About this book
What if the most revealing clue lies not at the crime scene, but in the hidden workings of the mind?
In Arthur B. Reeve’s The Dream Doctor, Craig Kennedy brings the laboratory into detective work. A university professor in New York, he treats crime as a problem to test. His instruments matter more than hunches, and his search for truth turns on what science can reveal.
These detective stories explore more than physical evidence. Dreams, nerves and the unconscious become possible sources of clues. Kennedy reaches for microscopes, chemical tests and delicate meters as Reeve puts the scientific ideas of his day to work. Plot and surprise drive the cases, with apparatus taking a leading role.
What you’ll discover
- A professor on the case Follow Craig Kennedy as he brings a scientist’s habits to the search for answers.
- Clues under the microscope Discover detective work that puts instruments and chemical tests ahead of instinct.
- The mind as evidence Explore stories where dreams and nerves offer another way to think about crime.
- New York’s scientific detective Enter the New York of the 1910s through cases shaped by laboratory science.
- A taste for surprise Enjoy early detective stories that favor moving plots and unexpected discoveries over fine style.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who enjoy early detective fiction, gadgets of the past, quick clever cases, and a confident scientist at work before nervous suspects.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A month of cases begins with one dead broker
- Typewriters and dreams can name a killer
- A glowing mouth and a heart machine
- Voices from a ceiling and the phantom circuit
- A green curse and a mummy that moves
- Murder by diet and an opium trail
- Shoplifters, a rubber inventor and a flying blood film
- Bombs, cocaine and a stolen submarine secret
- A buried man, an electric chair and one more tomb
- What the cases add up to and how they are told
Who’s who
- Craig KennedyA university chemist who uses the newest science to solve crimes and prefers more work to rest between cases.
- Walter JamesonA newspaper reporter and Kennedy's friend who tells the story, follows him for a month and struggles to keep up.
- First Deputy O'ConnorA blunt police official who calls Kennedy in when a case defeats his men, especially in poisonings and harbor crimes.
- Dr. LeslieThe city coroner, who brings Kennedy the first mysterious death and later calls juries when science settles a case.
- District Attorney CartonA square-jawed prosecutor fighting a vice ring and needing a nervous witness to speak before bombs silence him.
- Nella GodwinA small, determined woman living in sight of Sing Sing who begs Kennedy to save her condemned husband.
Formats and delivery
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El doctor de los sueños
by Arthur B. Reeve · 1914
Kennedy traces a murder through cobra venom, a typed note and a dream, all in one day.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEspañol
Excellent
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Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
A newspaper editor gives reporter Walter Jameson an unusual order. Follow your friend Professor Craig Kennedy for one month and write down whatever happens.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A month of cases begins with one dead broker
The book opens with an editor's order. Walter Jameson of the Star must follow Professor Craig Kennedy for a month. Then the coroner telephones and wants Kennedy at Municipal Hospital at once.
On a table lies the broker Price Maitland, found staggering on Broadway and dead soon afterward. In his pocket is a typed note to his wife, Madeline, saying he means to drop out of her life. The doctors find no drug in him. The autopsy shows only a strange breaking up of the blood cells.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 8 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1914
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 7 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Reeve, Arthur B. The Dream Doctor. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dream-doctor.
Reeve, A. B. (2026). The dream doctor. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dream-doctor (Original work published 1914)
Reeve, Arthur B. The Dream Doctor. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dream-doctor.
@book{reeve2026dream,
author = {Reeve, Arthur B.},
title = {The Dream Doctor},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-dream-doctor},
note = {First published 1914}
}
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What is The Dream Doctor about?
It follows Professor Craig Kennedy through one month of cases told by his reporter friend Walter Jameson. Each case, from a cobra poisoning to a death row appeal, is solved with the scientific tools of the early twentieth century.
Who is Craig Kennedy?
Kennedy is a chemistry professor who works as a scientific detective. He uses microscopes, instruments and new psychology to catch criminals, and he loves the work so much that he treats a change of case as rest.
Why is it called The Dream Doctor?
The title comes from the first case, in which a widow's frightening dreams matter to the investigation. A suspect calls Kennedy a dream doctor in scientific disguise when he applies Freud's ideas to them.
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