Mr. Pottermack's Oversight

On a sultry afternoon in July, a man stumbles through thick foliage and rough ground, making for the coast. He wears prisoner’s garb and the guards are hot on his heels. Happening upon a bather’s clothes – the bather nowhere in sight – the escapee takes the risk, changes and leaves the scene looking the part of the average beachcomber.  

But it can be hard to stay hidden forever. When a blackmailer intrudes for the last time upon the promising life of the man who now calls himself Mr. Pottermack, a violent fate befalls him, and the stakes are set: Pottermack must avoid discovery at all costs to escape the hangman’s noose for murder.   

When Pottermack’s attempts to fabricate evidence arouse the suspicions of the fiercely forensic Dr. Thorndyke, a nerve-racking game is afoot as we follow both detective and suspect in their contest to root out – or bury – the damning truth in this inverted-mystery classic, first published in 1930.   

R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943) was a British physician and author; renowned for his series detective Dr. Thorndyke, who appeared in scores of novels and short story collections including The Red Thumb Mark (1907) and The Singing Bone (1912). Freeman's world often featured a focus on scientific detection methods, and he was a pioneer of experimental narratives such as the inverted mystery.