CJ Cutcliffe Hyne was an English writer.
An early look at scientific sleuthing was the series of tales by C. J. Cutcliffe Hyne that appeared in The Harmsworth Magazine. These tales show some similarity to R. Austin Freeman's later Thorndyke stories, and may be an ancestor. "The Tragedy of a Third Smoker" (1898) deals with a death on a railroad, that is hard to ascribe to anyone other than a single suspect, who was the only one with access to the dead man. The suspect's legal team showed how it actually occurred, clearing their client. Freeman used a similar basic pattern for his story "The Blue Sequin" (1908). "The Banknote Forgery" (1899) deals with forgery and uses photography, both key elements on Freeman's work in later years - see, for example, The Red Thumb Mark. Another similarity to the Thorndyke tales is the use of a legal team as detectives. A whole series of four persons on the team serve as continuing characters in Hyne's stories.
Mike Grost
Comments (0)
You don't have permission to comment on this page.