8 h 43 minAudiobook6 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 43 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the truth rests in a speck of dust everyone else ignores?
In The Magic Casket, R. Austin Freeman brings together nine detective stories centred on Dr. John Thorndyke, a London doctor and barrister. A puzzling event may seem to support an obvious explanation. Thorndyke looks closer, testing what small physical traces can actually prove.
Dust, stains, handwriting, tools, and the human body become the substance of detection. Dr. Christopher Jervis, Thorndyke’s younger friend and colleague, often shares the telling, while Polton brings skill and quiet pride to laboratory work. Across these compact cases, the question is not simply who seems guilty, but whether the evidence supports that suspicion.
What you’ll discover
- Small clues, real weight Follow overlooked physical details as they become the foundation of a reasoned answer.
- A doctor’s searching eye Meet a detective whose knowledge of the body works alongside his understanding of law.
- The work behind proof Discover Polton’s careful preparation of specimens and the apparatus he builds for investigation.
- Justice beyond suspicion Explore cases where getting the truth right matters more than simply catching a culprit.
- Puzzles for one sitting Enjoy compact mysteries that make room for patient observation rather than lucky guesses.
Who will love it
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.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stolen bag leads to a casket
- A cremation too perfectly arranged
- A murder on the Densford train
- A body in a ditch
- A threatened woman and a perfect alibi
- A box, an arm and a hopeless defence
- A missing object in Tanfield Court
- Blood on the hall floor
- An explosion in the night
Who’s who
- Dr. John ThorndykeA London doctor and barrister who solves crimes by exact observation and scientific knowledge, and who says little until he is sure.
- Dr. JervisThorndyke's junior and friend, who tells the stories and shares the cases, often puzzled and always eager to learn the reasoning.
- Mr. BrodribbA warm, quick-tempered old solicitor who sends clients to Thorndyke and believes the doctor cannot be stumped.
- Superintendent MillerA shrewd Scotland Yard detective who works with Thorndyke, grumbles at his methods, and wants a sound conviction.
- PoltonThorndyke's silent laboratory assistant, a skilled maker of instruments who serves port and helps gather evidence.
- Miss Mabel BonneyA gentle woman who paid for her father's lost pearls and is followed by strangers who want her casket.
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The Magic Casket in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
The Magic Casket
by R. Austin Freeman · 1927
Dr. Thorndyke reads dust, ditch weeds and a plain casket to solve puzzling crimes.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A bag left in a church porch on a misty November night starts a chain of puzzles. The Magic Casket gathers nine detective stories by R. Austin Freeman, all following Dr. John Thorndyke, a London doctor and barrister who solves crimes by looking closer than anyone else.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stolen bag leads to a casket
Thorndyke and Jervis find a forced handbag in a church porch in Chelsea. Inside lie wrapped pieces of Chinese pottery labelled with the name of Miss Mabel Bonney. They carry it to her house, where policemen are leaving and an anxious maid takes it with relief.
That night the old solicitor Brodribb tells the history. Her father was murdered, a bag of pearls vanished, and a Japanese man named Uyenishi was blamed. Since then she has been followed.
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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.
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
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