The Best Dr Thorndyke Detective Stories Author:R. Austin Freeman The stories of Dr. Thorndyke, a medical doctor and forensic scientist, were published contemporaneously with those of Sherlock Holmes. — R. Austin Freeman was an amazingly innovative author, credited as the father of the scientific detective story and also, the inventor of the inverted detective story. Amazingly, Freeman built every device and te... more »sted every chemical procedure used by Dr. Thorndyke to ensure their authenticity. In many cases his techniques were subsequently emulated by early police laboratories.
The inverted mystery, later made famous by the popular Columbo TV series, allows the reader to witness the careful planning and execution of what appears to be a perfect murder, before the detective even arrives on the scene. Dr. Thorndyke tugs at loose threads, eventually unraveling the so-called perfect murder.
The first three stories - The Case of Oscar Brodski, A Case of Premeditation, and The Echo of a Mutiny - are exceptional examples of inverted mysteries.
The Mandarin's Pearl, The Blue Sequin, The Moabite Cipher, and The Aluminium Dagger are more conventional stories, but ones with more emphasis on forensic techniques than found in Watson's accounts of Sherlock Holmes. The final story, 31 New Inn, is substantially longer than the others and involves two intertwined mysteries.« less