Description
The Uttermost Farthing by R. Austin Freeman is a mystery story that raises lots of moral questions, while engaging the reader’s attention with an intriguing story. The book was first published in the USA in 1914 and appeared in Britain only much later, in 1920, under the title A Savant’s Vendetta and it enjoyed great success in both countries.The story starts with an introduction made by the protagonist’s friend, then it quickly hands over the role of the narrator to the protagonist himself, Humphrey Challoner, a former criminal anthropologist and reputable comparative anatomist and a widower whose wife was killed by a bullet long years before. The narrator-friend is Dr. Wharton, the heir to Challoner’s estate, comprising a bizarre collection of mammal skeletons, including 24 human skeletons as well. The story outlined in the writings of the late Mr. Challoner reveals his vengeful endeavors to find the robber who had entered his home and had murdered his wife. The narrative left behind by Challoner also reveals how he came into the possession of the objects in his private museum and finally tells the story of how he found and killed his wife’s murderer.The story might seem gloomy, but Challoner is an excellent story teller, who adds humor even to the gloomiest of his stories – no matter how disturbing and creepy the story told, humor always takes the dark edge of it. The Uttermost Farthing is not a characteristic Freeman novel – it does not feature Dr. Thorndyke in the role of the investigator or the inverted detective story structure invented by Freeman. However, it is a real masterpiece by Freeman, an unusual detective novel that keeps readers at the edge of their chairs, even after they guessed where the skeletons came from and what the outcome of the savant’s vendetta really was.
Product ID: 9781775428626
Sku: NU-E1N3-C5IK
