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Dr. Thorndyke Mysteries #20
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 elusive because of key facts remaining unknown. He needs the facts to confirm his case: Jasper could complete the blank spaces if only Thorndyke were aware of his existence ........
- GenresMystery
270 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
About the author
R. Austin Freeman
606 books90 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 - 14 of 14 reviews
September 27, 2019
4.5*
This entry in the Dr. Thorndyke series combined a great example of Thorndyke at work with the sort of adventure story that I love. Young Jasper Gray gets innocently caught up in the schemes of a group of ruffians and . Thorndyke & Jervis are asked by their old friend Brodribb to assist him regarding a missing client. Due to certain features surrounding this disappearance, the reader is instantly aware that these two narratives are related though none of the main characters know this. It was such fun watching as Thorndyke proceeds to collect facts which slowly but surely build up the case and eventually the 2 plots become one story.
Freeman has had dual narratives before in the Thorndyke series but mostly in 2 completely separate sections. This book has the two points of view interwoven and it is done in such a skillful way - each plot line has its own interest (and I can see how some readers would prefer one over the other depending on personal taste) but the switch between them was handled smoothly.
This entry in the Dr. Thorndyke series combined a great example of Thorndyke at work with the sort of adventure story that I love. Young Jasper Gray gets innocently caught up in the schemes of a group of ruffians and . Thorndyke & Jervis are asked by their old friend Brodribb to assist him regarding a missing client. Due to certain features surrounding this disappearance, the reader is instantly aware that these two narratives are related though none of the main characters know this. It was such fun watching as Thorndyke proceeds to collect facts which slowly but surely build up the case and eventually the 2 plots become one story.
Freeman has had dual narratives before in the Thorndyke series but mostly in 2 completely separate sections. This book has the two points of view interwoven and it is done in such a skillful way - each plot line has its own interest (and I can see how some readers would prefer one over the other depending on personal taste) but the switch between them was handled smoothly.
June 17, 2020
7/10. Too many coincidences for my taste
October 20, 2024
Haven’t read any of these for some time as I have all the novels in an anthology and am working my way through them. This one was slightly different as the narrator was a young boy called Jasper Gray who was the main person in this tale and was cleverly done. Thorndyke and Jervis obviously came into the story but more as extras and it all moved along swiftly to the denouement at the end. They can be a bit slow and pedantic but the detail is interesting about how they did forensics back in the day so worth plodding through.
July 14, 2023
I cannot recommend this Dr Thorndyke mystery and suggest that even at the time of its publication many would have found it distasteful. It full of xenophobia and of racial and class stereotyping, racial and ethnic superiority and repeats the views which the author promoted in his 1921 paean to eugenics “ Social Decay and Regeneration “.
Apart from these considerations the plot is riddled with coincidences and unlikely occurrences and does not provide noteworthy examples of Thorndyke’s logical and scientific approaches. The solution is quite obvious and while I do not usually find this a barrier to enjoyment, here the plot was just too thin.
Although the teenage hero, Jasper Gray, is an attractive and endearing character, he is there to make a point:despite his poor environment, the adversity of his upbringing and his somewhat feckless father, his aristocratic breeding wins through in the end.
Freeman allows his political and social conservatism, hatred of immigrants, loathing of Bolshevism, contempt for the lower classes and adherence to eugenics to colour the whole novel.
To excuse this as “a product of its time” ignores the point that this is a vehicle for views which were extreme although not as uncommon in British society as might be supposed. Freeman did tone down his portrayal of Jewish characters as the thirties went on but this one pinpoints where he and others stood in 1931.
I never recommend the editing out of these elements from books. They make difficult and disturbing reading but have to stand as testimony to the past as it really was. To expunge is to censor, to wash out the faults and thus to remove the warnings and lessons which can be learned.
Apart from these considerations the plot is riddled with coincidences and unlikely occurrences and does not provide noteworthy examples of Thorndyke’s logical and scientific approaches. The solution is quite obvious and while I do not usually find this a barrier to enjoyment, here the plot was just too thin.
Although the teenage hero, Jasper Gray, is an attractive and endearing character, he is there to make a point:despite his poor environment, the adversity of his upbringing and his somewhat feckless father, his aristocratic breeding wins through in the end.
Freeman allows his political and social conservatism, hatred of immigrants, loathing of Bolshevism, contempt for the lower classes and adherence to eugenics to colour the whole novel.
To excuse this as “a product of its time” ignores the point that this is a vehicle for views which were extreme although not as uncommon in British society as might be supposed. Freeman did tone down his portrayal of Jewish characters as the thirties went on but this one pinpoints where he and others stood in 1931.
I never recommend the editing out of these elements from books. They make difficult and disturbing reading but have to stand as testimony to the past as it really was. To expunge is to censor, to wash out the faults and thus to remove the warnings and lessons which can be learned.
April 19, 2017
Freeman tried something new again with this book, to his credit this time. Instead of just citing the crime at the beginning and leaving his protagonists to sort out the truth as the story unfolds, he used Jasper Gray as a character and narrator throughout the text, providing the main mystery and adding depth and bulk to it as the story went on. I found I rather liked Gray as a character and wished he had more chapters to himself. I was also highly amused by the wig and dress he managed to get himself into, since I'd never come across anything that 'eccentric' in any of Freeman's previous novels.
I think I'm slowly getting the hang of Thorndyke's methodology, because the ending wasn't surprising once I reached it. There were a couple twists, turns, and adjustments as I went and one of the major characters I had guessed incorrectly, but otherwise I had it about right by the end. But it was still enjoyable, to be able to be going along with Thorndyke for once instead of blundering after him blind like Jervis. To his credit as well, Jervis seemed to be much more with it in this book, finally having a bit of depth in his analysis skills.
I think I'm slowly getting the hang of Thorndyke's methodology, because the ending wasn't surprising once I reached it. There were a couple twists, turns, and adjustments as I went and one of the major characters I had guessed incorrectly, but otherwise I had it about right by the end. But it was still enjoyable, to be able to be going along with Thorndyke for once instead of blundering after him blind like Jervis. To his credit as well, Jervis seemed to be much more with it in this book, finally having a bit of depth in his analysis skills.
June 11, 2014
More adventure and fewer forensics than in many a Thorndyke mystery, and the great man doesn't actually appear a lot. As an earlier commentator said, we would now regard the language and attitudes as racist ("this was not an English crime") but it's of its time and must be read as such. Warning though, the end is horribly sad.
January 25, 2017
Here's a fine one. It opens with a bit of parcour that would do James Bond proud, maybe even Belle. There's another amazing parcour run as well. Then on with the plot, which is excellent. Even Thorndyke seems to have an edge in this one. Worth the read.
April 25, 2023
I really enjoyed this one; the first narrator (Jasper) is such an engaging character.
July 1, 2019
An excellent addition to the series told from rwo points of view.
July 14, 2019
Really enjoyed this multi-POV entry in the series, where the clues were there for the reader to figure out, but not so obvious that it made the ending boring by any means. -1 star for casual racism
March 21, 2021
A mystery from two points of view. Firstly, Jasper Gray, 17, a messenger boy and his various adventures which might fill in the gaps of the second. That of Dr Jervis and his help to Dr. Thorndyke as he investigates the death of Sir Edward Hardcastle.
An entertaining mystery
Originally published in 1931
An entertaining mystery
Originally published in 1931
April 7, 2022
Excellent, like almost everything Freeman wrote. True, there are plenty of coincidences, but, as Dr. Thorndike said (in "The Vanishing Man"), "life is made up of strange coincidences. Nobody but a reviewer of novels is ever really surprised at a coincidence". Also, the coincidences here are of the fun sort, not of the lazy plotting sort.
January 15, 2022
Excellent read! Have read it over and over. Always enjoyable!
January 11, 2017
Ah, coincidence! It pretty much rules this book. But if you can ignore the stunning number of coincidences, this is a fun read.
A teenaged delivery boy picks up an odd job and ends up nailed in a box and delivered to a house where a teenaged girl is being held captive--and that's just the first chapter! Meanwhile, a nobleman has disappeared. When a body is found in an empty house, Thorndyke and Dr. Jervis investigate the death on their own, helped, of course, by Polton.
A lot of coincidences later, everything is tied up neatly, which is one of those things I enjoy about the Thorndyke mysteries. Thorndyke will be cool and compassionate; Jervis will notice subtle clues and miss others; and Polton will crinkle and wrinkle and manage to help Thorndyke in the lab while ensuring that meals are served on time and a visitor's favorite alcoholic beverage is handy. This book includes a lot of Brodribb, so if unrapacious lawyers are your thing, you've got a treat here.
And if you like coincidences, well, this is your book.
A teenaged delivery boy picks up an odd job and ends up nailed in a box and delivered to a house where a teenaged girl is being held captive--and that's just the first chapter! Meanwhile, a nobleman has disappeared. When a body is found in an empty house, Thorndyke and Dr. Jervis investigate the death on their own, helped, of course, by Polton.
A lot of coincidences later, everything is tied up neatly, which is one of those things I enjoy about the Thorndyke mysteries. Thorndyke will be cool and compassionate; Jervis will notice subtle clues and miss others; and Polton will crinkle and wrinkle and manage to help Thorndyke in the lab while ensuring that meals are served on time and a visitor's favorite alcoholic beverage is handy. This book includes a lot of Brodribb, so if unrapacious lawyers are your thing, you've got a treat here.
And if you like coincidences, well, this is your book.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews