The Red Thumb Mark - Tapa blanda

At the turn of the 20th century, Richard Austin Freeman (1862-1943) emerged as an author to be reckoned with in the world of detective fiction, introducing the highly memorable scientific detective Dr. Thorndyke, an early forensic sleuth. Armed with his little green case full of scientific detection aids, Thorndyke unravelled murders and mysteries using logic and material evidence. Freeman's most important pre-World War I novels include: The Mystery of 31 New Inn (1911), The Eye of Osiris (1911), and A Silent Witness (1914), artistically written and memorably characterized. Later major works include The Red Thumb Mark, When Rogues Fall Out, and The Jacob Street Mystery.

R. Austin Freeman is the doyen of the scientific division of detective writing, is best known for his character Dr John Thorndyke. A close and careful investigator and the outstanding medical authority in the field of detective fiction, R. Austin Freeman not only tested the wits of the reader but also inspired many modern detective forensic methods. Much of his long life was spent as a physician and surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He also held posts in West Africa and later was a medical officer at Holloway Prison. The most famous of the Edwardian detective writers, he rescued the detective story from "thrillerdom" and made it acceptable to a more discerning class of reader.