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bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
Unconscious Witness (1942) by R. Austin Freeman is the 28th entry in the Dr. Thorndyke series. It involves an artist who is out sketching and manages to see the beginnings of a rather involved crime. Little does Tom Pedley know when two men walk past his hidden sketching spot (he can see them, but they can't see him) and a woman comes sneaking along behind them that his impressions and a quick sketch drawn afterward will help Dr. Thorndyke unravel two murders and solve the disappearance of a woman by the name of Mrs. Schiller. Of the two men, one is Charles Montagu and he will not return from the walk in the woods.
When Montagu is found dead, authorities know that there was an artist in the vicinity, but are unable to trace him immediately. Pedley doesn't own a wireless and rarely looks at a newspaper, so he finds out about the murder just before the police track him down. Since he's known to Mr. Polton, an associate of Dr. Thorndyke's, the police are more willing to accept his reasons for not coming forward than they might otherwise be--but his detailed description of the events of that day and even his sketch of the people involved give the police little help in unraveling the mystery.
It isn't until another artist, Lotta Schiller, takes up residence in a house nearby, makes his acquaintance and then disappears that his evidence proves more useful. And when the body of woman who has gone under the name Emma Robey is found in Mrs. Schiller's abandoned rooms things get really complicated--found most providentially by Mr. Polton which brings Dr. Thorndyke into the case. Dr. Thorndyke's sharp eye sees what the police and even Pedley with his artist's eye for detail have missed.
I have to say that thist was a pretty disappointing entry into the adventures of Dr. Thorndyke. The doctor doesn't show up until well past the half-way mark and then most of his investigations and deductions are made off-page. And the build-up with Pedley in the first half was unnecessarily long and pretty boring. A good editing might make a this into a much more enjoyable novella. My other quibble--Thorndyke doesn't really explain the motive behind the first murder. I realize that motive isn't everything--but I'd really like to know why Montagu had to die. ★★ and a half (rounded up here)
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. thanks.
When Montagu is found dead, authorities know that there was an artist in the vicinity, but are unable to trace him immediately. Pedley doesn't own a wireless and rarely looks at a newspaper, so he finds out about the murder just before the police track him down. Since he's known to Mr. Polton, an associate of Dr. Thorndyke's, the police are more willing to accept his reasons for not coming forward than they might otherwise be--but his detailed description of the events of that day and even his sketch of the people involved give the police little help in unraveling the mystery.
It isn't until another artist, Lotta Schiller, takes up residence in a house nearby, makes his acquaintance and then disappears that his evidence proves more useful. And when the body of woman who has gone under the name Emma Robey is found in Mrs. Schiller's abandoned rooms things get really complicated--found most providentially by Mr. Polton which brings Dr. Thorndyke into the case. Dr. Thorndyke's sharp eye sees what the police and even Pedley with his artist's eye for detail have missed.
I have to say that thist was a pretty disappointing entry into the adventures of Dr. Thorndyke. The doctor doesn't show up until well past the half-way mark and then most of his investigations and deductions are made off-page. And the build-up with Pedley in the first half was unnecessarily long and pretty boring. A good editing might make a this into a much more enjoyable novella. My other quibble--Thorndyke doesn't really explain the motive behind the first murder. I realize that motive isn't everything--but I'd really like to know why Montagu had to die. ★★ and a half (rounded up here)
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. thanks.
alexauthorshay's review against another edition
3.0
It's been a while since I've read these, so I was hoping the break would boost my enjoyment again. But by this book (#28 in the series), I've caught on to a few of the hints, or maybe Freeman just wasn't trying as hard to be secretive, I don't know. But I caught on to the plot pretty early on. Not all of it, I had one thing actually backwards, but other than that nothing really new.
Half, almost 2/3, of the book is told from third person but following the artist Pedley around. Then it switches to the usual first person of Jervis, and a couple chapters sum up events thus far before Thorndyke gets the case on an official basis. Jervis really took a back seat in this one, letting Thorndyke hide in the lab for hours at a time and not hounding him for questions or trying to get evidence for himself. Kind of a blah read, honestly.
Half, almost 2/3, of the book is told from third person but following the artist Pedley around. Then it switches to the usual first person of Jervis, and a couple chapters sum up events thus far before Thorndyke gets the case on an official basis. Jervis really took a back seat in this one, letting Thorndyke hide in the lab for hours at a time and not hounding him for questions or trying to get evidence for himself. Kind of a blah read, honestly.
vesper1931's review against another edition
4.0
While out painting, Thomas Pedley witnesses the actions of two men and one woman, he thinks nothing of it until friend Mr Polton informs him of a murder that took place that same time. Several months later Pedley makes the acquaintance of modern painter Mrs Lotta Schiller.
Can Pedley help Dr. Thorndyke solve two murders.
An entertaining mystery
Can Pedley help Dr. Thorndyke solve two murders.
An entertaining mystery
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