9 h 52 minAudiobook12 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
When a death looks simple and a suspect looks certain, what can the evidence still reveal?
In R. Austin Freeman’s As a Thief in the Night, poison and deception put appearances under pressure. Dr. John Thorndyke brings two kinds of knowledge to the pursuit of justice: he is both doctor and barrister. Rather than trust a hunch, he turns to observation, chemistry, and the careful reading of medical evidence.
Thorndyke works from rooms in the Temple, London’s old legal quarter. Around his investigations lies a world of courts, chambers, railway stations, boarding houses, and country lanes beyond the city. The pleasure is patient discovery: following the evidence, questioning what seems certain, and seeing how medicine can bring the law closer to the truth.
What you’ll discover
- A detective with discipline Meet a medical lawyer who seeks answers through science rather than luck or confession.
- Poison beneath the surface Explore a mystery where hidden poison makes an apparently simple death worth examining closely.
- Evidence you can follow Share the patient work of weighing clues instead of waiting for a lucky revelation.
- London in concrete detail Step into a world of legal chambers, railway stations, boarding houses, and nearby country lanes.
- Justice under close examination Consider what happens when a seemingly certain accusation must stand against careful scientific scrutiny.
Who will love it
Readers who like to match wits with a detective, who enjoy poisons, inquests and laboratory work, and who want a mystery in Edwardian London told by a friend caught up in the case.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A brother finds a dying man
- Death comes before the diagnosis
- The inquest turns to poison
- A verdict of murder by persons unknown
- The search and Thorndyke's blunt warning
- Cases that break off halfway
- Rivalry, shadows and an empty house
- A midnight chase to a cemetery
- What the story is really about
- How the story is told
Who’s who
- Rupert MayfieldA young barrister and the narrator, who loves his friends deeply and hires Thorndyke to prove none of them guilty.
- Dr. John ThorndykeA medical barrister and expert on poisons, patient and guarded, who follows every fact wherever it leads.
- Barbara MonkhouseHarold's wife and Rupert's oldest friend, calm, clever and self-contained, often away on political tours.
- Madeline NorrisHarold's adopted niece, a gentle teacher of cookery who prepared his meals and knows something of drugs.
- Anthony WallingfordHarold's nervous, jealous secretary, devoted to Barbara, hiding a secret drawer and a fear of being watched.
- Superintendent MillerA courteous, thorough police detective who follows every clue and finds each one breaks off halfway.
- Amos MonkhouseHarold's blunt Yorkshire clergyman brother, who sees that Harold is dying and insists on a second opinion.
- Mr. PoltonThorndyke's skilled assistant, who X-rays suspicious parcels and builds nearly anything with his hands.
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 52 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 12 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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Come un ladro nella notte
by R. Austin Freeman · 1928
A bedridden man in a Kensington square dies in the night, and the coroner says arsenic, with every friend a suspect.
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In short
As a Thief in the Night is a Dr. Thorndyke mystery by R.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A brother finds a dying man
The story opens with Rupert Mayfield looking back on events he did not see coming. He is at the Kensington house of Harold Monkhouse, a frail, bookish invalid, when Harold's brother Amos arrives from a Yorkshire parish. Amos is a keen-faced, sturdy clergyman, and he goes upstairs and comes down alarmed and angry.
He declares that Harold is dying. Rupert objects that the family doctor, Dr. Dimsdale, has treated Harold for twenty years and sees no danger. Amos answers that the chronic invalid wears out everyone's attention until they stop noticing the obvious. What the house needs is a fresh pair of eyes.
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What is As a Thief in the Night about?
It follows barrister Rupert Mayfield as an invalid friend, Harold Monkhouse, dies of arsenic. An inquest, a police search and Dr. Thorndyke's investigation follow, and suspicion falls on the people Rupert loves.
Who is Dr. Thorndyke?
Dr. John Thorndyke is a medical barrister and expert in poisons and medical law. He is calm and discreet, uses a laboratory with his assistant Polton, and collects every fact before drawing conclusions.
Is As a Thief in the Night a true story?
No, it is a work of fiction by R. Austin Freeman, set in Edwardian London. The medical and chemical details, such as arsenic tests and X-rays, reflect real science of the early twentieth century.
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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