The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke (The Singing Bone)

"The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke" by R. Austin Freeman is a collection of detective stories written in the early 20th century. The protagonist is Dr. Thorndyke, a forensic expert and detective, who uses scientific principles to solve crimes. The stories promise to engage readers with intricate plots and the intellectual challenges typical of the detective genre. The opening of "The Adventures of Dr. Thorndyke" introduces the first case, "The Case of Oscar Brodski," in which we meet Silas Hickler, a gentleman with a hidden life as a burglar. As he prepares to leave for Amsterdam with valuable diamonds, he encounters Oscar Brodski, a diamond merchant. When Hickler is momentarily tempted to commit murder for the loot, a violent struggle ensues, leading to Brodski's death. The narrative unfolds as Thorndyke arrives on the scene to investigate the suspicious train accident that killed Brodski, leading to an exploration of various clues and an intricate dissection of the events surrounding the murder. Overall, the beginning effectively sets the stage for a mystery that will challenge both the detective and the reader. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Dr. Richard Austin Freeman was a British writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr. Thorndyke. He invented the inverted detective story. This invention has been described as Freeman's most notable contribution to detective fiction. Freeman used some of his early experiences as a colonial surgeon in his novels. Many of the Dr. Thorndyke stories involve genuine, but sometimes arcane, points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology.