R. Austin Freeman

Dr. John Thorndyke is a professor of medicine, but he is also a pathological sleuth with a taste for mysteries that would stop other detectives cold. The disappearance of a successful archaeologist. poses a disturbing riddle to Thorndyke: "When is a murder not a murder?' The answer hinges on the question of whether or not it is possible to fabricate a corpse out of whole cloth. And why would anyone want to, except to disguise a murder?

The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories, first published by Dover Publications, Inc., in 1973, is a selection of detective stories written by R. Austin Freeman, with a new introduction by E. F. Bleiler written specially for the present edition. The original source for each story in this collection is indicated in the note on sources, p. 275. Contents: - The Case of Oscar Brodski - A Case of Premeditation - The Echo of a Mutiny - The Mandarin's Pearl - The Blue Sequin - The Moabite Cipher - The Aluminium Dagger - 31 New Inn

[Adventure of the Copper Beeches]( Case of the lost foreigner / Arthur Morrison -- Ghost of Fountain Lane / Catherine L. Pirkis -- Return of Imray / Rudyard Kipling -- Divination of the Zagury Capsules / Headon Hill -- York mystery / Baroness Orczy -- Haverstock Hill murder / George R. Sims -- Dead hand / R. Austin Freeman -- Mr. Bovey's unexpected will / L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace -- Perverted genius / Silas K. Hocking -- Eye of Apollo / G.K. Chesterton -- Purple emperor / Robert W. Chambers -- Tragedy of the life raft / Jacques Futrelle -- Story of Baelbrow / E. and H. Heron.

The mandarin's pearl ; The blue sequin / R. Austin Freeman -- The Chicago heiress / Clifford Ashdown -- The case of Mr. Geldard's elopement ; The case of the Ward Lane tabernacle / Arthur Morrison -- The Liverpool mystery ; The Case of Miss Eliot / Baroness Orczy -- The little old man of Batignolle / Emile Gaborieau -- The secret of the fox delight / Anna Katherine Green -- The adventure of the naval treaty / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The oblong box / Edgar Allan Poe ; narrated by Mauro Hantman -- The stolen white elephant / Mark Twain ; narrated by Mauro Hantman -- An heiress from Redhorse / Ambrose Bierce ; narrated by Angela Brazil -- Tracked to doom; or, The mystery of the Rue de Peychaud / O. Henry ; narrated by Simon Vance -- Her letters / Kate Chopin ; narrated by Angela Brazil and Stephen R. Thorne -- The stolen cigar case / Bret Harte ; narrated by Mauro Hantman -- [The adventure of the three students]( / Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ; narrated by Simon Vance -- Problem of the superfluous finger / Jacques Futrelle ; narrated by Stephen R. Thorne -- Arsène Lupin in prison / Maurice Leblanc ; narrated by Simon Vance -- The blue sequin / R. Austin Freeman ; narrated by Simon Vance -- The Fenchurch Street mystery / Baroness Orczy ; narrated by Davina Porter -- The honour of Israel Gow / G.K. Chesterton ; narrated by Simon Vance -- The Doomdorf mystery / Melville Davisson Post ; narrated by Stephen R. Thorne -- An intangible clue / Anna Katharine Green ; narrated by Angela Brazil.

First of all, Marcus Pottermack was not his real name. But Mr. "Pottermack" thought he had excellent reasons to adopt it and to murder James Lewson, bank-manager, blackmailer and among the most loathsome characters in all detective fiction. The tension mounts rapidly in this "inverted" detective story - one of the earliest full-length examples, and still one of the best. Characteristically, we are quickly acquainted with the perpetrator's identity: to figure out "whodunit" is not the task set readers of inverted mysteries. They face a challenge many consider far more interesting: to deduce precisely how the detective will fasten upon the culprit despite scanty or seemingly nonexistent evidence. In Mr. Pottermack's Oversight the obstacles are formidable, for the brilliant criminal has made his victim appear to have vanished into thin air while strolling in the country. Indeed, the ingenious Mr. Pottermack seems to have anticipated everything that might thwart his plan - except that his adversary would be Dr. John Thorndyke, England's renowned expert in medical jurisprudence, admired for nearly 80 years by mystery connoisseurs as the greatest of all scientific detectives. Whether or not you can match Dr. Thorndyke's penetrating insight - the clues are all placed fairly before the reader - you will be fascinated as you witness a virtuoso performance by a first-class scientific mind. And, equally absorbing, you will be drawn into the guilt-racked mind of a murderer as you watch ruthless determination attempting to fight off a growing sense of horror.