9 h 52 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 52 minPaperback · 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
You will enjoy this book if you like detective stories built on evidence, courtroom scenes, medical detail, and a calm investigator who gathers every clue before he speaks.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A visitor notices the danger
- An ordinary room hides a death
- Arsenic changes the meaning of illness
- An unnamed killer threatens everyone
- Promising clues fail under examination
- Truth comes with a warning
- Loyalty filters what Rupert reveals
- Evidence needs a history
- Small facts matter more than appearances
Who’s who
- Rupert MayfieldA young barrister and old friend of the family who tells the story and hires Thorndyke to clear the people he cares about.
- Dr. John ThorndykeA medical barrister and expert on poisons who gathers every fact before drawing a conclusion and serves only the truth.
- Harold MonkhouseA frail, bookish invalid of fifty-seven who prefers to be left alone with his reading and dies suddenly in the night.
- Barbara MonkhouseHarold's calm, dark, self-contained wife, a busy political organizer and Rupert's lifelong friend who wants to help the police.
- Madeline NorrisA gentle, fair teacher of cookery for the sick who lives in the house as Harold's adopted niece and cooks his meals.
- Anthony WallingfordHarold's nervous, chain-smoking secretary, devoted to Barbara, who lies under questioning and fears he is being watched.
- Amos MonkhouseHarold's blunt clergyman brother, who sees at once that the invalid is dying and presses for a second opinion.
- Superintendent MillerA courteous, thorough police detective who follows every lead and finds that each one breaks off before it reaches a culprit.
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As a Thief in the Night
by R. Austin Freeman · 1928
A sick man dies in his Kensington bed, and the coroner finds enough arsenic in him to kill a strong man.
Medium level5–10 hours to read20 languages
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“It seems greatness is being thrust upon us.”
In short
What happens when a quiet invalid in a Kensington bedroom dies in the night, and a coroner then finds enough arsenic in him to kill a strong man? In As a Thief in the Night, a Yorkshire clergyman looks at his sick brother and decides he is dying.
As a Thief in the Night at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 35 min4 h 25 min fast, 6 h 35 min slow
- Length
- 79,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1928by R. Austin Freeman
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 visiting clergyman sees what others missed
The Reverend Amos Monkhouse arrives from Yorkshire at the Kensington home of his brother Harold. Rupert Mayfield, a barrister and family friend, greets him. Amos goes up to the bedroom and comes down alarmed. He says the man is dying.
Rupert objects that the doctor saw Harold that very morning. Amos answers that a chronic invalid wears out the attention of everyone around him until nobody notices the obvious. The family doctor, Dr. Dimsdale, lists twenty years of complaints but bristles when pressed to name the illness. Amos proposes a consultation with a famous physician, and Dimsdale agrees.
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Details
- First published
- 1928
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 25 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Freeman, R. Austin. As a Thief in the Night. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-a-thief-in-the-night.
Freeman, R. A. (2026). As a thief in the night. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-a-thief-in-the-night (Original work published 1928)
Freeman, R. Austin. As a Thief in the Night. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-a-thief-in-the-night.
@book{freeman2026as,
author = {Freeman, R. Austin},
title = {As a Thief in the Night},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/as-a-thief-in-the-night},
note = {First published 1928}
}
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What is As a Thief in the Night about?
It is a Dr. Thorndyke mystery. A sick man named Harold Monkhouse dies, an inquest finds arsenic in his body, and the barrister Rupert Mayfield asks Thorndyke to find out how the poison reached him.
Who is Dr. Thorndyke?
Thorndyke is a barrister who is also a doctor of medicine, and an authority on poisons and medical law. He solves crimes by collecting every fact and testing it in his laboratory before drawing a conclusion.
Who tells the story?
The story is told by Rupert Mayfield, a young barrister and old friend of the Monkhouse family. His close view of the household lets readers follow clues as he meets them, often a step ahead of his own understanding.
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.
“It seems greatness is being thrust upon us.”
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