8 h 52 minAudiobook5 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 52 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
Poison, false names, and an inheritance: what can a detective prove when identity itself is in doubt?
In The Mystery of 31 New Inn, R. Austin Freeman brings Dr. John Thorndyke into a puzzle of poison, hidden identity, and inheritance. A London physician and barrister, Thorndyke faces evidence that demands more than a clever guess. Who someone really is, and who stands to inherit, become questions that careful scientific work must help untangle.
Dr. Christopher Jervis, Thorndyke’s friend and junior colleague, tells the story, often following the reasoning a step behind. Polton, the skilled laboratory assistant, brings practical craft and quiet loyalty to the investigation. Together, they draw you into a patient process: gathering small physical facts, testing them, and asking what they actually prove rather than what they seem to suggest.
What you’ll discover
- Evidence before instinct Follow a detective who tests physical clues instead of trusting a sudden flash of inspiration.
- A tangled question of identity Explore a puzzle where false names and inheritance make the truth of identity matter.
- Science at the centre Enter the laboratory, where small facts become evidence through patient observation and practical tests.
- A companion in detection Follow Jervis as he works to keep pace with his friend’s careful reasoning.
- Your chance to reason Weigh checkable clues alongside Thorndyke and see how far the evidence takes you.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy a detective who reasons in the open, clues laid on the table, London streets in the age of hansom cabs, and the pleasure of testing their own guesses against the case.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A doctor is driven off in the dark
- Thorndyke turns a compass into a map
- A second call and a race against sleep
- The police shrug and Jervis joins Thorndyke
- A will that no lawyer can fight
- Odd clues in a dead man's rooms
- A chart leads to an empty house
- The hunter becomes the hunted
- How the book teaches you to think
Who’s who
- Dr. John ThorndykeA physician and barrister who solves crimes by reasoning from small physical facts, and who takes on cases others call hopeless.
- Dr. Christopher JervisThorndyke's friend and new junior, a general practitioner who tells the story and struggles to see what his mentor sees.
- PoltonThorndyke's skilled servant and laboratory assistant, who builds the instruments and plays tricks of disguise for the cause.
- Mr. WeissA stocky, bearded German with a red nose and spectacles who summons the doctor in secret and insists the patient is simply ill.
- Mrs. SchallibaumWeiss's housekeeper, a fair-haired woman with a squint she can hide, who guards the patient and tries to keep him quiet.
- Mr. GravesA frail, courteous patient in a stupor who keeps trying to tell the doctor that he has made a mistake.
- Stephen BlackmoreA young, athletic man who hopes to inherit from his uncle Jeffrey and asks Thorndyke for a last opinion.
- Mr. MarchmontA precise, food-loving solicitor who thinks the will is flawless and brings the case to Thorndyke as a formality.
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- Large print hardcover
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The Mystery of 31 New Inn
by R. Austin Freeman · 1912
A doctor locked in a blacked-out carriage is driven to a house where a patient lies drugged and silent.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
The Mystery of 31 New Inn begins with a night call for Dr. Jervis. R. Austin Freeman, an English writer trained as a doctor, sends Dr. Jervis on this night call, while his friend Dr. Thorndyke, a physician and barrister, reads physical evidence.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A doctor is driven off in the dark
Dr. Jervis is minding a practice in Kennington when a coachman with a sly face hands him a note signed H. Weiss. It asks him to see a sick friend who will accept a doctor only if told nothing about who he is or where he lives.
Jervis dislikes it, but he agrees. The carriage has wooden shutters, outside locks and no inside handles. In total darkness he listens to granite setts, railway arches and a train pulling out.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 5 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
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What is The Mystery of 31 New Inn about?
It is a detective novel about two cases. A doctor is secretly summoned to treat a drugged patient in a hidden house, and Dr. Thorndyke investigates the will of a dead man whose death at New Inn seems settled.
Who is Dr. Thorndyke?
Dr. John Thorndyke is Freeman's series detective, a physician and barrister who specializes in medical jurisprudence. He solves cases by careful observation, testing hypotheses, and using science and instruments made by his servant Polton.
Do I need to read other Thorndyke books first?
No. The story stands on its own, and Jervis explains who Thorndyke and Polton are as he goes. A brief mention of an earlier case, The Red Thumb Mark, adds background but is not needed.
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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