Series
Publication
Wildside Press (2005), 176 p.
Original publication date
1907
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Awards
Haycraft Queen Cornerstones (1907)
Description
Fiction. Mystery. HTML: When a shipment of world-class diamonds goes missing, investigators call in renowned forensics expert Dr. John Thorndyke, a doctor who turned to law later in his career and began to push the envelope in terms of scientific investigation methods. This is one of the first mystery novels to hinge on the use of the "thumbograph," or fingerprint evidence..
User reviews
LibraryThing member lyzard
Dr Christopher Jervis is contemplating a dreary future when he encounters an old friend from his days as a medical student, Dr John Thorndyke. To his surprise he learns that Thorndyke has created a new kind of career for himself as a medico-legal expert, conducting scientific investigations and
A doctor himself, R. Austin Freeman invented a new kind of detective in Dr Thorndyke, and in doing so created the progenitor to all of today's seemingly endless forensic-based crime stories. Thorndyke marks his territory here at the outset by setting himself squarely against the police and the prosecution, insisting that the difference between them is while they want a conviction, he wants the truth. He also challenges the gap between the theory and the practice of law, asking why, if we truly believe that a man is innocent until proven guilty, he is imprisoned while awaiting trial? There is a definite "Sherlockian" feel here, particularly in the relationship between Thorndyke and Jervis, the latter of whom acts as narrator; but there is also a very deliberate move away from that kind of intuitive detection. At one point, Thorndyke uses Holmesian methods to correctly deduce an individual's profession - but follows up this display with an explanation of how his success could just have well been the result of a lucky guess.
Written in 1907 but set in 1901, the focus of The Red Thumb Mark is the new science of fingerprinting, not invented but formalised and structured by the remarkable English scientist, Francis Galton, in the 1890s. Freeman's concern here, expressed through Thorndyke, is that fingerprints had become the be-all and end-all of criminal investigation, rather than just one piece of evidence. Thus, having found Reuben Hornby's thumbprint, the police consider any further investigation unnecessary. Thorndyke's own investigation, however, suggests that the thumbprint may be a forgery, executed to frame Reuben. In order to prove the young man's innocence, he must not only prove that a thumbmark could be forged, but that this one was.
The Red Thumb Mark is most concerned with the details of truly scientific investigation, and there are a number of long technical descriptions of Thorndyke's processes for examining and capturing evidence, including a courtroom scene in which he prepares a mixture of real and forged thumbprints and challenges the prosecution's experts to say which is which. However, these sequences are set within a mystery plot in which - if Reuben Hornby is innocent - the real guilty party must be indentified (although this is not so much a whodunit as a howhedunit); Thorndyke, as the trial approaches, finds his life in imminent danger; and Jervis is drawn to Miss Juliet Gibson, Mrs Hornby's companion, whose expressed concern for Reuben seems to the unhappy medical man a little too warm for her professions of "just friends"...
"But the thumb-mark, my dear fellow!" I exclaimed. "How can you possibly get over that?"
"I don't know that I can," answered Thorndyke calmly; "but I see you are taking the same view as the police, who persist in regarding a finger-print as a kind of magical touchstone, a final proof, beyond which inquiry need not go. Now, this is an entire mistake. A finger-print is merely a fact---a very important and significant one, I admit---but still a fact, which, like any other fact, requires to be weighed and measured with reference to its evidential value."
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acting as an expert witness in criminal cases. The men are dining together when Thorndyke's services are retained by the solicitor of a young man called Reuben Hornby, accused of stealing from his uncle's business safe a parcel of uncut diamonds, and arrested after the police find his thumbprint in blood on a memorandum inside the safe, where it had not been the night before. Thorndyke agrees to look into the matter, and offers Jervis a job acting as his assistant. In spite of Hornby's hitherto unblemished character and his uncle's professed belief in him, to the police and prosecutors the thumbprint makes it an open-and-shut case - but are things really that straightforward?A doctor himself, R. Austin Freeman invented a new kind of detective in Dr Thorndyke, and in doing so created the progenitor to all of today's seemingly endless forensic-based crime stories. Thorndyke marks his territory here at the outset by setting himself squarely against the police and the prosecution, insisting that the difference between them is while they want a conviction, he wants the truth. He also challenges the gap between the theory and the practice of law, asking why, if we truly believe that a man is innocent until proven guilty, he is imprisoned while awaiting trial? There is a definite "Sherlockian" feel here, particularly in the relationship between Thorndyke and Jervis, the latter of whom acts as narrator; but there is also a very deliberate move away from that kind of intuitive detection. At one point, Thorndyke uses Holmesian methods to correctly deduce an individual's profession - but follows up this display with an explanation of how his success could just have well been the result of a lucky guess.
Written in 1907 but set in 1901, the focus of The Red Thumb Mark is the new science of fingerprinting, not invented but formalised and structured by the remarkable English scientist, Francis Galton, in the 1890s. Freeman's concern here, expressed through Thorndyke, is that fingerprints had become the be-all and end-all of criminal investigation, rather than just one piece of evidence. Thus, having found Reuben Hornby's thumbprint, the police consider any further investigation unnecessary. Thorndyke's own investigation, however, suggests that the thumbprint may be a forgery, executed to frame Reuben. In order to prove the young man's innocence, he must not only prove that a thumbmark could be forged, but that this one was.
The Red Thumb Mark is most concerned with the details of truly scientific investigation, and there are a number of long technical descriptions of Thorndyke's processes for examining and capturing evidence, including a courtroom scene in which he prepares a mixture of real and forged thumbprints and challenges the prosecution's experts to say which is which. However, these sequences are set within a mystery plot in which - if Reuben Hornby is innocent - the real guilty party must be indentified (although this is not so much a whodunit as a howhedunit); Thorndyke, as the trial approaches, finds his life in imminent danger; and Jervis is drawn to Miss Juliet Gibson, Mrs Hornby's companion, whose expressed concern for Reuben seems to the unhappy medical man a little too warm for her professions of "just friends"...
"But the thumb-mark, my dear fellow!" I exclaimed. "How can you possibly get over that?"
"I don't know that I can," answered Thorndyke calmly; "but I see you are taking the same view as the police, who persist in regarding a finger-print as a kind of magical touchstone, a final proof, beyond which inquiry need not go. Now, this is an entire mistake. A finger-print is merely a fact---a very important and significant one, I admit---but still a fact, which, like any other fact, requires to be weighed and measured with reference to its evidential value."
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LibraryThing member bcquinnsmom
Originally written in 1907, The Red Thumb Mark opens the series by R. Austin Freeman featuring Dr. Thorndyke, who is a sort of Sherlock-Holmes type character without the neuroses. Thorndyke is both a doctor and a lawyer, as well as a scientist. He has a butler/assistant named Polton and a friend
The Red Thumb Mark opens with a crime. A young man, nephew of a diamond broker, is accused of stealing a quantity of diamonds from his uncle's safe. According to all, this act is totally out of character for the man (Reuben Hornby), who also has an income of his own so is by no means a poor relation. Of course, Reuben declares his innocence; however, the evidence reveals Reuben's thumbprint very clearly on the safe perfectly encased in a drop of blood. If Reuben didn't do it, then why is his thumbprint there? How's he going to get out of this predicament??? Dr. Thorndyke to the rescue...as he attempts to clear Reuben's good name. But there are those who do not wish him to succeed....
I'll stop there in case there is anyone else here that may be remotely interested in reading this book. I like these old mysteries, and I love the House of Stratus reprints editions. If you are into these classic-style mysteries, you may wish to give this one a try. If you want mainstream, you won't be happy. It's a thinking person's type of mystery.
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who also serves as an assistant and confidant, Jervis, who provides the brief bit of romance in the novel (not overdone...very prim and proper, always the proper gentleman). The Red Thumb Mark opens with a crime. A young man, nephew of a diamond broker, is accused of stealing a quantity of diamonds from his uncle's safe. According to all, this act is totally out of character for the man (Reuben Hornby), who also has an income of his own so is by no means a poor relation. Of course, Reuben declares his innocence; however, the evidence reveals Reuben's thumbprint very clearly on the safe perfectly encased in a drop of blood. If Reuben didn't do it, then why is his thumbprint there? How's he going to get out of this predicament??? Dr. Thorndyke to the rescue...as he attempts to clear Reuben's good name. But there are those who do not wish him to succeed....
I'll stop there in case there is anyone else here that may be remotely interested in reading this book. I like these old mysteries, and I love the House of Stratus reprints editions. If you are into these classic-style mysteries, you may wish to give this one a try. If you want mainstream, you won't be happy. It's a thinking person's type of mystery.
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LibraryThing member mmyoung
This story is not only surprisingly charming to the reader but also unexpectedly relevant to the contemporary fad for forensic procedurals. Thorndyke seems, in many ways, to having been designed to be an interesting not quite anti-Holmes. Thorndyke does not call into question the necessity for the
Thorndyke does not debunk the science behind fingerprinting nor is he skeptical of the process of scientific investigation. What he does present is the difference between true scientific inquiry and the automatic assumption that having mastered a particular scientific technique one may fall back upon it as if it were written in stone. And indeed, he demonstrates that any technique of investigation will soon be countered by criminals who take it into account and counter it with new techniques of their own. It is particularly interesting to read this book today at a time when many treat DNA evidence with reverence but without real understandings of its strengths and weaknesses. Indeed one wonders what opinions Dr. Thorndyke would have as to the reliability of many of today’s labs and many of today’s experts.
For those who are interested in the details of forensic analysis Freeman devotes a good part of the book to that very aspect of forensics which is most overlooked in most television procedurals; how does one present evidence in a way that is understandable and convincing to juries. For those who are less interested in the scientific aspect of “ratiocination” Freeman includes a wonderful analysis of the Holmesian deductive method as Thorndyke explains not only why his supposition that a figure outside the window was a stationmaster was sound but also why it was, for all that soundness, a mere educated guess.
In conclusion: This is an enjoyably written book which avoids unneeded plot complications, does a good job of introducing the reader to Dr. Thorndyke and his methods and may do well to assuage that empty feeling the reader is left with after consuming the last of the Holmes stories.
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careful checking of clues and scientific examination of all possible aspects of the crime. What he calls into question is what might called the fetishization of particular forms of scientific findings without considering all the possibilities of how that “evidence" came to be found at the scene of the crime. In this case, Thorndyke, in defending Reuben Hornby, has to counter the automatic assumption of the police that “a finger-print as a kind of magical touchstone, a final proof, beyond which inquiry need not go." Indeed, Thorndyke argues that “this is an entire mistake. A finger-print is merely a fact, a very important and significant one, I admit, but still a fact, which, like any other fact, requires to be weighed and measured with reference to its evidential value.” Thorndyke does not debunk the science behind fingerprinting nor is he skeptical of the process of scientific investigation. What he does present is the difference between true scientific inquiry and the automatic assumption that having mastered a particular scientific technique one may fall back upon it as if it were written in stone. And indeed, he demonstrates that any technique of investigation will soon be countered by criminals who take it into account and counter it with new techniques of their own. It is particularly interesting to read this book today at a time when many treat DNA evidence with reverence but without real understandings of its strengths and weaknesses. Indeed one wonders what opinions Dr. Thorndyke would have as to the reliability of many of today’s labs and many of today’s experts.
For those who are interested in the details of forensic analysis Freeman devotes a good part of the book to that very aspect of forensics which is most overlooked in most television procedurals; how does one present evidence in a way that is understandable and convincing to juries. For those who are less interested in the scientific aspect of “ratiocination” Freeman includes a wonderful analysis of the Holmesian deductive method as Thorndyke explains not only why his supposition that a figure outside the window was a stationmaster was sound but also why it was, for all that soundness, a mere educated guess.
In conclusion: This is an enjoyably written book which avoids unneeded plot complications, does a good job of introducing the reader to Dr. Thorndyke and his methods and may do well to assuage that empty feeling the reader is left with after consuming the last of the Holmes stories.
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LibraryThing member leslie.98
While the 'who' in this case seemed quite obvious to me, the 'how' baffled me. I got the strong feeling that Freeman's mysteries will mostly focus on the method of the crime (which is okay with me!).
LibraryThing member liz.mabry
I read this book on my Droid using the Aldiko app.
This is the first Thorndyke book - I loved it. The scientific explanations and rationales given are solid (at least they seem to be - I'm no scientist!) and although Thorndyke himself is very Holmes-ish with the deductions, he is a more sympathetic
I also really like the fact that there is a gentle romance - not for Thorndyke , but for Jervis .
This is the first Thorndyke book - I loved it. The scientific explanations and rationales given are solid (at least they seem to be - I'm no scientist!) and although Thorndyke himself is very Holmes-ish with the deductions, he is a more sympathetic
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character. (Forgive me, Sherlock. You know you're prickly.) I also really like the fact that there is a
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LibraryThing member bsquaredinoz
I haven’t read a lot from this era and so can’t really comment on whether or not THE RED THUMB MARK is indicative of contemporary crime fiction but it certainly fits my personal notion of what older crime novels offer. The primary element is the story’s plot – there’s not much room for
…I had never before appreciated what now impressed me most: that Thorndyke was actually the handsomest man I had ever seen. He was dressed simply, his appearance unaided by the flowing gown or awe-inspiring wig, and yet his presence dominated the court. Even the judge, despite his scarlet robe and trappings of office, looked commonplace by comparison, while the jurymen, who turned to look at him, seemed like beings of an inferior order.
He goes on for a another page or so in the same vein. This kind of hero worship is pretty common in the classic whodunnit which is one of the reasons it will never be my favourite kind of crime fiction.
The story here is remarkable mainly because it is a mystery that doesn’t involve a murder, though this was probably more common in 1907 than it is today. Instead we learn about a robbery of some uncut diamonds from the safe of a family business. One of the business owner’s two nephews, Reuben Hornby, is accused of the theft thanks to a piece of paper left at the scene of the crime which helpfully (for police) has Reuben’s thumb print clearly left in blood. The young man’s family don’t really believe Reuben to be guilty but the police are sure they’ve got their man and even his lawyer recommends a guilty plea. Thorndyke is almost immediately convinced of the man’s innocence and proceeds to collect alternative evidence to support this line of thinking. The real culprit was blindingly obvious to me too but that’s got more to do with my knowledge of whodunnits than my skills in fingerprint forgery, typewriter analysis and cigar manufacture.
It wasn’t just Jervis’ over-the-top adoration of the novel’s hero that had me wondering if R. Austin Freeman was actually a pseudonym for a female writer (perhaps a teenage one). The whole text was pretty melodramatic and Jervis in particular was swooning over more than just his chum. He falls rather heavily for Juliet Gibson, a friend of the Hornby family, after knowing her for all of a nano-second. Juliet possesses many fine qualities and “…was in nowise lacking in that womanly softness that so strongly engages a man’s sympathy” but poor Jervis has to hide his emotions (from her, not from the reader) for reasons of honour.
So, THE RED THUMB MARK is, I suppose, a decent example of crime fiction of the era but not really my cup of tea. The writing is too flowery. Why use one word when 17 can be used instead such as when Jervis is researching suicide or, in his words, “…[undertaking] the consideration of the various methods by which a man might contrive to effect his exit from the stage of human activities“. There really isn’t much substance to the story and a lot of the arcane details are repeated multiple times which diminishes what little interest they offered to begin with. The last quarter of the book, which takes place in court, is about as dull as it gets for me as it repeated many of the details we’d already gleaned. There is a hint of social commentary when Thorndyke waxes lyrical about the fiction of the presumption of innocence in the legal system, but even this lost its lustre for me when it became clear that Thorndyke (or Freeman) only really thought that people of the middle and upper classes ought to be spared the indignities of a flawed judicial system.
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character development in around 200 pages pages – and it hinges on minutiae and evidentiary details that only a lone genius can spot. In this instance the genius is a doctor turned lawyer who has at his disposal a compliant and technically competent manservant-come-laboratory operator and an old medical school chum who is currently unemployed and fulfils the Watson role to Thorndyke’s Holmes-like one. I know the comparison is probably unfair but like Watson Christopher Jervis is a doctor and he acts as the narrator of the story and dutifully awed recorder of the brilliance that is Dr. Thorndyke. Jervis is not only concerned with the intellectual superiority of his friend but his remarkable outwardly appearance too, as evidenced by this passage which appears towards the end of the novel when Thorndyke takes to the stand in Court for the first time…I had never before appreciated what now impressed me most: that Thorndyke was actually the handsomest man I had ever seen. He was dressed simply, his appearance unaided by the flowing gown or awe-inspiring wig, and yet his presence dominated the court. Even the judge, despite his scarlet robe and trappings of office, looked commonplace by comparison, while the jurymen, who turned to look at him, seemed like beings of an inferior order.
He goes on for a another page or so in the same vein. This kind of hero worship is pretty common in the classic whodunnit which is one of the reasons it will never be my favourite kind of crime fiction.
The story here is remarkable mainly because it is a mystery that doesn’t involve a murder, though this was probably more common in 1907 than it is today. Instead we learn about a robbery of some uncut diamonds from the safe of a family business. One of the business owner’s two nephews, Reuben Hornby, is accused of the theft thanks to a piece of paper left at the scene of the crime which helpfully (for police) has Reuben’s thumb print clearly left in blood. The young man’s family don’t really believe Reuben to be guilty but the police are sure they’ve got their man and even his lawyer recommends a guilty plea. Thorndyke is almost immediately convinced of the man’s innocence and proceeds to collect alternative evidence to support this line of thinking. The real culprit was blindingly obvious to me too but that’s got more to do with my knowledge of whodunnits than my skills in fingerprint forgery, typewriter analysis and cigar manufacture.
It wasn’t just Jervis’ over-the-top adoration of the novel’s hero that had me wondering if R. Austin Freeman was actually a pseudonym for a female writer (perhaps a teenage one). The whole text was pretty melodramatic and Jervis in particular was swooning over more than just his chum. He falls rather heavily for Juliet Gibson, a friend of the Hornby family, after knowing her for all of a nano-second. Juliet possesses many fine qualities and “…was in nowise lacking in that womanly softness that so strongly engages a man’s sympathy” but poor Jervis has to hide his emotions (from her, not from the reader) for reasons of honour.
So, THE RED THUMB MARK is, I suppose, a decent example of crime fiction of the era but not really my cup of tea. The writing is too flowery. Why use one word when 17 can be used instead such as when Jervis is researching suicide or, in his words, “…[undertaking] the consideration of the various methods by which a man might contrive to effect his exit from the stage of human activities“. There really isn’t much substance to the story and a lot of the arcane details are repeated multiple times which diminishes what little interest they offered to begin with. The last quarter of the book, which takes place in court, is about as dull as it gets for me as it repeated many of the details we’d already gleaned. There is a hint of social commentary when Thorndyke waxes lyrical about the fiction of the presumption of innocence in the legal system, but even this lost its lustre for me when it became clear that Thorndyke (or Freeman) only really thought that people of the middle and upper classes ought to be spared the indignities of a flawed judicial system.
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LibraryThing member MHThaung
In my search for mysteries that are neither grim nor silly, I've been exploring authors and books from the early 20th Century. The Red Thumb Mark is the first book in a megapack I picked up out of curiosity - though given that it's apparently close to eight thousand pages, I suspect I won't read it
The story was competently told. The prose was stilted in places, but not unbearably so. I did occasionally find myself impatient with the repetitions. The "whodunnit" part of the plot was straightforward, and I suppose the interest is more about the "howdunnit." Jervis as narrator felt more obtuse than he needed to be. The romance was shoehorned in and had me rolling my eyes. The forensic methodology explanations were quite interesting (I once studied Forensic Medicine), especially from a vantage of 100 years later. However, the villain's actions were unrealistic and were presumably contrived in order that Thorndyke could show off his acumen. That is, the plot was nothing special and served to showcase examples of scientific cleverness.
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all!The story was competently told. The prose was stilted in places, but not unbearably so. I did occasionally find myself impatient with the repetitions. The "whodunnit" part of the plot was straightforward, and I suppose the interest is more about the "howdunnit." Jervis as narrator felt more obtuse than he needed to be. The romance was shoehorned in and had me rolling my eyes. The forensic methodology explanations were quite interesting (I once studied Forensic Medicine), especially from a vantage of 100 years later. However, the villain's actions were unrealistic and were presumably contrived in order that Thorndyke could show off his acumen. That is, the plot was nothing special and served to showcase examples of scientific cleverness.
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LibraryThing member Vesper1931
Dr Thorndyke latest client is a Reuben Hornby. Diamonds that were kept in his Uncle's safe have been stolen.. The keys were kept by his Uncle John Hornby. But a bloody finger print left in the safe points to Reuben Hornby. Who proclaims his innocence. Thorndyke is helped by old friend Dr Jervis.
An
Originally published in 1907
An
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interesting historical mystery.Originally published in 1907
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LibraryThing member Overgaard
almost jumped the shark w the love affair between Jervis and the girl
LibraryThing member leslie.98
3.5*
While the 'who' in this case seemed quite obvious to me, the 'how' baffled me. I got the strong feeling that Freeman's mysteries will mostly focus on the method of the crime (which is okay with me!).
While the 'who' in this case seemed quite obvious to me, the 'how' baffled me. I got the strong feeling that Freeman's mysteries will mostly focus on the method of the crime (which is okay with me!).
Language
Original language
English
ISBN
9781557424532
Physical description
176 p.; 6 inches
Other editions
The Red Thumb Mark by R. Austin Freeman (CD audiobook)
The Red Thumb Mark: A Doctor Thorndyke Mystery by R. Austin Freeman (Digital audiobook)
Pages
176