Golden Age of Detective Fiction

Dr. Jervis is filling in for Dr. Hanshaw while he is away on vacation and gets embroiled in a kidnapping case of a young boy of six named Freddy. He investigates the crime with Dr. Thorndyke,

Dr. Jervis, enjoying his temporary role as a traveling physician, is staying with Dr. Hanshaw’s sister, Mrs. Haldean, at The Larches. The atmosphere is pleasant, with Dr. Jervis bonding with young Freddy Haldean and enjoying the company of Miss Lucy Hamden and her fiance, the amiable Douglas Winter. However, a subtle tension lingers in the air as Mrs. Haldean harbors a secret wish to see Lucy married and out of her household.

One fateful day, Lucy Hamden ventures into the forest with young Freddy, their laughter echoing through the trees. Hours later, she emerges, her once vibrant spirit replaced by a wild-eyed desperation. She has been scouring the forest and meadows for Freddy, who has inexplicably vanished. A chilling suspicion takes hold of Mrs. Haldean-could Lucy have harmed the child, driven by a sinister desire for the family fortune?

Dr. Jervis joins the hunt for Freddy Haldean and runs into Dr. Thorndyke in Burling, and together they gather clues and reconstruct the events of the crime.

The Review

Dr. Jervis joins the hunt for Freddy Haldean and runs into Dr. Thorndyke in Burling, and together, they gather clues and reconstruct the events of the 

Dr. John Thorndyke is on fire, making many clever deductions from the two initial clues: footprints and a missing latchkey. From these scanty scraps, he deduces the relative height and gait of the kidnapper, that he walked with a certain type of stick, and his limited mobility. This description narrows down the suspect pool and immediately brings to mind a suspect in Mrs. Haldean’s mind.

Dr. Thorndyke pioneers the field of forensic science, and it is entertaining to listen to his deductions- however- he’s lucky the kidnapper has a distinctive gait due to lameness. In this mystery, he doesn’t have a reasonably normal stride with an average shoe size. Although he is often compared to another titan of deductive reasoning, I find Dr. Thorndyke to be dryly scientific, married to what he knows through proven experimentation. Sherlock Holmes uses his accurate observations of human nature and scientific deduction when it suits the occasion. Of the two, Sherlock Holmes is a more dynamic personality whose foibles and eccentricities also color the story, providing friction and humor.

Dr. Thorndyke, whose relationship with Dr. Jervis is more of a true partnership, is definitely on display here as the two of them catalog and gather evidence together. Although Dr. Thorndyke, who has more forensic expertise, interprets and gives meaning to the evidence, Dr. Jervis, who brings much medical jurisprudence to most stories, is somewhat hamstrung by this story since there’s no body or real legal investigation.

Dr. Jervis unwittingly stumbles upon the reason for Freddy’s kidnapping but doesn’t know that he knows the reason for the abduction until the end of the story. He doesn’t investigate the cause but is told the reason in passing. The comment is so innocent and made about another person that several readers are in the dark at the end about why Freddy has been kidnapped. They left the question under the YouTube audiobook version that I listened to. Dr. Thorndyke doesn’t circle back to why the crime happened at the end, which is more in keeping with his character- he needs to be more interested in the way; he’s focused on the how.

This is a typical Dr. Thorndyke mystery. It doesn’t have any standout features to wow the reader, and some were even confused about the motive because Dr. Jervis’s medico-jurisprudence, which typically supplies the motive in some way, was underwritten. It’s a fine but not remarkable story. I highly recommend Simon Stanhope’s YouTube audiobook narration of the story on his channel, Bitesized Audio Classics, for a superb performance of The Stranger’s Latchkey.

R. Austin Freeman Biography

Richard Austin Freeman (1862–1943) was an English author and physician, best known for his detective stories featuring the character Dr. Thorndyke. Born in London, Freeman studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital Medical College and qualified as a doctor in 1887. He practiced medicine for a time, but his true passion lay in writing.

Freeman’s literary career began with the publication of his first detective novel, “The Red Thumb Mark,” in 1907, which introduced Dr. John Thorndyke, a forensic expert and amateur detective. Thorndyke’s character was groundbreaking in detective fiction for his use of scientific methods to solve crimes, predating similar techniques used by characters like Sherlock Holmes. Freeman’s stories were notable for their intricate plots, attention to detail, and scientific accuracy.

Over the years, Freeman wrote a total of 27 Thorndyke novels and numerous short stories. His works were highly popular during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, influencing subsequent generations of mystery writers. Beyond his detective fiction, Freeman also wrote essays and articles on a variety of topics, including forensic science, medicine, and natural history.

Freeman’s legacy as a pioneer of forensic detective fiction endures, and his contributions to the genre continue to be celebrated by mystery enthusiasts and scholars alike.