Helen Vardon's Confession

By R. Austin Freeman

Through the open door of a library, Helen Vardon hears an argument that changes her life forever. Helen's father and a man called Otway argue over missing funds in a trust one night. Otway proposes a marriage between him and Helen in exchange for his cooperation and silence. What transpires is a captivating tale of blackmail, fraud and death. Dr Thorndyke is left to piece together the clues in this enticing mystery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Start Classics
• Release date: May 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781633552197

R. Austin Freeman

R. Austin Freeman (1862–1943) was a British author of detective stories. A pioneer of the inverted detective story, in which the reader knows from the start who committed the crime, Freeman is best known as the creator of the “medical jurispractitioner” Dr. John Thorndyke. First introduced in The Red Thumb Mark (1907), the brilliant forensic investigator went on to star in dozens of novels and short stories over the next decades. 

Reviews for Helen Vardon's Confession

[biscuits_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I'm a fan of R. Austin Freeman's Dr. Thorndyke mysteries, but I really didn't like this one. Freeman uses a first-person female narrator to express his anti-feminist opinions, a trick that annoys me. It's also pretty anti-Semitic, which I found surprising compared with, for example, Mr. Polton Explains, which I enjoyed for its positive Jewish characters. Aside from these problems, I didn't think it was much of a mystery: the actual murder occurs late in the book, and I thought the identity of the criminal was pretty easy to guess. I did like the descriptions of craft and artistry, always given careful attention in Freeman books, and the group of women living together and supporting each others' work. I finished the book despite not liking much of it, a tribute to Freeman's writing ability.