Clifford Ashdown

Second series of stores of Romney Pringle, a clever rogue in Edwardian England. This series was published in Cassel's magazine in Britain in 1903, but never in book form until this American edition. This edition includes a brief introduction by August Derleth and a more serious biographical study of the "Clifford Ashdown" collaboration, and especially the career of the less well-known half of it, John Pitcairn, medical officer at the British prisons of Holloway and Borstal and a friend who supported Freeman at a critical time when his health had collapsed after his experiences in West Africa.… (meer)

British author R. Austin Freeman (1862-1943) primarily wrote detective stories and is best known for his legal/forensic investigator Dr. John Thorndyke, using Freeman's early experiences as a colonial surgeon to help inspire and inform his work. Freeman is credited with inventing the inverted detective story, where the identity of the criminal is shown from the beginning.

As Bob Schneider noted for GA Detection, Romney Pringle lives by his wits and keen observational powers, being a consummate student of human nature. The "gentleman" moniker is relevant to the handsome, charming Pringle because runs a pseudo literary agency, eschews violence and—-when not participating in his criminal pastimes of patent medicine fraud, forgery or burglary—-enjoys fine art, bicycling and boating. He's also a master of disguises and has skills that help him track down his prey, usually other criminals, including experience in chemistry and gemology.

Freeman had a detailed and personal knowledge of the backstreets of London, Highgate and Hampstead in the years prior to World War II, and his descriptions are one of the most charming aspects of his writing, counting no less than T.S. Eliot and Raymond Chandler as fans. There are criticisms, too, including Freeman's tendency to be repetitive in certain catch-phrases, dialogue, settings and character types, but such quibbles can be overlooked in the grander scheme of Freeman's storytelling.… (meer)