R. Austin Freeman

Author Information
R. Austin Freeman's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    55 Books (1 Series)
  • First Book:
    January 1909
  • Latest Book:
    September 2016
  • Author Rating:
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Full Series List in Order

Dr. John Thorndyke

A Silent Witness ()
Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes ()
Dr. Thorndyke Investigates ()
The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories ()
The Dr. Thorndyke Short Story Omnibus ()
The Famous Cases of Dr. Thorndyke ()
The Red Thumb Mark (Jul-1986)
The Mystery of Angelina Frood (May-1987)
The Singing Bone (Sep-2003)
John Thorndyke's Cases (Nov-2005)
A Certain Dr. Thorndyke (May-2012)

Book List in Order: 55 titles

  • The Aluminium Dagger

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

    The urgent call-the instant, peremptory summons to professional duty-is an experience that appertains to the medical rather than the legal practitioner, and I had supposed, when I abandoned the clinical side of my profession in favour of the forensic...

  • The Blue Sequin

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

    Thorndyke stood looking up and down the platform with anxiety that increased as the time drew near for the departure of the train. This is very unfortunate, he said, reluctantly stepping into an empty smoking compartment as the guard executed a flour...

  • The Mandarin's Pearl

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

  • The Moabite Cipher

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

  • 31 New Inn

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1912 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Mystery of 31 New Inn' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featurin...

  • A Case of Premeditation

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

  • The Case of Oscar Brodski

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

  • The Echo of a Mutiny

    in The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

  • For the Defence, Dr. Thorndyke

    This is the story of Andrew, a handsome artist living with his beautiful wife. Andrew witnesses a man being shot one night by two masked assailants and on the advice of his wife, decides to remain silent about what he has seen. But when a meeting wit...



  • The Red Thumb Mark

    Dr. John Thorndyke

    Before Kathy Reichs’s Temperance Brennan and Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, there was Dr. Thorndyke, the first ever fictional forensic scientist.The only evidence against young Reuben Hornby in a jewel theft is his thumb print smeared in bloo...

  • The Eye of Osiris

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1911 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Eye of Osiris' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his we...

  • The Mystery of Angelina Frood

    Dr. John Thorndyke

    A beautiful young woman is in shock. She calls John Strangeways, a medical lawyer who must piece together the strange disparate facts of her case and in turn, becomes fearful for his life. Only Dr Thorndyke, a master of detection, may be able to solv...

  • Felo de Se

    John Gillam was a gambler. He faced financial ruin and was the victim of a sinister blackmail attempt. He is now dead. In this exceptional mystery, Dr Thorndyke is brought in to untangle the secrecy surrounding the death of John Gillam, a man not kno...

  • Flighty Phyllis

    Chronicling the adventures and misadventures of Phyllis Dudley, Richard Austin Freeman brings to life a charming character always getting into scrapes. From impersonating a man to discovering mysterious trap doors, ‘Flighty Phyllis’ is an enterta...

  • MR Polton Explains

    Told through the eyes of a watchmaker, Dr Thorndyke is once again faced with a nettly mystery involving a mysterious fire in a Soho house filled with supposedly inflammable objects. What transpires is an entertaining and amazing twist thanks to the e...

  • The Puzzle Lock

    Richard Austin Freeman presents an ingenious case in this remarkable detective saga. When a store of priceless jewels vanishes without a trace, the brilliant Dr Thorndyke and his skilled associate Mr Polton are called in to chase a thief who leaves n...

  • Shadow of the Wolf

    In this delightful detective story, Richard Austin Freeman should truly satisfy the inquisitive reader’s mind, with incredible twists and turns and the ever-likeable Dr Thorndyke. This excellent novel presents one of the most intriguing dilemmas Fr...

  • Dr. Thorndyke's Casebook

    A compelling collection of Dr Thorndyke mysteries is presented here in a bumper crop of Richard Austin Freeman’s fiction. Opening with ‘The Case of the White Footprints’; revealing the secrets of ‘The Blue Scarab’; and teasing all that read...

  • The Magic Casket

    On a misty November night in London, Dr Thorndyke comes across an abandoned handbag in an old church. From examining the contents an address is found and so begins a mysterious trail leading to the owner and a violent murder. Enter into the world of ...



  • The Surprising Exp of MR Shuttlebury Cobb

    Charting a series of adventures set in many strange scenarios, Mr Shuttlebury Cobb is led through the dark and twisted streets of London where he meets a highly gifted stranger, enters secret chambers, and finds a magic mirror. Cobb engages with a se...

  • Unwilling Adventurer

    Robert Hawke is a man on the run. After returning from business in London, he finds that a sworn enemy, Will Colville, has been shot dead and the murder weapon belongs to Hawke. But Hawke protests his innocence and is persuaded to go on the run until...

  • A Savant's Vendetta

    Humphrey Challoner had a formidable reputation in criminal anthropology. An intelligent savant devoted to science and his wife, he decides to tell the story of her tragic demise at the hands of a brutal murderer. What Challoner reveals leaves us with...

  • Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke

    This puzzling plot is related by two different characters: messenger boy Jasper Gray, who experiences several strange adventures, and Dr Jervis, friend of Dr Thorndyke. Dr Thorndyke is investigating a terrible crime, the solving of which remains elu...

  • The Singing Bone

    Dr. John Thorndyke

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1912 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Singing Bone' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his wel...

  • John Thorndyke's Cases

    Dr. John Thorndyke

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1909 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'John Thorndyke's Cases' is a collection of Freeman's stories of crime and mystery. The first sto...

  • The Stoneware Monkey

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1938 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Stoneware Monkey' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his...

  • A Certain Dr. Thorndyke

    Dr. John Thorndyke

    A winding adventure that begins in an exotic, teasing location. Richard Austin Freeman introduces the reader to the delights of an extraordinary jewel heist. Hollis is a retired soap manufacturer, richer than Croesus and some say mad. Obsessed with a...

  • The Jacob Street Mystery

    A peaceful, pleasant afternoon in the woodland scene of Linton Green is disturbed when a brutal murder takes place. But thanks to an unseen witness, the killer may be caught, and the witness turns out to be a blessing in disguise. This is the story o...

  • The Case of the White Footprints

    The Case of the White Footprints is a murder mystery set in Margate.A lady has been found dead in her room in a boarding house. At first glance it looks like a clear case of suicide, but then the two doctors attending the death spot a set of whi...



  • When Rogues Fall Out

    Meet Mr Toke, a dubious connoisseur of fine antiques who deals in fabulous objets d’art and doesn’t mind how he acquires them. From stealing bejewelled necklaces to rare antique clocks, Mr Toke cons a host of gullible individuals out of priceless...

  • The Silkworms of Florence

    From The Further Adventures of Romney Pringle, a collection of short stories about an engaging crook and literary agent who cycles everywhere, no matter what the scam......

  • The Anthropologist at Large

    "Then as to the hair: it was, as I mentioned to you, circular in section, and of very large diameter. Now, I have examined many thousands of hairs, and the thickest that I have ever seen came from the heads of Japanese; but the hairs from this hat we...

  • The Man with the Nailed Shoes

    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. Far from any railway, and some miles distant from any considerable town, it remains an ...

  • A Message from the Deep Sea

    The Whitechapel Road, though redeemed by scattered relics of a more picturesque past from the utter desolation of its neighbour the Commercial Road, is hardly a gay thoroughfare. Especially at its eastern end, where its sordid modernity seems to refl...

  • The Red Thumb

    I was about to turn away when the empty frame of the portico became occupied by a figure, and one so appropriate, in its wig and obsolete habiliments, to the old-world surroundings that it seemed to complete the picture, and I lingered idly to look a...

  • The Stranger's Latchkey

    The contrariety of human nature is a subject that has given a surprising amount of occupation to makers of proverbs and to those moral philosophers who make it their province to discover and expound the glaringly obvious; and especially have they bee...

  • Percival Bland's Proxy and the Missing Mortgagee

    These are two short stories from the collection THE GREAT PORTRAIT MYSTERY: "PERCIVAL BLAND'S PROXY" and "THE MISSING MORTGAGEE," wherein the brilliant medical investigator, Dr. Thorndyke, solves murderous crimes. Percival Bland was an uncommon crimi...

  • The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke

    In the topsy turvy world of The Singing Bone, Richard Austin Freeman presents us with a solution. The reader is asked to deduce how different mysteries were solved rather than whodunit. Freeman introduces five distinct tales of intrigue, romance, mut...

  • As A Thief In The Night

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    Harold Monkhouse is usually such an uncomplaining patient so when his brother Amos calls in one night, what he doesn't expect is to see him at Death's door. Suspicions aroused, he demands an urgent second opinion. And when Harold is later fou...



  • The Best Dr. Thorndyke Detective Stories

    • / Suspense
    • Buy Buy
    Dr. John Thorndyke

    Eight compelling tales by "the father of the scientific detective story" feature inverted mysteries, in which crime and culprit are revealed at the outset and Dr. Thorndyke formulates evidence from subtle clues....

  • The Bones Of The Case

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    Many of the hardboiled and pulp detective stories, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, usin...

  • The Cat's Eye

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    When Andrew Drayton, a collector of jewellery, is found stabbed to death and the young woman who tried to stop the murderer is wounded, Dr Thorndyke is called in to investigate. But although the scene of the crime seems awash with the fingerprints of...

  • The D'Arblay Mystery

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    When a man is found floating beneath the skin of a green-skimmed pond one morning, Dr Thorndyke becomes embroiled in an astonishing case. This wickedly entertaining detective fiction reveals that the victim was murdered through a lethal injection and...

  • Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy
    Dr. John Thorndyke

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1933 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring...

  • Dr. Thorndyke Investigates

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy
    Dr. John Thorndyke

    Dr. Thorndyke is one of the best creations of the Golden Age of British detective fiction. He is both medical doctor and barrister and the first great exponent of forensics in fiction, with an encyclopedic scientific knowledge. These five short stori...

  • The Dr. Thorndyke Short Story Omnibus

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy
    Dr. John Thorndyke

    Dr. Thorndyke is one of the best creations of the Golden Age of British detective fiction. He is both medical doctor and barrister and the first great exponent of forensics in fiction, with an encyclopedic scientific knowledge. R. Austin Freeman was ...

  • The Famous Cases of Dr. Thorndyke

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy
    Dr. John Thorndyke

    This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available a...

  • Mr. Pottermack's Oversight

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1930 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'Mr. Pottermack's Oversight' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story fea...

  • The Penrose Mystery

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1936 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Penrose Mystery' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his ...



  • A Silent Witness

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy
    Dr. John Thorndyke

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1914 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'A Silent Witness' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his wel...

  • The Uttermost Farthing

    • / Literary
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1914 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. The first story featuring his well-known protagonist Dr. Thorndyke - a medico-legal forensic investigator - was p...

  • The Golden Pool

    • / General Fiction
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1918 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Golden Pool' is one of Freeman's many works of fiction. The first story featuring his well-known protagonist...

  • The Great Portrait Mystery and Other Stories

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1918 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Great Portrait Mystery' is one of Freeman's short stories of crime and mystery. The first story featuring hi...

  • Helen Vardon's Confession

    • / Mystery
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1922 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'Helen Vardon's Confession' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story feat...

  • Vanishing Man

    • / Fantasy
    • Buy Buy

    This early work by Richard Austin Freeman was originally published in 1911 and we are now republishing it with a brand new introduction. 'The Vanishing Man' is one of Freeman's novels of crime and mystery. The first story featuring his we...

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

R. Austin Freeman has published 55 books.

R. Austin Freeman does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke, was published in September 2016.

The first book by R. Austin Freeman, The Aluminium Dagger, was published in January 1909.

Yes. R. Austin Freeman has 1 series.
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