10 h 46 minAudiobook16 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
How do you prove what has happened to a man who has vanished without a trace?
John Bellingham disappears, leaving his family with questions that reach beyond where he has gone. Is he alive? What happens to his property? In The Vanishing Man, R. Austin Freeman turns a missing Egyptologist and a disputed will into a puzzle where uncertainty puts the Bellingham family under pressure.
Dr. Thorndyke approaches the case as both a doctor and a legal expert. He examines evidence rather than trusting a hunch. Against a background of Egyptian antiquities, questions about human remains take on particular weight. An explanation may seem convincing, but the challenge is to show what can actually be proved.
What you’ll discover
- A disappearance with consequences Follow a missing man's case whose unanswered questions place his family's inheritance in doubt.
- Science meets the law Watch Thorndyke bring medical reasoning and legal knowledge to the same demanding problem.
- An Egyptian background Explore a mystery where ancient Egypt and human remains give the evidence particular significance.
- The burden of proof Consider the unsettling distance between an explanation that fits and one that evidence supports.
- Patient inquiry matters Enjoy detection that gives careful examination more weight than pursuit or a confident hunch.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this if you love clever puzzles, Victorian and Edwardian London streets, courtroom scenes, Egyptian antiquities, and detectives who win by observing small facts, with a warm love story and dry humour alongside.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A lecture, a visitor, and a vanishing
- Berkeley meets the Bellinghams in Nevill's Court
- A will that defeats its own purpose
- Horrible discovery in a watercress bed
- Jellicoe, a supper, and a new alliance
- Five hypotheses and a missing finger
- The court refuses and Thorndyke explains the snails
- A refusal, a well, and policemen at the gate
- Reasoning from small facts, told by a lover
Who’s who
- Dr. John ThorndykeA lawyer and medical expert who solves crimes by studying small physical facts, and who takes up a poor family's case for the interest of it.
- Paul BerkeleyA young, newly qualified doctor who tells the story, falls in love with Ruth Bellingham, and becomes Thorndyke's eager assistant.
- Ruth BellinghamA proud, quick-witted young woman who earns her living researching at the British Museum and who guards a painful secret about the danger she faces.
- Godfrey BellinghamRuth's warm, impulsive father, who has lost his fortune and who wants his brother found and his family cleared.
- Mr. JellicoeA dry, cautious lawyer and Egyptology enthusiast who manages John Bellingham's affairs and answers every question with a question.
- Dr. JervisThorndyke's witty junior partner, who jokes constantly and quickly sees the human side of a case.
- Miss OmanThe prickly, kind-hearted landlady in Nevill's Court who guards Ruth and her father like a fierce small bird.
- Inspector BadgerA sly, secretive police detective who searches ponds and woods for the rest of the bones and follows his own private theory.
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- Audiobook
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 16 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
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El hombre que desapareció
by R. Austin Freeman · 1911
A man walks into a quiet house in Eltham and vanishes, and a strange will leaves his family one cruel loophole.
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In short
The Vanishing Man is a detective novel by R. Austin Freeman, who died in 1943.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A lecture, a visitor, and a vanishing
The book opens at St. Margaret's Hospital, where Dr. John Thorndyke lectures on medical jurisprudence. After a talk on survivorship, he comments on a case from that morning's newspaper. A gentleman has disappeared, and the question of when he was last certainly alive could decide who inherits his property. The young narrator and his fellow students gather round the lecturer's table to listen.
The missing man is Mr. John Bellingham, well known in archaeological circles. He has just come home from Egypt and has given the British Museum a mummy and a set of tomb furnishings. On the twenty-third of November he arrives at Eltham, at the house of his cousin Mr. Hurst. Hurst is still in town, so the housemaid shows the visitor into the study, brings him writing materials, and leaves him there.
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What is The Vanishing Man about?
It is a detective story about a missing Egyptologist, John Bellingham, whose disappearance, strange will, and scattered bones draw Dr. Thorndyke into a case that threatens a poor family and tests his scientific reasoning.
Who is Dr. Thorndyke?
John Thorndyke is a lawyer and doctor who lectures on medical jurisprudence and solves crimes by studying physical evidence. Freeman used him as the hero of a long series, and he works with Jervis and his assistant Polton.
Who tells the story in The Vanishing Man?
The story is told by Dr. Paul Berkeley, Thorndyke's former student. He is friendly, observant, and often a step behind, so readers follow the clues alongside him and share his surprise as Thorndyke explains.
The author
R. Austin Freeman
1862–1943 · British detective novelist
Richard Austin Freeman (1862–1943) was a British doctor and writer. He was born in London and died in Gravesend, Kent. He wrote detective novels and short stories featuring the medical investigator Dr John Thorndyke. His first Thorndyke novel, The Red Thumb Mark, was published in 1907.
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