The magic casket

About the book

A damaged handbag abandoned in a dark Chelsea street draws Thorndyke and his companion into the first of these investigations. Returning it seems a simple courtesy, until the circumstances of its loss reveal a much stranger problem involving valuable objects and the woman who owns them. Throughout the collection, Freeman gives material details the importance that hurried witnesses or confident officials may overlook. The cases range from the title casket to disputed identities, suspicious deaths, and apparently convincing alibis. Thorndyke's expertise joins medicine, law, and practical scientific knowledge, while his companion records the gap between seeing a clue and understanding it. These are mysteries in which an object's properties can challenge a persuasive story about what supposedly happened.

• Material evidence
• Scientific reasoning
• Appearance and deception

Why read it

The compact cases show how specialized knowledge becomes useful only when joined to patient attention to ordinary things.

English Hodder and Stoughton collection containing nine Thorndyke stories