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The Stoneware Monkey / The Penrose Mystery
A novel of two halves, this story opens with Dr James Oldfield who finds himself caught one night in a police hunt. When he stumbles upon a policeman, struck dead by an unknown assailant, Oldfield determines to piece together what happened, and who Mr Kempster, (a man who turns up at the scene of the crime) may be. What unravels is a story of ingenious theft involving diamonds and the remains of an artist's body found in a kiln. In the second part, Oldfield engages the help of Dr Thorndyke and together they trace the work of the artist and a valuable stoneware monkey that hides an incredible secret. In the back streets of London amongst colonies of silk weavers, cabinet-makers and craftsmen, Freeman deftly entwines a cunning story infused with palpable suspense. From the father of forensic crime fiction, this plot is chock full of vivid detail.
- GenresMystery
440 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1938
About the author
R. Austin Freeman
625 books91 followersRichard Freeman was born in Soho, London on 11 April 1862, the son of Ann Maria (nee Dunn) and Richard Freeman, a tailor. He was originally named Richard, and later added the Austin to his name.
He became a medical trainee at Middlesex Hospital Medical College, and was accepted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He married Annie Elizabeth Edwards in 1887; they had two sons. After a few weeks of married life, the couple found themselves in Accra on the Gold Coast, where he was assistant surgeon. His time in Africa produced plenty of hard work, very little money and ill health, so much so that after seven years he was invalided out of the service in 1891. He wrote his first book, 'Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman', which was published in 1898. It was critically acclaimed but made very little money.
On his return to England he set up an eye/ear/nose/throat practice, but in due course his health forced him to give up medicine, although he did have occasional temporary posts, and in World War I he was in the ambulance corps.
He became a writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. The first of the books in the series was 'The Red Thumb Mark' (1907). His first published crime novel was 'The Adventures of Romney Pringle' (1902) and was a collaborative effort published under the pseudonym Clifford Ashdown. Within a few years he was devoting his time to full-time writing.
With the publication of 'The Singing Bone' (1912) he invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in which the commission of the crime is described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator, with the story then describing the detective's attempt to solve the mystery). Thereafter he used some of his early experiences as a colonial surgeon in his novels.
A large proportion of the Dr Thorndyke stories involve genuine, but often quite arcane, points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology.
He died in Gravesend on 28 September 1943.
He became a medical trainee at Middlesex Hospital Medical College, and was accepted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.
He married Annie Elizabeth Edwards in 1887; they had two sons. After a few weeks of married life, the couple found themselves in Accra on the Gold Coast, where he was assistant surgeon. His time in Africa produced plenty of hard work, very little money and ill health, so much so that after seven years he was invalided out of the service in 1891. He wrote his first book, 'Travels and Life in Ashanti and Jaman', which was published in 1898. It was critically acclaimed but made very little money.
On his return to England he set up an eye/ear/nose/throat practice, but in due course his health forced him to give up medicine, although he did have occasional temporary posts, and in World War I he was in the ambulance corps.
He became a writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. The first of the books in the series was 'The Red Thumb Mark' (1907). His first published crime novel was 'The Adventures of Romney Pringle' (1902) and was a collaborative effort published under the pseudonym Clifford Ashdown. Within a few years he was devoting his time to full-time writing.
With the publication of 'The Singing Bone' (1912) he invented the inverted detective story (a crime fiction in which the commission of the crime is described at the beginning, usually including the identity of the perpetrator, with the story then describing the detective's attempt to solve the mystery). Thereafter he used some of his early experiences as a colonial surgeon in his novels.
A large proportion of the Dr Thorndyke stories involve genuine, but often quite arcane, points of scientific knowledge, from areas such as tropical medicine, metallurgy and toxicology.
He died in Gravesend on 28 September 1943.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 8, 2019
This was my first R. Austin Freeman novel. The main elements in the whodunit were easy to deduce early on, and I mourn my attention span -- getting to the end of the novel, knowing who, what, why and how with all those paragraphs and procedurals on pottery, inquests, and imprecise narration was a grind. A supposedly fun thing I might not do again.
June 21, 2023
Strangely super-normal and satisfying novels; the second one even has a few women characters (albeit in men's clothing) ....
May 4, 2023
This book contains two full-length books and I read The Stoneware Monkey only. I am saving The Penrose Mystery for later.
The writing style is a little stilted, old-fashioned, especially for a book published in 1939. But that did not hinder the enjoyment of this, although I was perhaps a bit ahead of the plot in considering all the possibilities of who the murder victim was. But the narrative is presented by two different characters, so this perhaps justifies why more is not revealed sooner. And neither of these characters is the sleuth--they are more the Watson type who records what is seen but doesn't always get to the right conclusion.
I look forward to the second book inside these covers when I will see what else R. Austin Freeman can do.
I finished The Penrose Mystery on April 8, 2023. It was, in fact, much like the Stoneware Monkey in that there is excessive attention to detail and to collecting the proof that is actual evidence of murder. It is a convoluted story and goes on a tad too long. Just when you think it is solved, nope, the evidence is not conclusive. And as before, the story has more than one narrator, so the reader is conscious that what they present is filtered by the narrator's point of view which is never as all-seeing or critical as Dr. John Thorndyke's. I think I would give this mystery 3 stars, not 4, just because I got a little tired of it near the end. Cleverness isn't everything. Let's move the plot along a little faster.
The writing style is a little stilted, old-fashioned, especially for a book published in 1939. But that did not hinder the enjoyment of this, although I was perhaps a bit ahead of the plot in considering all the possibilities of who the murder victim was. But the narrative is presented by two different characters, so this perhaps justifies why more is not revealed sooner. And neither of these characters is the sleuth--they are more the Watson type who records what is seen but doesn't always get to the right conclusion.
I look forward to the second book inside these covers when I will see what else R. Austin Freeman can do.
I finished The Penrose Mystery on April 8, 2023. It was, in fact, much like the Stoneware Monkey in that there is excessive attention to detail and to collecting the proof that is actual evidence of murder. It is a convoluted story and goes on a tad too long. Just when you think it is solved, nope, the evidence is not conclusive. And as before, the story has more than one narrator, so the reader is conscious that what they present is filtered by the narrator's point of view which is never as all-seeing or critical as Dr. John Thorndyke's. I think I would give this mystery 3 stars, not 4, just because I got a little tired of it near the end. Cleverness isn't everything. Let's move the plot along a little faster.
June 20, 2012
enjoyable puzzle=type mysteries
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews