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bmip666's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
dlmoldovan's review against another edition
3.0
I reviewed this as part of a series, and the review can be found here:
http://wp.me/pBwlZ-4Z
http://wp.me/pBwlZ-4Z
pedanther's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
justasking27's review against another edition
3.0
These stories include a lot of the details that went into a coroner's trial, and tend more towards a police procedural.
vesper1931's review against another edition
3.0
1 - The Man with the Nailed Shoes
Dr Jervis is staying at the seaside village of Little Sundersley, when Dr. Thorndyke comes for a visit. A walk along the beach reveal various footprints and later a dead man. Thorndyke acts in the defence of the accused.
2 - The Stranger's Latchkey
Dr Jervis is staying at The Larches, Burling, at the practice of Dr Hanshaw while he takes a holiday. Apart from Mrs Hanshaw, there is Dr Hanshaw's sister, Mrs Halden. Her son Fred, niece by marriage Miss Lucy Hamden, and expected is her fiance Douglas Winter. Thorndyke is called in to find a missing person.
3 - The Anthropologist at Large
After a burglary the only clue is a retrieved hat. Can Dr Thorndyke solve the case with just this one clue.
4 - The Blue Sequin
Artist model Edith Grant has been discovered dead on a train. Last seen with her, painter Harold Stopford has been arrested.
Quite an implausible cause of death
5 - The Moabite Cipher
Spectators lie the route to watch the arrival of a Russian Grand Duke. When one is killed. A letter, a crytogram is discovered in the dead man. What does the cipher say. Dr Thorndyke investigates.
6 - The Mandarin's Pearl
Solicitor Mr Brodribb has a client, Fred Calverley, who seems to be suffering from delusions. Is there a connection to a recent purchase of jewellery.
Dr Thorndyke investigates.
7 - The Aluminium Dagger
Henry Curtis needs the services of Dr Thorndyke as his brother-in-law, Alfred Hartridge has been murdered. Stabbed with an aluminum dagger in a locked room.
8 - A Message from the Deep Sea
Dr Hart asks that Dr Thorndyke attend to a crime scene. The victim ia a young female called Ninja Adler.
A collection of interesting mysteries, with my favourite being The Mandarin's Pearl, but there is no character development of Thorndyke.
Dr Jervis is staying at the seaside village of Little Sundersley, when Dr. Thorndyke comes for a visit. A walk along the beach reveal various footprints and later a dead man. Thorndyke acts in the defence of the accused.
2 - The Stranger's Latchkey
Dr Jervis is staying at The Larches, Burling, at the practice of Dr Hanshaw while he takes a holiday. Apart from Mrs Hanshaw, there is Dr Hanshaw's sister, Mrs Halden. Her son Fred, niece by marriage Miss Lucy Hamden, and expected is her fiance Douglas Winter. Thorndyke is called in to find a missing person.
3 - The Anthropologist at Large
After a burglary the only clue is a retrieved hat. Can Dr Thorndyke solve the case with just this one clue.
4 - The Blue Sequin
Artist model Edith Grant has been discovered dead on a train. Last seen with her, painter Harold Stopford has been arrested.
Quite an implausible cause of death
5 - The Moabite Cipher
Spectators lie the route to watch the arrival of a Russian Grand Duke. When one is killed. A letter, a crytogram is discovered in the dead man. What does the cipher say. Dr Thorndyke investigates.
6 - The Mandarin's Pearl
Solicitor Mr Brodribb has a client, Fred Calverley, who seems to be suffering from delusions. Is there a connection to a recent purchase of jewellery.
Dr Thorndyke investigates.
7 - The Aluminium Dagger
Henry Curtis needs the services of Dr Thorndyke as his brother-in-law, Alfred Hartridge has been murdered. Stabbed with an aluminum dagger in a locked room.
8 - A Message from the Deep Sea
Dr Hart asks that Dr Thorndyke attend to a crime scene. The victim ia a young female called Ninja Adler.
A collection of interesting mysteries, with my favourite being The Mandarin's Pearl, but there is no character development of Thorndyke.
nadyne's review
3.0
R. Austin Freeman, John Thorndyke's Cases (1909).
First sentence: "There are, I suppose, few places even on the east coast of England more lonely and remote than the village of Little Sundersley and the country that surrounds it."
P. 99: "He took up the horn and tapped it with his finger, while the sollicitor and Mr. Felton stared at him in speechless wonder."
Last sentence: "'And', I added, 'the deep sea would have uttered its message in vain.'"
John Thorndyke is the detective in this collection of short stories (and in other collections and novels as well) written by R. Austin Freeman. The character is described by Wikipedia like this:
Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke is a fictional detective in a long series of novels and short stories by R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943). Thorndyke was described by his author as 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 were 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. (Freeman, it is said, conducted all experiments mentioned in the stories himself.) It is this method which gave rise to one of Freeman's most ingenious inventions, the inverted detective story, where the criminal act is described first and the interest lies in Thorndyke's subsequent unravelling of it.
Thorndyke resided at 5A King's Bench Walk, Inner Temple. He was often assisted by his friend and foil Christopher Jervis, who usually acts as narrator, and always by the resourceful Nathaniel Polton, his crinkly-faced lab technician. Thorndyke tended to have a better relationship with the police (usually in the form of Superintendent Miller) than Sherlock Holmes did, despite proving them wrong on numerous occasions. Thorndyke, although tall, athletic, handsome and clever, never married. Between 1907 and 1942 Thorndyke appeared in around 60 novels and short stories.
After enjoying P.D. James's Talking about Detective Fiction, I decided to read more older criminal novels and stories, and Freeman's Thorndyke seemed like a good start.
This collection comprises 8 stories: 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 and A Message from the Deep Sea, and I didn't really like the second one (all the evidence depended, just like in the first one, solely on footprints) and the one about The Mandarin's Pearl (I thought the story was rather far-fetched). The others, though, I really enjoyed.
I think I am beginning to like John Thorndyke, although of course he is not to be compared yet with Agataha Christie's Poirot.
First sentence: "There are, I suppose, few places even on the east coast of England more lonely and remote than the village of Little Sundersley and the country that surrounds it."
P. 99: "He took up the horn and tapped it with his finger, while the sollicitor and Mr. Felton stared at him in speechless wonder."
Last sentence: "'And', I added, 'the deep sea would have uttered its message in vain.'"
John Thorndyke is the detective in this collection of short stories (and in other collections and novels as well) written by R. Austin Freeman. The character is described by Wikipedia like this:
Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke is a fictional detective in a long series of novels and short stories by R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943). Thorndyke was described by his author as 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 were 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. (Freeman, it is said, conducted all experiments mentioned in the stories himself.) It is this method which gave rise to one of Freeman's most ingenious inventions, the inverted detective story, where the criminal act is described first and the interest lies in Thorndyke's subsequent unravelling of it.
Thorndyke resided at 5A King's Bench Walk, Inner Temple. He was often assisted by his friend and foil Christopher Jervis, who usually acts as narrator, and always by the resourceful Nathaniel Polton, his crinkly-faced lab technician. Thorndyke tended to have a better relationship with the police (usually in the form of Superintendent Miller) than Sherlock Holmes did, despite proving them wrong on numerous occasions. Thorndyke, although tall, athletic, handsome and clever, never married. Between 1907 and 1942 Thorndyke appeared in around 60 novels and short stories.
After enjoying P.D. James's Talking about Detective Fiction, I decided to read more older criminal novels and stories, and Freeman's Thorndyke seemed like a good start.
This collection comprises 8 stories: 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 and A Message from the Deep Sea, and I didn't really like the second one (all the evidence depended, just like in the first one, solely on footprints) and the one about The Mandarin's Pearl (I thought the story was rather far-fetched). The others, though, I really enjoyed.
I think I am beginning to like John Thorndyke, although of course he is not to be compared yet with Agataha Christie's Poirot.
nachtvlucht's review
informative
mysterious
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
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