There is a deeper quality in R. Austin Freeman's work than is projected by his meticulous and solidly satisfying plots.' (Queen's Quorum, p.56).

The first edition of this early and important work by Austin Freeman, the inventor of the inverted crime fiction story. Featuring the forensic forays of Dr Thorndyke, described by his creator as a 'medical jurispractitioner', with elements drawing upon the author's own experiences and actual experiments, for example with tropical medicine, toxicology and metallurgy. This volume collects seven of Thorndyke's most puzzling stories, including 'The Man with the Nailed Shoes', 'The Moabite Cipher', 'The Mandarin Pearl', and 'A Message from the Deep Sea'.

First edition; 8vo; frontispiece and 9 plates, 5 illustrations, 32pp. publisher's catalogue at end, blind-stamped 'presentation copy' on title, some foxing, tape burns to free endpapers, small contemporary ownership inscription to front free endpaper; publisher's brown pictorial cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, a very good copy, with facsimile dust-jacket.