Richard Austin Freeman recounts an incredible voyage to North Africa and Ashanti in search of the Aboasi mine, dug by Christians in search of gold. Along the way, a young Englishman steals a local ritual treasure and his misadventures are retold here. This rumbustious campaign is met by all manner of dangers in a remarkable latter day exploit that should transport the reader through the wilds of an astonishing imagination. Once required reading by the British colonial services in Africa, this tale will delight fans of high adventure.
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'This man Austin Freeman is a wonderful performer' -- Raymond Chandler
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About the Author
R. Austin Freeman is the doyen of the scientific division of detective writing, is best known for his character Dr John Thorndyke. A close and careful investigator and the outstanding medical authority in the field of detective fiction, R. Austin Freeman not only tested the wits of the reader but also inspired many modern detective forensic methods. Much of his long life was spent as a physician and surgeon at the Middlesex Hospital, London. He also held posts in West Africa and later was a medical officer at Holloway Prison. The most famous of the Edwardian detective writers, he rescued the detective story from "thrillerdom" and made it acceptable to a more discerning class of reader.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A tale of adventure in Africa,
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This review is from: The Golden Pool: A Story of a Forgotten Mine (Paperback)
After finding this book at a local bookstore, I decided to read it since no one else on amazon had as yet reviewed it. I guess most people have simply forgotten R. Austin Freeman except possibly for his Dr. Thorndyke mysteries. This novel begins with Robert Englefield, a young Englishman, taking on a job with a vessel sailing for northern Africa. Once there, Englefield is placed in the position of running the store through which the captain sells and trades his goods. As Englefield spends more and more time at this outpost on the African coast, he hears stories a legendary mine in the interior of Africa where the fetish priests capture unwary travelers and blind them to prevent escape. Purely out of curiousity, Englefield finally decides to go looking for this mine in spite of the obvious dangers presented to a white man traveling in the rural African interior. Once Englefield departs and inevitably runs into trouble, the story finally takes on some suspense and unpredictability. Freeman's knowledge of Africa is quite extensive, and through this cornicopia it's easy to see why this book was required reading by the British colonial services in Africa. Freeman clearly spent some time researching or traveling to find material for this book. Once I got through the first 150 or so pages, which are entirely too predictable and uneventful, the book finally managed to capture my interest through the resourcefullness and knowledge provided by Englefield's adventures. This is a great book for anyone interested in obtaining a first-hand perspective of an outsider traveling in Africa. I'll now definately be looking for other books by this oft forgotten author.
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