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DR. THORNDYKE MYSTERIES – Complete Collection: 21 Novels & 40 Short Stories (Illustrated): Scientific sleuthing and judicial puzzles in Victorian crime
This carefully crafted "DR. THORNDYKE MYSTERIES – Complete 21 Novels & 40 Short Stories (Illustrated)" is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Dr. John Thorndyke is a medical jurispractitioner, originally a medical doctor, he turned to the bar and became one of the first, in modern parlance, forensic scientists. His solutions are based on his method of collecting all possible data (including dust and pond weed) and making inferences from them before looking at any of the protagonists and motives in the crimes. Table of Introduction Meet Dr. Thorndyke Novels The Red Thumb Mark The Eye of Osiris The Mystery of 31 New Inn A Silent Witness Helen Vardon's Confession The Cat's Eye The Mystery of Angelina Frood The Shadow of the Wolf The D'Arblay Mystery A Certain Dr. Thorndyke As a Thief in the Night Mr. Pottermack's Oversight Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke When Rogues Fall Out Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes For the Dr. Thorndyke The Penrose Mystery Felo De Se? The Stoneware Monkey Mr. Polton Explains The Jacob Street Mystery Short Stories Percival Bland's Proxy The Missing Mortgagee The Man with the Nailed Shoes The Stranger's Latchkey The Anthropologist at Large The Blue Sequin The Moabite Cipher The Mandarin's Pearl The Aluminium Dagger A Message from the Deep Sea The Case of Oscar Brodski A Case of Premeditation The Echo of a Mutiny A Wastrel's Romance The Old Lag The Case of the White Footprints The Blue Scarab The New Jersey Sphinx The Touchstone A Fisher of Men The Stolen Ingots The Funeral Pyre The Puzzle Lock The Green Check Jacket The Seal of Nebuchadnezzar Phyllis Annesley's Peril A Sower of Pestilence Rex v. Burnaby A Mystery of the Sand-Hills The Apparition of Burling Court The Mysterious Visitor The Magic Casket The Contents of a Mare's Nest The Stalking Horse The Naturalist at Law Mr. Ponting's Alibi Pandora's Box The Trail of Behemoth ...
7201 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 23, 2016
77 people are currently reading
27 people want to read
About the author
R. Austin Freeman
602 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 19, 2023
A long volume but well worth the time reading.
July 5, 2017
It was a long read with a few breaks during it, 21 novels and 40 short stories, but I enjoyed most of them. They are Sherlock Holmes-like in content but with the added interest of early forensic work (set in the 1930s). The approach to telling the story varied with each piece, some had the crime laid out first with the solving done later, others started with Thorndyke and led into the crime as he solved it. I found that made them easier to read.
November 8, 2024
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection. Some of the stories seem rather formulaic at first - young medical practitioner rescues damsel in distress with help of Dr Thorndyke - but in fact there is plenty of variety as you move through the series.
One or two of the stories are slightly disappointing. The Shadow of the Wolf is an excellent tale but has an unnecessarily melodramatic denouement - the criminal returns to the scene of his crime coincidentally at exactly the same moment as the detectives. Mr Pottermack's Oversight starts off well but why does Pottermack reject the very simple solution to his problem that is his first thought, in order to carry out an incredibly complex operation that inevitable leads to his discovery? But on the whole there are some very good reads here.
One or two of the stories are slightly disappointing. The Shadow of the Wolf is an excellent tale but has an unnecessarily melodramatic denouement - the criminal returns to the scene of his crime coincidentally at exactly the same moment as the detectives. Mr Pottermack's Oversight starts off well but why does Pottermack reject the very simple solution to his problem that is his first thought, in order to carry out an incredibly complex operation that inevitable leads to his discovery? But on the whole there are some very good reads here.
April 17, 2021
Top quality detection stories
I've read many detection stories and consider there to be no better author than Richard Austin Freeman. This is a superb compilation of his long and short stories and is unreservedly recommended.
I've read many detection stories and consider there to be no better author than Richard Austin Freeman. This is a superb compilation of his long and short stories and is unreservedly recommended.
May 13, 2022
An excellent alternative to Sherlock
Be amazed at the sometimes arcane but always logical explanations that serve to elucidate the unravelling of the twists and turns of these stories. Thoroughly enjoyable.
Be amazed at the sometimes arcane but always logical explanations that serve to elucidate the unravelling of the twists and turns of these stories. Thoroughly enjoyable.
October 6, 2022
Logical mysteries!
Each novel and story has different key points and the process of detection is beautifully evolved and explained in due course. Interesting all through. Freeman has spun many great themes and stories .👍
Each novel and story has different key points and the process of detection is beautifully evolved and explained in due course. Interesting all through. Freeman has spun many great themes and stories .👍
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews