10 h 44 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 44 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout 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 reporter follows science into crime
- Typed marks give dreams a test
- Threatening voices have a hidden source
- A curse leaves ordinary physical traces
- Food and weapons leave readable marks
- Instruments test what witnesses believe
- Small signals expose larger criminal schemes
- Scientific judgments can still need correction
- Measured evidence guides the search for justice
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.
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The Dream Doctor
by Arthur B. Reeve · 1914
Kennedy traces a murder through cobra venom, a typed note and a dream, all in one day.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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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.
The Dream Doctor at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 10 min4 h 50 min fast, 7 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 87,600 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1914by Arthur B. Reeve
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1914
- Language
- English
- 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.
The author
Arthur B. Reeve
1880–1936 · American mystery writer
Arthur Benjamin Reeve (1880–1936) was an American journalist and writer. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, and died in Trenton, New Jersey. He wrote detective stories featuring Craig Kennedy, beginning in 1910. His books include The Silent Bullet (1912) and The Dream Doctor (1914).
More by Arthur B. Reeve
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