Résumé
Résumé de Le Coffret magique
À qui s’adresse-t-il ?
Readers who like clever puzzles, fair clues and a calm hero who solves each case with science and common sense, and anyone fond of old London streets, courtrooms, chambers and trains.
De quoi parle ce livre ?
The Magic Casket gathers nine detective stories by R. Austin Freeman, who died in 1943. Each one follows Dr. John Thorndyke, a London doctor and barrister who solves crimes by looking harder than anyone else. His friend and junior, Dr. Jervis, tells the tales, and he often sees the same facts as Thorndyke without grasping what they mean.
The cases move through a London of taxis, telegrams, trains and gas lamps. A stolen handbag, a cremation, a shooting on a railway carriage, a body in a ditch, a bride-to-be found dead, a box of remains, a missing curiosity, a trail of blood and a laboratory explosion each begin with a puzzle that seems closed. In every story the key is small, such as a stray hair, a weed, a button, a date on a receipt or a fingerprint on a hand.
You get the substance of all nine cases here, with their settings, their people and the way Thorndyke works, and nothing of how they are solved. Along the way you meet Brodribb the warm old solicitor, Superintendent Miller of Scotland Yard, who both admires and resents Thorndyke, and Polton, the quiet assistant who makes the instruments. Let us begin with a bag left in a church porch on a misty November night.
Dans ce résumé
- 1A stolen bag leads to a casketFree
- 2A cremation too perfectly arranged
- 3A murder on the Densford train
- 4A body in a ditch
- 5A threatened woman and a perfect alibi
- 6A box, an arm and a hopeless defence
- 7A missing object in Tanfield Court
- 8Blood on the hall floor
- 9An explosion in the night
Point clé 1 sur 9
A stolen bag leads to a casket
The first story begins on a misty November night near King's Road in Chelsea. Thorndyke and Jervis are walking through dim side streets when Thorndyke stops at the porch of a small locked church. In the shadow he finds a handbag with the gilt initials M.B. It has been forced open, yet inside are neatly wrapped pieces of Chinese pottery with a museum label bearing the name of Miss Mabel Bonney of Willow Walk, Fulham Road.
The two men carry it to her address to return it. On the way they pass two well-dressed Japanese men hurrying away, and they see policemen leaving a house for a waiting taxi. It is number 168. An anxious maid takes the bag with relief and begs for Thorndyke's card. Soon afterward old Mr. Brodribb, the family solicitor, leaps from a cab and knocks at the same door with his famous flourish.
That same night Brodribb calls at the Temple chambers and, over port brought in by Polton, tells the history. Miss Bonney's father, a solicitor, was murdered in his Bedford Row office. A bag of loose pearls worth fifty thousand pounds, left in his safe, vanished with the killers. A Japanese man named Uyenishi, seen running from the house, was blamed. Miss Bonney insisted on paying the owner in full, and she has lived in near poverty ever since.
Uyenishi later turned up in an American prison and died there, leaving a small casket shaped like a seated figure. The governor gave it to Miss Bonney as a keepsake. Since then she has been followed, her hotel rooms have been entered, and now her bag has been snatched. Brodribb is sure the casket has some worth beyond its looks and begs Thorndyke to study it.
The next afternoon Miss Bonney comes to tea, and Thorndyke turns the casket over with a watchmaker's loupe. He points out strange things about its metal and its bottom plate, but will not guess yet. He asks to keep it for photographs, then asks to see the streets near Bedford Row where the fugitive ran. What he reads from the casket is the puzzle.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Le Coffret magique
What is The Magic Casket about?
It is a collection of nine detective stories about Dr. John Thorndyke, a London doctor and barrister who solves puzzling crimes with science and close observation, with his friend Dr. Jervis telling each case.
Who is Dr. Thorndyke?
He is a medico-legal expert in the Temple who works with solicitors and the police. He is calm, precise and learned, and he brings the right tools for each case.
Is it a novel or a story collection?
It is a collection. Each of the nine chapters is a complete case with its own clients, crime and solution, though the same friends and helpers return from story to story.
Is it easy to read?
Yes, the stories use clear language, short scenes and lively dialogue. Each case is explained step by step, so a reader can follow the clues and enjoy the reasoning without any scientific training.
Who are Brodribb, Miller and Polton?
Brodribb is an old solicitor and friend who brings clients to Thorndyke. Superintendent Miller is a Scotland Yard detective who works with him, and Polton is his skilled laboratory assistant.