The blue scarab: Classic Book Guide and Free Edition
The blue scarab: author and translator credits, catalogue synopsis, subjects and links to the Gutenberg reading formats.
The blue scarab is catalogued by Project Gutenberg with author credits for Freeman, R. Austin (Richard Austin) (1862–1943).
Catalogue synopsis
Project Gutenberg supplies this automated synopsis of the opening text:
The blue scarab by R. Austin Freeman is a collection of detective stories written in the early 20th century. The cases follow the medico-legal sleuth Dr. John Thorndyke and his colleague-narrator Dr. Jervis as they solve curious crimes with forensic science, precise observation, and ingenious reasoning. Expect rational puzzles tinged with antiquarian lore, family secrets, and cryptic clues. The opening of this collection presents two cases. First, a rural robbery draws Thorndyke into the Blowgrave family’s legend of a vanished uncle and lost jewels: a deed-box is stolen during a decoy fire, its contents mysteriously returned except for a blue scarab; using the scarab’s “hieroglyphs,” Thorndyke deciphers English directions, corrects for compass variation, and locates a buried skeleton and a chest of gems, while unmasking a grasping cousin as the thief via typewriter and fingerprint clues. Next, an apparent suicide at a Margate boarding house turns suspicious when Jervis and a local doctor find white paint footprints of a barefoot intruder with no little toes and signs of entry by a stack-pipe; Jervis reasons toward a northern, possibly seafaring suspect (frost-bite or ergot past), with a Swedish visitor and the absent colonial-police husband as potential leads. After a tussle with the police over evidence, Jervis brings his photographs and deductions to London, where he and Thorndyke prepare a fuller, independent investigation.
Book and edition facts
- Title: The blue scarab
- Author credits: Freeman, R. Austin (Richard Austin) (1862–1943)
- Catalogue language: English
Catalogue subjects
- Detective and mystery stories, English
- London (England) -- Fiction
- Physicians -- Fiction
- Thorndyke, Doctor (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
Gutenberg collections
- Category: British Literature
- Category: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery
- Category: Short Stories
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View the complete Gutenberg catalogue record. Project Gutenberg identifies this edition as public domain in the United States; that designation does not establish its copyright status in every country.
Source notes
Catalogue metadata is public domain and is supplied through Gutendex, which imports Gutenberg's machine-readable catalogue. The automated synopsis is source-supplied, not an independently verified review. Author dates above describe the credited people; no ebook release date is presented as the book's original publication date.
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