Forgotten Authors No 4: R Austin Freeman

Beware the author who follows in the wake of a bestselling series, for he will surely be forgotten. Sherlock Holmes spawned many imitators, including R Austin Freeman's charming mysteries, set in the Edwardian era. Dr Thorndyke is a barrister and man of medicine who, armed with his little green case of detection aids, sets out to solve puzzles that would scarcely interest today's police: a collapsed man who later vanishes, an ingeniously forged fingerprint, a crime scene more interesting than the act that occurred there.

His books began as homages (Thorndyke has his own Watson, named Jervis) but quickly developed their own style. Freeman was a doctor, and used his training more believably than Conan Doyle. He understood the tangled workings of the courts and advances in science, such as the forensic power of x-rays, and incorporated them.

In The Eye of Osiris, an Egyptologist vanishes from a watched room and must be presumed dead in order for his will to reach probate – but the will in question has a bizarre clause which makes it impossible to honour. Like W S Gilbert before him, Freeman takes great delight in outlining the peculiar properties of paradox. "A man cannot deposit his own remains," cries Thorndyke in exasperation, as he deals with recalcitrant jurors, bovine policemen and potty witnesses.

Freeman also invented the opposite of the whodunnit, the "inverted mystery" or How-Will-He-Be-Caught? puzzle. If Dr Thorndyke lacks Holmes's sense of mystery he's more thorough when it comes to technical detail: The Man With the Nailed Shoes hinges entirely on a study of footprints and The Eye of Osiris has a lengthy examination of embalming processes. His dialogue exchanges are also more freewheeling and sarcastic. "I am a confounded fool!" says a character, as the reason for a corpse's finger being severed dawns on him. "Oh, don't say that," says Jervis. "Give your friends a chance."

Freeman also treats criminals in a more balanced manner than Conan Doyle. His working-class characters – particularly in Mr Polton Explains – are decent, skilled and hard-working, but are still crushed by the system. His 30-odd books are certainly worth rediscovery.