The Penrose Mystery: A Dr. John Thorndyke Story - Paperback

by R. Austin Freeman (Author)

Daniel Penrose, an eccentric collector of antiquities and jewelry has gone missing. The police position is that he is on the run because of his involvement in the death of an elderly woman while driving intoxicated on sherry. Dr. John Thorndyke, noted expert in forensic medicine and medical jurisprudence, is not so sure. There is the matter of the odd bit of prehistoric pottery found in the coat pocket of the missing man. And the attempted burglary of a collection of antique jewelry that may just be stolen. More importantly there is the question of Penrose's father estate of one hundred fifty thousand pounds, the old man having died since Penrose went missing without apparently leaving a will. With almost nothing in the way of physical evidence, Throndyke must solve . . .The Penrose Mystery

Author Biography

Richard Austin Freeman (1862-1943) was born in London. He studied medicine at Middlesex Hospital and then entered the Colonial Service. He was assigned to a post in Accra on the Gold Coast of Africa. During his time in Africa he contracted blackwater fever which forced him to return to London. Unable to find a permanent medical position, he decided to try his hand at writing fiction. His first stories were written in collaboration with Dr. John James Pitcairn, the medical officer at Holloway Prison, using the pen name Clifford Ashdown. In 1907 the first Dr. Thorndyke novel The Red Thumb Mark was published. He served as a Captain in the Royal Army Medical Corp during World War I. He continued writing up until his death, writing parts of Mr. Polton Explains in a bomb shelter in 1939 at the age of 77.