vacuum cleaned the coat to collect all the dust particles and looked at them under the microscope. Just like what modern police forensic scientists would do. Thorndyke found graphite on the right-hand side of the coat which led him to believe the person walks along a street with factories on the right. He also found a lot of rice starch, wheat starch and ground spices on the coat, which led him to think the person lives near a mill. The only neighborhood with all three kinds of mills: a rice mill, a flour mill and a spice grinder, is the Dockhead neighborhood. Therefore, Thorndyke thought that is where the owner of coat lives. He then focused on buildings that are apartment blocks and identified the Hanover Buildings. The police took the key and tried every door in the building and found it opens the door to Bailey’s apartment. When Mrs. Chater was brought to the apartment to confront the assailant and she realized it was Bailey, she refused to prosecute and said it could not be him. She dismissed the police and invited Bailey to have a talk between the two of them.
Case 5 The Old Lag (5 Star). This is the only case in this collection that is not an inverted mystery. The structure of the story, however, feels very much like it is a copycat of the 1903 Sherlock Holmes mystery story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder. In both cases, the story start with a wrongfully accused innocent man being hunted by the police. He ran to the private detective for help. In both cases, the police were convinced of the man’s guilt by fingerprint evidence which were faked by the real criminal. This case is also similar to the first Thorndyke book in 1907, The Red Thumb Mark, where the story involves using fake fingerprint to frame an innocent man.
The story is divided into two parts. Part I: The Changed Immutable and Part II: The Ship of the desert. The story is told from the beginning from Jervis’ point of view. The story started with Thorndyke having received a letter from a man asking for his help. That man turns out to be Frank Belfield, a reformed criminal whom Thorndyke has previously help convict. He is now being pursued by police, accused of murder. Superintendent Miller of Scotland Yard was convinced Belfield was guilty because they found his fingerprints, including all five fingers, on the windowpane. They matched with the finger prints of Belfield they have on record, which was from six years ago when he was last arrested. The murdered man is called Caldwell, a retired fence and a police informant. Thorndyke noticed that Belfield had seriously injured his forefinger a year ago. Even though it has healed, there is still a scar. Thorndyke took Belfield’s fingerprint and compared that against those left on the window as well as those from the police file. He noticed that the fingerprint of the forefinger on the window did not show the scar. Therefore, it is not from Belfield the person, but is copied from the police file. The Police then dropped the case against Belfield.
Thorndyke then decided to figure out who is the real murderer. He visited the crime scene and found a handkerchief with the name F Belford printed on it was left in the open safe. Also found at the crime scene were loots from a series of recent burglaries near Winchmore Hill. With the fake fingerprint on the windowpane, the F Belford printed handkerchief and the loots, Thorndyke concluded the burglar of Winchmore Hill was trying to have police close the case by using Belfield as a fall guy. By following the trail of the handkerchief, Thorndyke discovered months ago, Belfield had lent the handkerchief to Joseph Woodthrope, a former warder at Holloway prison when Frank served time there. Thorndyke analyzed the blood on the handkerchief and found them to be camel blood. That is consistent with Belfield’s story that he gave the handkerchief to Woodthrope at the zoo when Woodthrope was trying to clean up some camel blood. Woodthrope is now a zookeeper and is a professional photographer. Thorndyke concluded Woodthrope is the Winchmore Hill burglar and the murderer of Caldwell. Since Woodthrope is a good photographer, he took a photo of Belfield’s fingerprint six years ago when he was a warder and had access to the file.
For the 4 inverted stories in the collection, they are all divided into two parts. The first part describes the commission of the crime from a third person point of view. The second part describes how Thorndyke solved the crime with Christopher Jervis (Thorndyke’s Watson) as the narrator. I like all five stories in the collection. Having said that, out of the five, my favorite are A case of Premeditation and The Old Lag.
Spoiler Alert
Case 1 The Case of Oscar Brodski (4 Star). This story is the first inverted mystery ever written and is a very famous story. It is a case of murder for profit. It is divided into two parts. Part I: The Mechanism of Crime and Part II: The Mechanism of Detection. Out of all five stories, this one probably has the most variety of types of forensic evidence involved. The story is about Silas Hickler, who is a burglar and a fence of stolen diamonds. One night, he ran into a rich diamond merchant, Oscar Brodski, near his home. Hickler (whose house is near the train station) invited Brodski to stay with him while they waited for the train that would take both of them to catch the boat train to Amsterdam. Brodski is known in the industry to carry expensive diamonds from England to Amsterdam to have them cut. Hickler murdered Brodski, stole his diamonds, and dumped his body on the nearby train track to make it look like was either an accident or a suicide.
Thorndyke was asked to investigate. Thorndyke, being a forensic scientist, noticed the blood drip pattern on the dead man’s face mean he was sitting up when he died and not lying down on the train tracks. He was also able to determine in addition to a head wound, Brodski actually died of asphyxia and he was actually suffocated to death. Thorndyke followed the trail to Hickler’s house and found broken glass fragments that matches those of Brodski’s broken eyeglass fragments at the track. When Thorndyke performed particle analysis using a microscope on the suspected weapon found in Hickler’s home, he found red wool fiber, blue cotton fiber, and yellow vegetable fiber all stuck to the iron bar. The same three kinds of fibers were found inside the victim’s mouth, when he was suffocated. Thorndyke concluded they were from the same rug that Hickler used first to suffocate Brodski and later to wipe the bloodied iron bar. Added to the fact he also found outside Hickler’s house the same brand of tobacco and cigarette paper used by Brodski, Hickler’s fate is sealed. Police were waiting for Hickler when he stepped off the boat train in Amsterdam to arrest him but he committed suicide before they could do so.
Case 2. A Case of Premeditation (5 Star). This is a case of the murder of a blackmailer, Mr. Pratt, by his victim. It is divided into two parts. Part I: The Elimination of Mr Pratt and Part II: Rival Sleuth Hounds. Mr. Pratt is a retired warder who used to work at Portland Prison. Twelve years ago, a criminal called Francis Dobbs escaped from prison. Dobbs changed his name to Rufus Pembury and has since then become a rich man. Years later, Pratt now works as steward for General O’Gorman, a retired warder who keeps a pack of bloodhounds. One day, Pratt saw Dobbs (aka Pembury) on the street and decided to follow him. After six months of research, Pratt knew Pembury is rich and decided to confront him and to blackmail him for 200 pounds a year. The two set up a meeting where the first quarterly payment of 50 pounds were to change hand. Pembury devised a very sophisticated murder plot to kill Pratt that took advantage of the bloodhounds owned by Pratt’s boss. Pembury bought a cane, hollowed the bottom out, and stuffed it with cotton wool that he saturated with perfume. He then walked with the cane from a preplanned murder site (a tree in the big estate of General O’Gorman) to a police station where Jack Ellis, who used to work with Pratt at Portland Prison, works (Pembury was trying to frame Ellis for the murder). Pembury knew the path Ellis takes everyday to and from work. He bought a purse, coated it with perfume, and left it on the roadside for Ellis to pick up so he has the scent on him. Pembury also bought two identical Norwegian knives, one of which he will use to kill Pratt. The other one (the decoy) Pembury dipped the handle in perfume and made sure he does not get the smell himself by keeping that knife in a brush case and only handled it with a tong. On the day of the murder, Pembury and Pratt met at the location prepared by Pembury. Pembury stabbed Pratt to death and he took the real murder weapon away. He then placed the decoy weapon coated with perfume and animal blood at the crime scene. Later, when the body of Pratt was discovered, General O’Gorman ordered the bloodhounds to be used. They smelt the decoy weapon, followed the perfume trail to the police station, and all the way to Ellis.
Inspector Fox of Baysford police, the boss of Ellis, asked Thorndyke for a second opinion on what he perceived to be an open and shut case. Thorndyke performed some footprint analysis at the crime scene and studied the decoy murder weapon. Thorndyke soon realized perfume might have been used to trick the bloodhounds. Later, he found the tongs and the brush case used by Pembury to transport the decoy weapon. When he found Pembury’s fingerprints on the brush case, he was able to determine the murderer was Dobbs. The police circulated Dobbs’ photo in the neighborhood and were able to identify him as Pembury. By then, Pembury has fled and was never heard from again.
Case 3. The Echo of a Mutiny (3 Star). This is a case of involuntary homicide and revenge. It is divided into two parts. Part I: Death on the Girdler and Part II: The Singing Bone. Girdler is the name of a lighthouse. The story started with James Brown rowing a skiff boat out to the Girdler lighthouse to take up his post there as a lighthouse keeper. Girdler is managed by a two-person crew, and Brown was supposed to go and relieve one of the two people there, Harry. Unbeknownst to the coast guard, Harry broke his leg while on duty and has been ferried out by a passing ship before Brown arrived. When Brown arrived at the lighthouse, the only keeper there was Tom Jeffreys. The two actually knew each other when both were partners in a crime years ago. James’s real name is Amos Todd and Tom’s real name is Jeffrey Rorke. The two were involved in a crime where Rorke killed somebody. Todd testified against Rorke and also took all the loot. Before Rorke could be sentenced, he escaped and changed his name to Tom Jeffreys and became a lighthouse keeper. By now, Todd has lost his fortune as well and has also become a lighthouse keeper. Now when they met again, the two argued and Rorke and Todd fought. Todd lost his footing and fell into the sea and drowned. Rorke then pulled the plug on Todd’s boat and sank it to make it look like Todd has never arrived at the lighthouse and was lost at sea.
Thorndyke was asked to look at the case. In addition to Jervis, this is the first case in this book where his famous lab assistant, Polton, made his appearance. The coastguard finally found Todd’s dead body as well as his boat, which did not sink completely. By looking at Todd’s pocket watch, which stopped at 12:13, Thorndyke was able to discredit Rorke’s story that he never saw Todd that night. Thorndyke also found a pipe on Todd’s body with tobacco that does not match those in Todd’s tobacco pouch. Also, the mouthpiece on the pipe on Todd’s body shows strong bite marks but Todd has lost all his teeth. Thorndyke concluded it was actually one of the pipes Todd took from Rorke’s pipe case in the lighthouse. When Thorndyke went to the lighthouse to interview Rorke, he found there is a pipe there with no bite mark and has the kind of tobacco used by Todd. Later, Rorke confessed and claimed it was an accident and got 18 months for it.
The title of the book, “The Singing Bone” comes from this story. It basically says the inanimate things around us have each of them a song to sing to us if we are but ready with attentive ears.
Case 4 A Wastrel’s Romance (4 Star). This is a case of theft and love. It is divided into two parts. Part I: The Spinster’s Guest and Part II: Munera Pulveris. A wastrel is a good for nothing person, which is an apt description of the hero in the case, Augustus Bailey, who is a poor and not too successful thief. When a group of spinsters decided to host a big party at a mansion called Willowdale, Bailey decided to gate crash the party using a fake invitation to try to steal jewelry and cash from the guests. There he saw Mrs Jenu B Chater, a very rich American widow. Bailey and Chater recognized each other even though they have both forgotten the other’s name. Years ago, the two met one night at a dance in Portsmouth. The two were very close to each other that night and impressed each other greatly although they never saw each other again. Now that they have met again, Chater invited Bailey to have a dance with her later in the evening. In the meantime, Chater, who was wearing a lot of expensive jewelry, went out to the grounds of the estate. Bailey hid in a bush behind her bench and tried to subdue her with chloroform so he can steal her jewelry. However, he got scared after she fainted, thinking he had suffocated and murdered her, so he fled without taking anything. In his hurry, Bailey took the wrong coat from the cloak room and left his coat (with the key to his apartment) behind.
Jervis, who was at the dance with his wife, was called in to attend to the fainted Mrs. Chater. Next day, Superintendent Miller of Scotland Yard took Chater to see Thorndyke and seek his help to track down the assailant using his forensic techniques. Thorndyke vacuum cleaned the coat to collect all the dust particles and looked at them under the microscope. Just like what modern police forensic scientists would do. Thorndyke found graphite on the right-hand side of the coat which led him to believe the person walks along a street with factories on the right. He also found a lot of rice starch, wheat starch and ground spices on the coat, which led him to think the person lives near a mill. The only neighborhood with all three kinds of mills: a rice mill, a flour mill and a spice grinder, is the Dockhead neighborhood. Therefore, Thorndyke thought that is where the owner of coat lives. He then focused on buildings that are apartment blocks and identified the Hanover Buildings. The police took the key and tried every door in the building and found it opens the door to Bailey’s apartment. When Mrs. Chater was brought to the apartment to confront the assailant and she realized it was Bailey, she refused to prosecute and said it could not be him. She dismissed the police and invited Bailey to have a talk between the two of them.
Case 5 The Old Lag (5 Star). This is the only case in this collection that is not an inverted mystery. The structure of the story, however, feels very much like it is a copycat of the 1903 Sherlock Holmes mystery story The Adventure of the Norwood Builder. In both cases, the story start with a wrongfully accused innocent man being hunted by the police. He ran to the private detective for help. In both cases, the police were convinced of the man’s guilt by fingerprint evidence which were faked by the real criminal. This case is also similar to the first Thorndyke book in 1907, The Red Thumb Mark, where the story involves using fake fingerprint to frame an innocent man.
The story is divided into two parts. Part I: The Changed Immutable and Part II: The Ship of the desert. The story is told from the beginning from Jervis’ point of view. The story started with Thorndyke having received a letter from a man asking for his help. That man turns out to be Frank Belfield, a reformed criminal whom Thorndyke has previously help convict. He is now being pursued by police, accused of murder. Superintendent Miller of Scotland Yard was convinced Belfield was guilty because they found his fingerprints, including all five fingers, on the windowpane. They matched with the finger prints of Belfield they have on record, which was from six years ago when he was last arrested. The murdered man is called Caldwell, a retired fence and a police informant. Thorndyke noticed that Belfield had seriously injured his forefinger a year ago. Even though it has healed, there is still a scar. Thorndyke took Belfield’s fingerprint and compared that against those left on the window as well as those from the police file. He noticed that the fingerprint of the forefinger on the window did not show the scar. Therefore, it is not from Belfield the person, but is copied from the police file. The Police then dropped the case against Belfield.
Thorndyke then decided to figure out who is the real murderer. He visited the crime scene and found a handkerchief with the name F Belford printed on it was left in the open safe. Also found at the crime scene were loots from a series of recent burglaries near Winchmore Hill. With the fake fingerprint on the windowpane, the F Belford printed handkerchief and the loots, Thorndyke concluded the burglar of Winchmore Hill was trying to have police close the case by using Belfield as a fall guy. By following the trail of the handkerchief, Thorndyke discovered months ago, Belfield had lent the handkerchief to Joseph Woodthrope, a former warder at Holloway prison when Frank served time there. Thorndyke analyzed the blood on the handkerchief and found them to be camel blood. That is consistent with Belfield’s story that he gave the handkerchief to Woodthrope at the zoo when Woodthrope was trying to clean up some camel blood. Woodthrope is now a zookeeper and is a professional photographer. Thorndyke concluded Woodthrope is the Winchmore Hill burglar and the murderer of Caldwell. Since Woodthrope is a good photographer, he took a photo of Belfield’s fingerprint six years ago when he was a warder and had access to the file.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2019
In The Adventure of Abbey Grange, Sherlock Holmes tells Dr. Watson, "Your fatal habit of looking at everything from the point of view of a story instead of as a scientific exercise has ruined what might have been an instructive and even classical series of demonstrations. You slur over work of the utmost finesse and delicacy in order to dwell upon sensational details which may excite, but cannot possibly instruct, the reader."
The Thorndyke mysteries are exactly what would happen if Watson took his advice. The detective work is dry and detailed - these guys never go anywhere without a small microscope, and various mysteries are solved by examining details of blood, dust, and broken glass. Dr. Thorndyke loves forensics and doesn't really like interviewing people, but he's still a warm, friendly character - enjoys hanging out with his buddy Dr. Jervis, is on good terms with the cops he works with, and lets the occasional criminal off the hook. It's blatant fanfiction of Holmes and Watson, but I don't mind. They're good mysteries.
The Thorndyke mysteries are exactly what would happen if Watson took his advice. The detective work is dry and detailed - these guys never go anywhere without a small microscope, and various mysteries are solved by examining details of blood, dust, and broken glass. Dr. Thorndyke loves forensics and doesn't really like interviewing people, but he's still a warm, friendly character - enjoys hanging out with his buddy Dr. Jervis, is on good terms with the cops he works with, and lets the occasional criminal off the hook. It's blatant fanfiction of Holmes and Watson, but I don't mind. They're good mysteries.
December 15, 2019
Ingenious. These are the first "inverted" detective stories (where the murderer's identity and MO are revealed at the beginning, and the fun is in seeing exactly how the murderer gets caught). These very stories were the inspiration for the TV detective series Columbo! (Fact.) The stories are also genuinely educational, teaching the lay reader about the microscopic clues that may be hidden in forensic evidence at a crime scene — in spots of blood, or in hairs, threads, ash, or mud, etc. The medico-legal detective protagonists are rather thinly drawn ripoffs of Holmes and Watson, but they have enough life in them to hold your interest. There's some slightly forced humour and a little too much melodrama, but on the whole the stories are well written and suspenseful. And, in any case, the joy is in watching how the baffling mysteries are woven and then relentlessly and methodically unravelled. Recommended.
January 26, 2017
I am really enjoying these Mysterious Press editions of old style mysteries! Otto Penzler provides an introduction to each book providing some history of the book and its form and putting it in historical context.
The Singing Bone contains several stories all featuring Drs. Thorndyke and Jarvis. Many of these mysteries are "inverted mysteries" - the reader is told who did it, why and how. The remainder of the book deals with how the crime is solved. Although this does not provide the "on the edge of your seat" quality of the normal "who done it", I did not find that this interfered at all with my enjoyment and I recommend this book to all mystery readers.
The Singing Bone contains several stories all featuring Drs. Thorndyke and Jarvis. Many of these mysteries are "inverted mysteries" - the reader is told who did it, why and how. The remainder of the book deals with how the crime is solved. Although this does not provide the "on the edge of your seat" quality of the normal "who done it", I did not find that this interfered at all with my enjoyment and I recommend this book to all mystery readers.
November 19, 2024
This author pioneered the "reverse mystery" which most famously appeared in the TV series Columbo, where we, the audience, see the crime committed and know who did it, and the interest is in watching the detective work it out. Thorndyke is no Columbo; he's a snob, for a start, and as sophisticated and elite as Columbo is an everyman. He also relies on meticulous forensic science to track down the perpetrators, no matter how careful they have been.
These stories are varied; most, but not all of them are "reverse mysteries". They're entertaining mainly from a problem-solving point of view.
These stories are varied; most, but not all of them are "reverse mysteries". They're entertaining mainly from a problem-solving point of view.
July 14, 2024
Thorndyke, a forensic doctor, solves a mystery using forensics in this masterpiece of a subversive detective story.
The story takes place in an isolated lighthouse on a misty ocean, where a lighthouse keeper suddenly disappears. His body is eventually found, and Thorndyke, a forensic doctor, sets out to solve the case. Thorndyke uses forensic tools stored in a small trunk to find the cracks in the criminal's carefully planned perfect crime. The subversive style, in which the killer is revealed earlier in the story, allows us to observe in detail how the criminal planned the perfect crime and how it crumbled.
The highlight of this book is the detailed scientific investigation and the process. Dr. Thorndyke uses a thorough scientific approach to gather and analyze evidence, breaking down the criminal's plans one by one. The process is so detailed that readers feel as if they are part of the investigation. For example, in order to understand the cause of death of the lighthouse keeper, he closely observes the environment and the condition of the corpse at the scene, and the conclusions drawn are a collection of scientific knowledge and insight.
The second half of the story is tense and exciting as it depicts how the criminal planned the perfect crime and how it fell apart. While I was amazed by the ingenuity of the criminal's plans as they came to light, I was also struck by how Dr. Thorndyke's calm analysis and logical reasoning gradually undermined his plans.
Reading this book reminded me of the importance and power of forensics. Having someone like Dr. Thorndyke in charge of investigations made me realize that even the most sophisticated crimes are never perfect.
The story takes place in an isolated lighthouse on a misty ocean, where a lighthouse keeper suddenly disappears. His body is eventually found, and Thorndyke, a forensic doctor, sets out to solve the case. Thorndyke uses forensic tools stored in a small trunk to find the cracks in the criminal's carefully planned perfect crime. The subversive style, in which the killer is revealed earlier in the story, allows us to observe in detail how the criminal planned the perfect crime and how it crumbled.
The highlight of this book is the detailed scientific investigation and the process. Dr. Thorndyke uses a thorough scientific approach to gather and analyze evidence, breaking down the criminal's plans one by one. The process is so detailed that readers feel as if they are part of the investigation. For example, in order to understand the cause of death of the lighthouse keeper, he closely observes the environment and the condition of the corpse at the scene, and the conclusions drawn are a collection of scientific knowledge and insight.
The second half of the story is tense and exciting as it depicts how the criminal planned the perfect crime and how it fell apart. While I was amazed by the ingenuity of the criminal's plans as they came to light, I was also struck by how Dr. Thorndyke's calm analysis and logical reasoning gradually undermined his plans.
Reading this book reminded me of the importance and power of forensics. Having someone like Dr. Thorndyke in charge of investigations made me realize that even the most sophisticated crimes are never perfect.
September 9, 2022
If you haven't come across the Dr Thorndyke mysteries, Thorndyke is an Edwardian era gentleman detective rather like his near contemporary, Sherlock Holmes. Like his creator, R Austin Freeman, Thorndyke is a scientist and an observer of details, without Sherlock Holmes' eccentricities and mannerisms. Most of the short stories in this little collection require respectful, but rather dim, detectives, adoring falsely accused workingmen or not so adoring perpetrators, and a portable science kit which accompanies him everywhere.
"Well, the better quality hats are made of rabbits' and hares' wool—the soft under-fur, you know—cemented together with shellac. Now there is very little doubt that these cinders contain shellac, and with the microscope I find a number of small hairs of a rabbit. I have, therefore, little hesitation in saying that these cinders are the remains of a hard felt hat; and, as the hairs do not appear to be dyed, I should say it was a grey hat."As with many of the most popular gentlemen detectives, Thorndyke has an old-fashioned sense of fairness and compassion, which leavens his rather pedantic nature. Lots of lightweight fun if you enjoy the genre.
November 28, 2020
If you like Columbo or Sherlock Holmes, you might like these stories.
I read them because, apparently, this was the first time that the inverted detective story was used, thus invented here. This is where you see the criminal committing the crime at the beginning. This book was mentioned on the Wikipedia page about Columbo.
Which is to say, it is historically significant, but I find it all rather dull. The investigations only matter in terms of the minutest piece of evidence. The characters and stories have almost no relevance. Broken glass, fingerprints, pipes. These are the stars of the show.
Interestingly, one story here, 'The Wastrel's Romance' featured actual human characters in an evolving emotional tale. It thus stood out in the collection. I may rewrite it, so impressed was I with the meat of the story (the dust clue is decidedly less interesting than the human story). Perhaps, however, I only liked this story so much, because I am not stirred by evidence alone.
However, there is an audience out there who likes this sort of thing. I am just not it. It really is a Sherlock Holmes rip-off, replete with diarist doctor trailing behind the private inspector.
I read them because, apparently, this was the first time that the inverted detective story was used, thus invented here. This is where you see the criminal committing the crime at the beginning. This book was mentioned on the Wikipedia page about Columbo.
Which is to say, it is historically significant, but I find it all rather dull. The investigations only matter in terms of the minutest piece of evidence. The characters and stories have almost no relevance. Broken glass, fingerprints, pipes. These are the stars of the show.
Interestingly, one story here, 'The Wastrel's Romance' featured actual human characters in an evolving emotional tale. It thus stood out in the collection. I may rewrite it, so impressed was I with the meat of the story (the dust clue is decidedly less interesting than the human story). Perhaps, however, I only liked this story so much, because I am not stirred by evidence alone.
However, there is an audience out there who likes this sort of thing. I am just not it. It really is a Sherlock Holmes rip-off, replete with diarist doctor trailing behind the private inspector.
July 22, 2025
I've read more than a dozen Freeman books and I had no idea that Jervis was married. I had thought that both Jervis and Thorndyke were confirmed bachelors. If Jervis married early in the series - something that I (and Google AI) had forgotten, the author must have decided, as many popular fiction authors of the time did, that a wife was a Horrible Mistake and never to be mentioned again. From this point on I'm going to read with the question of 'where was the missus while Jervis was enjoying cosy evenings in Thorndyke's chambers at the Inner Temple or gadding about with him hither and yon?' in mind. I'm not reading in any particular order as, motorcars and modern medicine aside, Thorndyke remains quintessentially late Edwardian, but I'll have to assume that by 1912 Jervis was married. Well strap me to a tree and call me Brenda.
ETA: Ah yes. He met her in The Red Thumb Mark which I read six years ago. That's what I call the 'marrying off a protagonist in the first book and regretting it forever' trope.
ETA: Ah yes. He met her in The Red Thumb Mark which I read six years ago. That's what I call the 'marrying off a protagonist in the first book and regretting it forever' trope.
April 22, 2020
- The Case of Oscar Broski (an inverted short story) 3/5
- A Case of Premeditation (an inverted short story) 2/5
- The Echo of a Mutiny (an inverted short story) 2/5
- A Wastrel's Romance (an inverted short story) 2/5
- The Old Lag 4/5
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Enjoyable reading overall, and at times quite clever. Some of the stories were better constructed than the others, especially the last one in the collection. The character Dr. Thorndyke appears to be a bit mysterious in his personality, as there is not a lot of description or character-development outside of solving the in-progress cases. The inverted short story form grew tiresome and resorted to formulaic principles very easily, a trap which the author falls into.
December 27, 2022
A classic due to its 'reversed' formula: we first hear who the villain is and how the villainy was committed, and then we watch the detective go about discovering this for himself.
Interesting the first few times; slightly tedious afterwards. It is difficult to sustain the reader's attention when the mystery is reduced to procedural steps in the 'logic' of deduction.
Interesting the first few times; slightly tedious afterwards. It is difficult to sustain the reader's attention when the mystery is reduced to procedural steps in the 'logic' of deduction.
February 9, 2023
Another brilliant Dr. Thorndyke mystery...the 5th in the series and each book has been unique...The "gist" of this volume---5 stories, 2 chapters each...one chapter details the crime, one chapter details the unique discipline used to detect the culprit....highly entertaining, and as usual, the author is a brilliant wordsmith.
June 8, 2017
This is a collection of delightfully plotted stories that are puzzles, even though you know the identity of the villain close to the beginning of the story. What makes them special is there refreshingly on usual style and the detailed approach for solving each puzzle.
November 20, 2025
RAF writes better crime and mystery stories and novels than Conan Doyle. The Singing Bone collects five stories. In them, the first half of each tale explains criminal and crime; the second half, Thorndyke's investigation and solution.
August 4, 2019
Kahepennine versioon Sherlock Holmesist ja dr Watsonist. Teist korda ei loeks.
February 22, 2021
I enjoyed the style of most of these stories: the first part showing the crime as it occurred, the second part showing how it was solved. It gives a different insight into such stories. Very nice!
April 9, 2021
Most of the stories are ok ; I liked the first one the best; thorndyde never seems to have to think about how the murders are committed and just seems to know and then does tests to prove his theories
January 30, 2024
Excellent!
May 1, 2025
THE SINGING BONE is a collection of early detective stories. My favorites were story 4, A Wastrel’s Romance, and story 5, The Old Lag. If you like Sherlock Holmes, you’ll enjoy this book. I did!
August 2, 2025
Teistpidi kirjutatud juhtumid aga väga mõnus lugeda.
Koosneb mitmest lühijutust.
Thorndyke, Jervis ja Milleri kooslus on muhe.
Koosneb mitmest lühijutust.
Thorndyke, Jervis ja Milleri kooslus on muhe.
November 10, 2025
An interesting and unique format...
July 3, 2022
The Singing Bone (Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries #5), by R. Austin Freeman, Otto Penzler (Introduction)
Originally published in 1912, this book is a series of short mystery stories that focus on forensic science. In fact, The Red Thumb Mark, read recently, is referenced to in one of the stories. Each of the stories is written in two parts. In part one, the reader is introduced to the crime. In part two, the reader learns of the forensic clues that either convicts or exonerates the criminal.
I give this book a three-star rating. It’s an interesting read. However, I’m not at all sure I would read another book by this author. His stories are very similar.
Originally published in 1912, this book is a series of short mystery stories that focus on forensic science. In fact, The Red Thumb Mark, read recently, is referenced to in one of the stories. Each of the stories is written in two parts. In part one, the reader is introduced to the crime. In part two, the reader learns of the forensic clues that either convicts or exonerates the criminal.
I give this book a three-star rating. It’s an interesting read. However, I’m not at all sure I would read another book by this author. His stories are very similar.
September 25, 2021
Very interesting “inverted” approach to detective stories
I was, to my shame, unaware of Dr Thorndyke, his sidekick Jervis, and the lab man Polton before reading about them in George Orwell’s essay on detective stories (In Orwell and the Dispossessed). Interest sparked I really enjoyed The Singing Bone and its five stories. Very much in the Holmes and Watson mould there are nevertheless two interesting aspects. Firstly the first four of the stories are “inverted” in that the first half describes the crime (not always a murder) and the second half how it was solved. This is different to every detective story I have ever read before and it works - I don’t find that knowing who “dunnit” detracts from finding out how they were caught, indeed just the opposite. It’s like the best jokes where one anticipates the punch line or slapstick comedy where you can see the custard pie coming. Secondly, the reliance on scientific method, not so much in logical deduction a la Holmes, but the use of microscopes and chemical reactions to produce evidence gives a real impression of the dawn of forensic medicine.
As with Holmes the actual method of deduction seems a little naive, insisting on setting out the facts in huge detail before trying to work out what’s happened. But then when it comes to the crunch Dr Thorndyke actually seems to do what most humans do which is to consider various options and hypotheses and then test them against his observations trying to falsify as in a scientific experiment. Highly moral in an early twentieth century sort of way but dated attitudes to gender issues and an Old Testament slant on punishment which is not a surprise given the stories are over 100 years old.
The characters are nothing like as vivid or rounded as Holmes and Watson, in fact one hardly feels like one knows Jervis at the end. But still a “darn good read”.
I was, to my shame, unaware of Dr Thorndyke, his sidekick Jervis, and the lab man Polton before reading about them in George Orwell’s essay on detective stories (In Orwell and the Dispossessed). Interest sparked I really enjoyed The Singing Bone and its five stories. Very much in the Holmes and Watson mould there are nevertheless two interesting aspects. Firstly the first four of the stories are “inverted” in that the first half describes the crime (not always a murder) and the second half how it was solved. This is different to every detective story I have ever read before and it works - I don’t find that knowing who “dunnit” detracts from finding out how they were caught, indeed just the opposite. It’s like the best jokes where one anticipates the punch line or slapstick comedy where you can see the custard pie coming. Secondly, the reliance on scientific method, not so much in logical deduction a la Holmes, but the use of microscopes and chemical reactions to produce evidence gives a real impression of the dawn of forensic medicine.
As with Holmes the actual method of deduction seems a little naive, insisting on setting out the facts in huge detail before trying to work out what’s happened. But then when it comes to the crunch Dr Thorndyke actually seems to do what most humans do which is to consider various options and hypotheses and then test them against his observations trying to falsify as in a scientific experiment. Highly moral in an early twentieth century sort of way but dated attitudes to gender issues and an Old Testament slant on punishment which is not a surprise given the stories are over 100 years old.
The characters are nothing like as vivid or rounded as Holmes and Watson, in fact one hardly feels like one knows Jervis at the end. But still a “darn good read”.
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