R. Austin Freeman was, like Conan Doyle, a physician-writer. Unlike him, he made his series detective Dr. Thorndyke a medical detective. His stories are sober and painstaking, more concerned with the artifacts in the case and they’re into relationship then with personalities and emotions expressed.

The meticulous Thorndyke first appeared in 1907 and remained active into the WWII years, seeing real life forensic investigation become the science he had anticipated.