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About the author: Richard Freeman (1862-1943) became a medical trainee at Middlesex Hospital Medical College, and was accepted as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons. He became a writer of detective stories, mostly featuring the medico-legal forensic investigator Dr Thorndyke. (excerpt from Goodreads)
Series: This is Dr. John Thorndyke #3.
Major characters:
- Dr. John Thorndyke, lecturer in forensics
- Dr. Paul Berkeley, a GP (General Practitioner)
- John Bellingham, archeologist, missing for two years
- Godfrey Bellingham, his brother
- Ruth Bellingham, Godfrey's daughter
- George Hurst, cousin to the Bellingham brothers
- Mr. --- Jellicoe, John Bellingham's lawyer
Locale:
Synopsis: Forensics lecturer Dr. John Thorndyke points out a newspaper story to his students. An archeologist, John Bellingham, had disappeared from his brother Godfrey Bellingham's home without a trace. He was last seen by a maid, sitting in Godfrey's library, waiting for John to arrive. Thorndike point of interest to the class is the legal point of succession: what is the last moment it can be proven Bellingham was alive? The case is complicated by the finding of a scarab, a curio John Bellingham's always carried, in the yard of his cousin George Hurst. Did John go from Godfrey's to Hurst's and lose the scarab there? Or did he leave Hurst's, lose the scarab, and then go to Godfrey's?
Two years later, one of the students, Dr. Paul Berkeley, is called to treat Godfrey. Recalling the class two years earlier, he gets an update from Godfrey. Godfrey is nearly destitute, and his brother's will in his favor cannot be probated since he cannot be shown to be dead.
Bellingham had several scars and marks which could identify his body, including a tattoo of the Eye of Osiris.
Oct 27 2024: Reading now, please check back again
Review:
You may also enjoy this review by Bev Hankins on My Reader's Block.
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