John Thorndyke's Cases
(1909)
Blurb:
My review:
THE MAN WITH THE NAILED SHOES
The Sergeant’s Sketch [of Footprints]; Plan of St.
Bridget’s Bay
Jervis is acting as a junior in the seaside village of Little Sundersley, while Thorndyke (not yet his employer) is his guest, and so is on hand to look into the footprints of the man with the nailed shoes left on the beach by the murderer, and so expose a forgery and frame-up in order to prevent a miscarriage of justice.
THE STRANGER’S LATCHKEY
The fluff from the key barrel (of which a slide is given), footprints and tyre tracks are the clues that put Thorndyke onto the trail of the wicked uncle who kidnapped his nephew, rather than more sensibly murdering him. Pleasant enough, but not outstanding.
THE ANTHROPOLOGIST AT LARGE
From scientific analysis of the hat found at the scene of the crime, Thorndyke is able to build up a profile (hairs, dust, cephalic index—racial characteristics) of the man who burgled Isaac Löwe’s house.
THE BLUE SEQUIN
The blue sequin is the crucial clue that allows Dr. Thorndyke to prove the young man innocent of murdering his former mistress on the trail. Solution anti-climactic.
THE MOABITE CIPHER
The Professor’s Analysis [of Cryptogram]
A tale that is fast-moving and full of interest—until the end, when the reader realises that he has been unfairly hoodwinked, and will, like Professor P., “regard… the inscription with profound disfavour.” Noteworthy for one of the worst metaphors in detective fiction: “Don’t attempt to suck my brain when you have an excellent brain of your own to suck.” Yuck!
THE
MANDARIN’S
Despite some vulgarity unusual for Freeman, this is an ingenious plot with some similarities to Bailey’s “Only Son,” involving the death of a neurotic young man who purchased a pearl whose previous owners all apparently committed suicide. Too few suspects for adequate mystification, though.
THE ALUMINIUM DAGGER
One of the few soberly handled locked-room murders, without the romantic trappings of Carr and Chesterton. The investigation is typically detailed, and the method, similar to those Carr used in The Peacock Feather Murders and The Judas Window, is very neat and efficient.
A
MESSAGE FROM
THE
The Sand from the Murdered Woman’s Pillow, Magnified 25 Diameters; Human Hair, showing Roots.
Almost
pure
Thorndykean analysis, and typically excellent at that: the foraminifera
on the
victim’s pillow and an examination of the hair roots enable Dr.
Thorndyke to
prove the young woman innocent of murdering her mother’s lodger. Pleasingly free from anti-Semitism.
To the R. Austin Freeman Page.