Британдық детектив: Джон Торндайк істері

the British novel character

Dr. John Evelyn Thorndyke is a fictional detective in a long series of 21 novels and 40 short stories by British author R. Austin Freeman (1862–1943). Thorndyke was described by his author as a 'medical jurispractitioner': originally a medical doctor, he turned to the bar and became one of the first — in modern parlance — forensic scientists. His solutions were based on his method of collecting all possible data (including dust and pond weed) and making inferences from them before looking at any of the protagonists and motives in the crimes. Freeman ensured that his methods were practical by conducting all experiments mentioned in the stories himself.

John Thorndyke's cases, supposedly related by Christopher Jervis and edited by Richard Austin Freeman first appeared as serial stories in Pearson's Magazine in 1908. The first story was The Blue Sequin which appeared in the Christmas double number of the magazine in December 1908. The stories were illustrated by H. M. Brock with both pen and ink drawings and colour wash drawings (in black and white), as well as photographs showing the evidence in the cases. The stories were published as a book by Chatto and Windus in late 1909. It is not clear whether or not this edition of the book was illustrated, but the later 1916 edition certainly was. However, the book had far fewer illustrations than the magazines, with only the six drawings by H. M. Brock shown here and only nine photographs.

On June 9, 1962, Mollie Hardwick adapted Dr. Thorndyke Intervenes as The Corpse in the Case on Saturday Night Theatre for the BBC Home Service. It starred Cyril Luckham as Dr. Thorndyke, Arthur Gomez as Mr. Brodribb and Leslie Perrins as Supt. Miller. The archive status of this programme is unknown. On September 14, 1963, Mollie Hardwick adapted Mr. Pottermack's Oversight on Saturday Night Theatre for the BBC Home Service in the series Murder for Pleasure. Anthony Nicholls played Thorndyke. The programme still exists in the BBC archives. Starting in 2011, the BBC aired radio adaptations of some of the Thorndyke short stories, Thorndyke: Forensic Investigator on BBC Radio 4 Extra.

Starting in 2018 and completed in 2021, editor David Marcum brought together the entire Thorndyke collection much of which has been very difficult to obtain for fans. 21 novels and over 40 short stories are contained in nine matching massive volumes.