A review by hannahstohelit
The Singing Bone by R. Austin Freeman Freeman

4.5

I'd read a couple of these already in other connections (in fact, the titular two-parter was actually in another short story compilation that I had out the same weekend!) but it was a lot of fun to see some of the original inverted mysteries. I also really appreciate that Thorndyke, who I really need to read some more of, is truly a scientific detective in that he only rarely ever even interviews a suspect- every case hinges on some kind of forensic evidence, even if occasionally it doesn't 100% seem plausible. Interestingly, my favorite of these was probably the fourth story, which was also a) one of the two I hadn't previously read and b) probably, in some ways, the lightest weight. It was just both interesting and charming in a slightly WTF kind of way. All in all, a good read.