Review: The Shadow of the Wolf

The Shadow of the Wolf by R. Austin Freeman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This one is in the "reverse mystery" subgenre pioneered by Freeman and most famously encountered in the TV series Columbo, where we start out by seeing the crime committed and know who did it, and the tension and interest is generated by seeing the detective and the criminal play cat and mouse respectively.

From the first scene in which Freeman's detective, Dr Thorndyke, appeared, I had some idea of the kind of clues that might turn up and help him solve the case, and by fortunate coincidence exactly that thing occurred. In fact, coincidence plays a significant role, along with Thorndyke's considerable acumen as a forensic investigator, in solving the mystery. Once again, as in at least two previous books (I haven't read the series in order), the author uses the plot device of Thorndyke getting involved in what seem initially like two separate investigations but turn out to be one, so what he discovers from one end helps him solve the mystery from the other. An author can get away with doing this kind of thing once, but three (or more) times? That takes it from an aberration to a bad habit. Sure, Thorndyke does tend to get consulted on strange cases, which makes it slightly less of a coincidence, but only slightly.

There's a second coincidence when just the piece of evidence turns up that I was expecting, and it happens to unequivocally point to the location of the body, which is just what the plot requires at that point. And there's a third coincidence at the end, which allows a neat conclusion.

I prefer not to see the hand of the author so obviously on the scales, so even though this is otherwise sound, both in the dynamics of the interpersonal relationships and the practicalities of the forensic science, I can't give it better than a Bronze-tier rating in my annual recommendation list.

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