This is the tantalizing tale of a missing world-renowned archaeologist that, so far, no one seems to be able to find any clues to. Dr. Thorndyke, our detective, is unusually perceptive and begins to find clues leading to a man with a tattoo of the "Eye of Osiris". R(ichard) Austin Freeman (April 11, 1862 London - September 28, 1943 Gravesend) was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. He invented the inverted detective story and 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. Austin Freeman was the youngest of the five children of tailor Richard Freeman and Ann Maria Dunn. He first trained as an apothecary and then studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital, qualifying in 1887. The same year he married Annie Elizabeth with whom he had two sons. He entered the Colonial Service and was sent to Accra on the Gold Coast. In 1891 he returned to London after suffering from blackwater fever but was unable to find a permanent medical position, and so decided to settle down in Gravesend and earn money from writing fiction, while continuing to practice medicine. His first stories were written in collaboration with Dr John James Pitcairn (1860-1936), medical officer at Holloway Prison and published under the nom de plume "Clifford Ashdown". His first Thorndyke story, The Red Thumb Mark, was published in 1907 and shortly afterwards he pioneered the inverted detective story, in which the identity of the criminal is shown from the beginning: some short stories with this feature were collected in The Singing Bone in 1912. During the First World War he served as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corps and afterwards produced a Thorndyke novel almost every year until his death in 1943.

The Eye of Osiris

Freeman, R. Austin

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Oxford University Press

The stories in this collection, inasmuch as they constitute a somewhat new departure in this class of literature, require a few words of introduction. The primary function of all fiction is to furnish entertainment to the reader, and this fact has not been lost sight of. But the interest of so-called "detective" fiction is, I believe, greatly enhanced by a careful adherence to the probable, and a strict avoidance of physical impossibilities; and, in accordance with this belief, I have been scrupulous in confining myself to authentic facts and practicable methods. The stories have, for the most part, a medico-legal motive, and the methods of solution described in them are similar to those employed in actual practice by medical jurists. The stories illustrate, in fact, the application to the detection of crime of the ordinary methods of scientific research. I may add that the experiments described have in all cases been performed by me, and that the micro-photographs are, of course, from the actual specimens.

John Thorndyke's Cases

Literature & Fiction

Blurb

Fingerprints. We now take for granted their use in the detection of serious crime. Shortly after [Francis] Galton developed his method of fingerprint identification, however, a thoughtful few discovered flaws in his thinking, sparking a controversy. One of those few was Dr. R. Austin Freeman, who was inspired to write a novel on the subject. This novel, “The Red Thumb Mark,” is notable for another reason as well: it was the first novel featuring the great Dr. Thorndyke. John Evelyn Thorndyke, doctor, lawyer and indisputably the greatest of all scientific detectives, has achieved a stature unmatched in detective fiction. This is largely because of the impeccable scientific work of Freeman himself, who always tested Thorndyke’s methods and technical procedures in his own laboratory and attributed to Thorndyke his own vast erudition. Many of Thorndyke’s techniques proved so sound that they were adopted by police detectives in real life! Freeman’s work has drawn lavish praise from figures as diverse as Edith Hamilton, Christopher Morley, Howard Haycraft and Raymond Chandler. Once you have finished “The Red Thumb Mark,” you will never again view in the same way the use of the fingerprint in the detection of crime.

The Red Thumb Mark (Dover Mystery Classics)

Classics

Dover Pubns

The Stoneware Monkey (Dover Mystery Classics)

Mystery

"Austin Freeman is a wonderful performer," declared Raymond Chandler of the writer who created Dr. Thorndyke. Known as the father of the scientific detective story, Freeman was a physician who tested his fictional ploys through microscopic and chemical analysis. His tales not only challenged the wits of his readers but also inspired many modern detection methods. This collection presents eight of the most compelling Dr. Thorndyke stories. "The Case of Oscar Brodski," "A Case of Premeditation," and "The Echo of a Mutiny" offer outstanding examples of a form Freeman originated, the inverted mystery. In these tales, the crime and culprit are revealed at the outset; the fascination begins with the entrance of Dr. Thorndyke, who spins a convincing web of evidence from the subtlest clues. "The Mandarin's Pearl," "The Blue Sequin," "The Moabite Cipher," and "The Aluminum Dagger" incorporate scientific detection, featuring details evaluated by the author's characteristic scientific analysis. As a special bonus, this volume includes "31 New Inn," the now hard-to-find tale in which Dr. Thorndyke makes his debut.

The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories (Dover Mystery Classics)

Dover Publications

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

The Vanishing Man (Large Print Edition)

BiblioLife

The Red Thumb Mark (Large Print Edition)

The Red Thumb Mark

Mr. Pottermack's oversight

The Hogarth Press

The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman, Fiction, Classics, Literary, Mystery & Detective

In writing the following story, the author has had in view no purpose other than that of affording entertainment to such readers as are interested in problems of crime and their solutions; and the story itself differs in no respect from others of its class, excepting in that an effort has been made to keep within the probabilities of ordinary life, both in the characters and in the incidents.Nevertheless it may happen that the book may serve a useful purpose in drawing attention to certain popular misapprehensions on the subject of fingerprints and their evidential value; misapprehensions the extent of which may be judged when we learn from the newspapers that several Continental commercial houses have actually substituted fingerprints for signed initials.

Literary

Wildside Press

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