A novel, first published in 1930, featuring John Evelyn Thorndyke, an investigator who disentangles Mr Pottermack's capers. These involve a nightmare of blackmail, murder, a difficult romance and the purchase of an Egyptian mummy, all of which Mr Pottermack has tried to solve with the perfect crime. Richard Austin Freeman (1862-1943) also wrote as Clifford Ashdown. He wrote approximately 50 books, the majority of them featuring his great detective, Dr Thorndyke.