Dr John Evelyn Thorndyke is a fictional detective in a long series of novels and short stories by 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, it is said, conducted all experiments mentioned in the stories himself.) It is this method which gave rise to one of Freeman's most ingenious inventions, the inverted detective story, where the criminal act is described first and the interest lies in Thorndyke's subsequent unravelling of it.
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When Robert Anstey, KC happens upon a robbery and murder it is only natural that his employer, Dr. John Thorndyke, should be called in to solve the case. That it should require such a famous forensic expert is evident as the crime presents a puzzle. The objects of the theft were baubles of no intrinsic value. The one real clue soon proves worthless. It will require all of Thorndyke's skill and knowledge to find the murderer, and in the process protect the life of a young woman who is the only witness. To catch the criminals he must decode a mystery a century and a half old and solve the puzzle of... The Cat's Eye!
