The blue scarab by R. Austin Freeman
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The blue scarab by R. Austin Freeman is a collection of detective stories written in the early 20th century. The cases follow the medico-legal sleuth Dr. John Thorndyke and his colleague-narrator Dr. Jervis as they solve curious crimes with forensic science, precise observation, and ingenious reasoning. Expect rational puzzles tinged with antiquarian lore, family secrets, and cryptic clues. The opening of this collection presents two cases. First, a rural robbery draws Thorndyke
into the Blowgrave family’s legend of a vanished uncle and lost jewels: a deed-box is stolen during a decoy fire, its contents mysteriously returned except for a blue scarab; using the scarab’s “hieroglyphs,” Thorndyke deciphers English directions, corrects for compass variation, and locates a buried skeleton and a chest of gems, while unmasking a grasping cousin as the thief via typewriter and fingerprint clues. Next, an apparent suicide at a Margate boarding house turns suspicious when Jervis and a local doctor find white paint footprints of a barefoot intruder with no little toes and signs of entry by a stack-pipe; Jervis reasons toward a northern, possibly seafaring suspect (frost-bite or ergot past), with a Swedish visitor and the absent colonial-police husband as potential leads. After a tussle with the police over evidence, Jervis brings his photographs and deductions to London, where he and Thorndyke prepare a fuller, independent investigation. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Freeman, R. Austin (Richard Austin), 1862-1943 |
|---|---|
| Title | The blue scarab |
| Original Publication | New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1924. |
| Contents | The blue scarab -- The case of the white foot-prints -- The New Jersey sphinx -- The touchstone -- A fisher of men -- The stolen ingots -- The funeral pyre. |
| Credits | an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 71.4 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | London (England) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Thorndyke, Doctor (Fictitious character) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Physicians -- Fiction |
| Subject | Detective and mystery stories, English |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 76116 |
| Release Date | May 19, 2025 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 2701 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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