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The Blue Scarab
This murder mystery solved by a physician is from long before the common genre of today. It's a great story.
168 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1924
About the author
R. Austin Freeman
650 books93 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 17, 2021
Dame Agatha Christie and Her Peers
1924
CAST - 3 stars: Dr. Thorndyke is a medical detective. Then again, he is a code-breaker. And more. Mr. James Blowgrave reports a stolen box (during a deliberately set outbuilding* fire) from the study of his English Country House. Silas Blowgrave has sent a relative a valuable (maybe) scarab upon which there are hieroglyphics. Luckily, Thorndyke is also an Egyptologist. A family is up to no good.
ATMOSPHERE - 2: No sense of danger, the crime is questionable.
PLOT - 3: Is there a treasure? If so, where?
INVESTIGATION - 2: Nonsense is translated into Roman numerals...or something.
RESOLUTION - 1: I'm confused.
SUMMARY - 2.2. There is something here I'm just not getting.
*Yep, an outhouse!
1924
CAST - 3 stars: Dr. Thorndyke is a medical detective. Then again, he is a code-breaker. And more. Mr. James Blowgrave reports a stolen box (during a deliberately set outbuilding* fire) from the study of his English Country House. Silas Blowgrave has sent a relative a valuable (maybe) scarab upon which there are hieroglyphics. Luckily, Thorndyke is also an Egyptologist. A family is up to no good.
ATMOSPHERE - 2: No sense of danger, the crime is questionable.
PLOT - 3: Is there a treasure? If so, where?
INVESTIGATION - 2: Nonsense is translated into Roman numerals...or something.
RESOLUTION - 1: I'm confused.
SUMMARY - 2.2. There is something here I'm just not getting.
*Yep, an outhouse!
June 14, 2024
A straightforward treasure hunt, but with a slight technical twist.
May 28, 2025
Thorndyke short cases narrated by his original sidekick, Jervis, apparently during the period when they roomed together before Jervis's marriage.
They are very much what you would expect if you've read any of the author's previous works. Thorndyke is erudite and full of obscure but somehow useful knowledge (like the exact habitat of a rare snail). Thanks to his great learning and intelligence, he's able to work out non-obvious conclusions from the scientific evidence that he and Jervis collect so professionally, using what were, at the beginning of the 20th century, advanced techniques (all real, apparently, and all tested by the author), occasionally assisted by fortunate coincidence, as in the case of the snail. Jervis is his foil, his Watson, whose main function is to stand in for the audience, who probably can't figure out the clues either, so that they (we) don't feel so stupid.
The author's contemporary Freeman Wills Crofts wrote stories of clever criminals who were no match for the dogged persistence of generic Scotland Yard detectives. R. Austin Freeman is the reverse: a brilliant detective who solves what are often quite ordinary crimes that would remain undetected or unsolved without his involvement. We have here not just murders, but robberies (including a jewel robbery), and the title story is about a mysterious family secret of hidden treasure that uses Egyptian hieroglyphics to conceal the solution.
He's definitely a literary descendant of Sherlock Holmes, and an ancestor of every scientific detective since. The stories are interesting puzzles, though there's not a great deal of character development to be seen anywhere - difficult in the short form, admittedly, though there's not much in the novels either.
There's a black character in one story, and his former landlady expresses her dislike of the fact that another person used a racial slur about him; there's also a Jewish character in another story, and he doesn't come in for any specific or overt racism either in the brief mention of him, though he is clearly a villain. If you read Freeman's Wikipedia article, you'll see that he had a complex mix of mostly stereotypical views about Jews, and was also a eugenicist, though his views seemed to change after the advent of the Nazi Party. Although I'm noting these factors in my review, I'm not giving it my "casual-racism" tag because the viewpoint character doesn't express specific racist views or use racial slurs, which is what that tag is for.
It's solid and well executed, without major flaws, so I put it in the Silver tier of my Best of the Year list for 2025. Recommended if you like watching a clever man solve puzzles.
They are very much what you would expect if you've read any of the author's previous works. Thorndyke is erudite and full of obscure but somehow useful knowledge (like the exact habitat of a rare snail). Thanks to his great learning and intelligence, he's able to work out non-obvious conclusions from the scientific evidence that he and Jervis collect so professionally, using what were, at the beginning of the 20th century, advanced techniques (all real, apparently, and all tested by the author), occasionally assisted by fortunate coincidence, as in the case of the snail. Jervis is his foil, his Watson, whose main function is to stand in for the audience, who probably can't figure out the clues either, so that they (we) don't feel so stupid.
The author's contemporary Freeman Wills Crofts wrote stories of clever criminals who were no match for the dogged persistence of generic Scotland Yard detectives. R. Austin Freeman is the reverse: a brilliant detective who solves what are often quite ordinary crimes that would remain undetected or unsolved without his involvement. We have here not just murders, but robberies (including a jewel robbery), and the title story is about a mysterious family secret of hidden treasure that uses Egyptian hieroglyphics to conceal the solution.
He's definitely a literary descendant of Sherlock Holmes, and an ancestor of every scientific detective since. The stories are interesting puzzles, though there's not a great deal of character development to be seen anywhere - difficult in the short form, admittedly, though there's not much in the novels either.
There's a black character in one story, and his former landlady expresses her dislike of the fact that another person used a racial slur about him; there's also a Jewish character in another story, and he doesn't come in for any specific or overt racism either in the brief mention of him, though he is clearly a villain. If you read Freeman's Wikipedia article, you'll see that he had a complex mix of mostly stereotypical views about Jews, and was also a eugenicist, though his views seemed to change after the advent of the Nazi Party. Although I'm noting these factors in my review, I'm not giving it my "casual-racism" tag because the viewpoint character doesn't express specific racist views or use racial slurs, which is what that tag is for.
It's solid and well executed, without major flaws, so I put it in the Silver tier of my Best of the Year list for 2025. Recommended if you like watching a clever man solve puzzles.
March 24, 2020
House eat your heart out!
March 24, 2020
100 years before Bones and House, there was this great detective story.
July 25, 2025
I always enjoy the Dr Thorndyke books, though, like anything, I wouldn't want a steady diet of them. I generally learn something I hadn't known (in this case, the extinction patterns of dying species) and appreciate a look at the early days of scientific detection.
A couple of racial stereotypes of minor characters in two of the stories, otherwise clean and safe to read.
A couple of racial stereotypes of minor characters in two of the stories, otherwise clean and safe to read.
September 19, 2021
Mr James Blowgrave approaches Dr Thorndyke to investigate a robbery at his home. A deed box containing papers and a blue Scarab. But why would anyone want a worthless scarab.
An entertaining story
An entertaining story
August 18, 2022
An average Austin Freeman story
January 2, 2021
This book is a compilation of early "Dr Thorndyke" short stories written before 1924 (original publication date). Just as all of his other stories, the answer to the mystery is hidden in clues that only Dr T is able to evaluate correctly. In two of the seven cases Dr T is able to get the wrong man off from a murder and on two others he proves that the deaths were murders.
For those of us in the twenty-first century, some of these stories are a little mundane, but the way that Dr T (and his friends) go about following where the clues lead to, as oppose to jumping to conclusions, is spot on. Nothing is what it seems at first glance and you must learn to evaluated what you see or find without any preconceptions. Well Done.
For those of us in the twenty-first century, some of these stories are a little mundane, but the way that Dr T (and his friends) go about following where the clues lead to, as oppose to jumping to conclusions, is spot on. Nothing is what it seems at first glance and you must learn to evaluated what you see or find without any preconceptions. Well Done.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews