Pontifex, Son and Thorndyke

Dr.Thornedykes methods of detection are characterised by investigations of apparently irrelevant facts and lengthy explanations of his train of hypothetical reasoning. In this novel, Dr.

• Thorndykes ability to identify fish scales and rope material sets his investigation in motion.
• The crime is the murder of an aristocrat staged to look like a suicide.
• There are really two stories alternating, which eventually become one.
• We watch Dr.
• Thorndyke follow a thin and improbable trail of forensic evidence.

• Dr.
• Thorndyke calls Jasper after hearing his amazing story.
• The complex, gripping and rather romantic plot once again demonstrates the greatness of A.
• Austin Freeman as a writer of totally engaging and original crime fiction.

And we observe the seemingly unrelated adventures of a stationers delivery boy, who innocently gets in the way of a cutthroat gang.