Freeman, Richard Austin (1862–1943)

English writer. In 1907 he published his first detective story, The Red Thumb Mark, and his detective, Dr Thorndyke, became one of the most famous of fictitious investigators, even giving some ideas to the official police force. In The Singing Bone 1912 he introduced the method of first describing the crime before showing how Thorndyke unravelled it.

Some of Freeman's other books are John Thorndyke's Cases 1909, The Eye of Osiris 1911, The Great Portrait Mystery 1918, Dr Thorndyke's Case Book 1923, and When Rogues Fall Out 1932.