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Fiction. Mystery. This is the story of Andrew, a handsome artist living with his beautiful wife. Andrew witnesses a man being shot one night by two masked assailants and on the advice of his wife, decides to remain silent about what he has seen. But when a meeting with his cousin Ronald proves to be fatal, Andrew finds himself suspecting foul play, as Ronald lies crushed on beach sands. And soon, Andrew is a suspect himself.Tags
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Member Reviews
This 21st entry in the Dr. Thorndyke series wasn't a mystery at all. I guess it could be called a suspense or better yet a crime novel. Though Thorndyke enters the story rather late and the reader doesn't get to see him doing much investigating, it was entertaining to see him at work in the courtroom. The main character, Andrew Barton, was a complete imbecile and while at first I could understand his motivations, he quickly lost my sympathy & is one of the main reasons this book only gets 3* from me.
I usually enjoy re-reading Freeman's work, and this is no exception, but it can't be denied that it's not the best of his work. It is an example of the "inverted" type of story, where we see the crime committed and then follow the investigator as he/she solves it, but we see so little of Thorndyke's work in this story that it can't be called a good example of the type. Also, we have to believe in such a complicated series of events which force the central character to act in an utterly absurd manner that suspension of disbelief becomes extremely difficult if not impossible (I felt this when I first read it, over 40 years ago, and in those days I was much less critical!). Only recommendable to those who've read most of the Thorndyke show more canon and want to complete it. show less
This 21st entry in the Dr. Thorndyke series wasn't a mystery at all. I guess it could be called a suspense or better yet a crime novel. Though Thorndyke enters the story rather late and the reader doesn't get to see him doing much investigating, it was entertaining to see him at work in the courtroom. The main character, Andrew Barton, was a complete imbecile and while at first I could understand his motivations, he quickly lost my sympathy & is one of the main reasons this book only gets 3* from me.
A series of wrong turns means that painter Andrew Barton has assumed the identity of his cousin Ronald. But this leads to more problems. Can he escape this tangled web of his own doing.
An entertaining historical mystery
Originally published in 1934
An entertaining historical mystery
Originally published in 1934
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#JustTheFacts2019Gold
59 works; 1 member
#MysteryBingo2019Gold(Original)
36 works; 1 member
#MysteryBingo2019Gold(Revised)
36 works; 1 member
Author Information
178+ Works 3,061 Members
Richard Austin Freeman enjoyed a prolific career that saw him gain qualification as pharmacist and surgeon, pull off a diplomatic coup along the Gold Coast of Africa, work for Holloway Prison and become a formidable man of fiction. For the first twenty-five years of his writing career, Freeman was to dominate and remain unrivalled in the world of show more detective fiction, introducing the well-loved and highly memorable Dr Thorndyke. Through the creation of this character, Richard Austin Freeman continues to be read as an extremely popular addition to the world of the mystery novel. show less
Series
Work Relationships
Is contained in
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- For the Defence: Dr Thorndyke
- Original title
- For the Defence: Dr Thorndyke
- Original publication date
- 1934
- People/Characters
- John Thorndyke
- First words
- It was about four o'clock on a summer afternoon when Andrew Barton, pipe in mouth and garden shears in hand, suspended for a moment his operations on the privet hedge in his front garden to glance down the lane at the postman... (show all), who had just turned into it from the road at the end.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)"But NOT with the jawbone of an ass."
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 50
- Popularity
- 605,251
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.56)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 5
