Another case for the Edwardian detective Dr. John Thorndyke. A wealthy dealer has disappeared, leaving behind a safe apparently full of valuables, protected by a puzzle lock with 40 billion possible combinations. Can Dr. Thorndyke find the clues to help him break open the safe? The story begins at 00:01:20
Narrated/performed by Simon Stanhope, aka Bitesized Audio. If you enjoy this content and would like to help me keep creating, there are a few ways you can support me:
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00:00:00 Introduction
00:01:20 The Puzzle Lock
01:00:36 Credits, thanks and further listening
Richard Austin Freeman (1862–1943) was born in London and trained in medicine at the Middlesex Hospital. After a spell as a house surgeon, he joined the Colonial Service and spent some years working in Africa. He was invalided home with blackwater fever in 1891. Returning to London he worked as an ear, nose and throat specialist, as well as in general practice and, for a time, as Medical Officer at Holloway Prison. He began writing fiction in the early 1900s, initially under the pseudonym “Clifford Ashdown”, including the Romney Pringle stories which were serialised in Cassell’s Magazine in 1902. Five years later, under his own name, he wrote ‘The Red Thumb Mark’, the novel which introduced the character of Dr. John Thorndyke.
Thorndyke is a self-described “medical jurispractitioner”, having given up practice as a medical doctor to train in the law, and established himself as what is now known as a forensic scientist. He is accompanied in his investigations by his friend and colleague Dr. Christopher Jervis, who narrates the adventures. Of all the many “rivals” to Sherlock Holmes who appeared in fiction at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the Thorndyke and Jervis partnership is perhaps the closest parallel to the world of Holmes and Watson. The similarities are underscored both by the original illustrators who depicted Thorndyke very much in the mould of Holmes and also by the casting of John Neville as Thorndyke in a 1971 television adaptation of one of his adventures (Neville played Holmes in the 1965 film ‘A Study in Terror’, as well as on stage in William Gillette’s play). Making his first appearance four years after Holmes’s 1903 retirement to Sussex to keep bees, Thorndyke takes on the mantle of Holmes for the next generation, and with his medico-legal training is well equipped for the modern scientific advances of the new century. He appeared in 21 novels and 40 short stories between 1907 and 1942.
Freeman continued writing throughout his career, despite suffering the onset of Parkinson’s disease in later life. He briefly paused his output at the start of the second world war in 1939 – before resuming writing in an air raid shelter in his garden. He died aged 81 at his home in Gravesend, Kent, in September 1943.
‘The Puzzle Lock’ first appeared in Flynn’s Magazine on February 28th 1925 and in the March 1925 edition of Pearson’s Magazine.
Recording © Bitesized Audio 2025.
source
Story begins at: 00:01:20
This story is one of a series featuring Dr. John Thorndyke and his colleague Dr. Jervis, created by R. Austin Freeman in 1907. It's read by me, Simon Stanhope. If you'd like to hear more Thorndyke stories, I have a playlist in development, available here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi95qAoufCZIRK13YVxILlbLjmxEM6Oci
Or for a selection of other Victorian and Edwardian detective stories, do take a look at the "Rivals of Sherlock Holmes" playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi95qAoufCZL5tiXECltwXUI2QDDFrDHD
More information about the author, the characters and the publication history of the story can be found in the video description. Thanks for listening.
Splendid entertainment! Thank you, Simon.
Thank God I didn’t miss this one, you and your wonderful work came into my mind yesterday and I have been meaning since then to check out your amazing channel and to my delight I have two of your great performances to get on with over the bank holiday, one today and another tomorrow! Thank you so much Simon for all that you put into these wonderful works of art! Best wishes to you and your subscribers ❤♥️❤
This is so much better than those horrible AI narrators. It's obvious that the man who speaks here is a professional. Always a pleasure.
Appreciate you putting the puzzle on the screen at the end
A vote for more Dr Thorndyke stories.
The guy goes to auctions to deliberately bump prices up and the auctioneer knows his limit .
He works the system
And someone knows it and so marked him
Good
Thank you for giving us the decipherment of the chronogram on screen
Love this,as i do all the ones I've listened to so far xx
Wonderful. You are the voice by which others are judged 🙂
❤
I do the same😂
👍
I could've sworn I'd read all Dr Thorndike stories but I really don't remember this one. Thanks for sharing!
Great narration!
Thanks for putting the chronogram onscreen! That had to have taken a good little while!
WTAF was all that about?
I did enjoy that, thank you. I do like a Thorndyke story, there's always so much detail and the explanations are usually a bit wild. Not always as wild as this one, very 'Indiana Jones' booby traps. This one was a bit of head-spinner for someone with dyscalculia too ….. all those numbers! I did enjoy it though, just the same.
Excellent! Thank you.
Great story, and wonderfully narrated. Thank you !
Thank you for your work writing the code out on screen! It really helped with understanding what was going on.
……❤…….
Thank you for the Dr. Thorndyke. Freeman, a member of the famous Detection Club, invented the "inverted" detective story. That format and his scientific knowledge always guaranteed a great story and your talent always guarantees us a great narration! So grateful for your channel!
Thanks again for Bringing us these Stories
No way I'm 17 hours late my bad it's a frist sleep must of been deep thank u mr Stanhope my favourite narration actor story teller ❤