10 h 46 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 46 minPaperback · 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
Readers who love puzzles solved by clear reasoning, old London streets, Egyptian antiquities, and a gentle love story will find all of them here, along with a hero who sees what others overlook.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A missing guest raises a question about time
- A young doctor overhears a bitter quarrel
- A will built to defeat its own purpose
- Shorthand, a museum, and a Greek friend
- Thorndyke takes the case for friendship
- Bones appear in ponds and a well
- A day among the bones and a cobbler juror
- A court refuses to presume death
- The Sphinx of Lincoln's Inn blocks every question
- What the story is really about and how it is told
Who’s who
- Paul BerkeleyA young doctor and the narrator, who falls in love with Ruth Bellingham and becomes Thorndyke's eager helper.
- Dr. John ThorndykeA medical jurist and lawyer who solves cases by close reasoning and keeps his theories to himself until he can prove them.
- Ruth BellinghamA proud, scholarly young woman who earns her living in the British Museum and fears her family's name is under suspicion.
- Godfrey BellinghamRuth's warm, hot-tempered father, poor and proud, who hopes the will can be settled and refuses charity.
- Mr. JellicoeThe missing man's solicitor and executor, a dry, guarded lover of Egyptology who answers every question with a question.
- George HurstA stockbroker cousin of the missing man who stands to gain if the will's burial clause fails.
- Dr. JervisThorndyke's witty junior colleague and Berkeley's old friend, who jokes freely and helps with the inquiries.
- Miss OmanThe sharp-tongued neighbor and fierce protector of the Bellinghams, who loves a good murder report.
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L'Homme qui disparaît
by R. Austin Freeman · 1911
A visitor enters a study in Eltham and is gone before dinner, and Dr. Thorndyke begins to ask why.
Medium level10–20 hours to readfrançais
Excellent
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In short
What happens to a man who walks into a quiet house in Eltham, is shown into the study to wait for his cousin, and is never seen again? The housemaid swears he did not leave by the hall.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A missing guest raises a question about time
Dr. John Thorndyke teaches medical jurisprudence, and his lectures feed on real cases from the newspapers. One morning he turns to the paper. A gentleman has disappeared, and the whole matter may hang on the last moment anyone knows he was alive.
The man is John Bellingham, an Egyptologist. He returns from Paris and goes straight to his cousin, Mr. Hurst, in Eltham. The housemaid shows him into the study at twenty past five. When Hurst sits down to dinner at six, the guest has gone, and nobody saw him leave.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1911
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 7 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Freeman, R. Austin. The Vanishing Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-vanishing-man.
Freeman, R. A. (2026). The vanishing man. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-vanishing-man (Original work published 1911)
Freeman, R. Austin. The Vanishing Man. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-vanishing-man.
@book{freeman2026vanishing,
author = {Freeman, R. Austin},
title = {The Vanishing Man},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-vanishing-man},
note = {First published 1911}
}
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What is The Vanishing Man about?
It follows a young doctor, Paul Berkeley, who helps Dr. Thorndyke look into the disappearance of an Egyptologist named John Bellingham, a puzzling will, and a series of human remains found in ponds and wells.
Who is Dr. Thorndyke?
Dr. John Thorndyke is a lawyer and doctor who lectures on medical jurisprudence. He is the series detective, known for noticing small physical facts and for keeping his theories secret until he can prove them.
What does the Eye of Osiris mean in the book?
It is an ancient Egyptian symbol of watchful protection. In the story it appears on a ring copied by John Bellingham and also as a tattoo on his chest, which makes it a key way to identify him.
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.
More by R. Austin Freeman
Voir tous ses livresMore like this
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