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* IdentityAmnesia: In "The Man who Was Lost", Van Dusen is consulted by a man who woke up in a hotel room in Boston with no idea of who he was or where he was, and no possessions besides the clothes he was wearing and $10,000 in $100 bills.
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* TheUnreveal: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen asserts that he had at least two other methods of escaping from the cell if his first plan proved unviable (and his first plan relied on facts he did not know before entering the cell). The reader never learns what these other plans were.
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* TheUnreveal: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen asserts that he had at least two other methods of escaping from the cell if his first plan proved unviable nonviable (and his first plan relied on facts he did not know before entering the cell). The reader never learns what these other plans were.
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* SuicideNotMurder: In "The Great Auto Mystery", a woman is found stabbed to death in the front of an open air automobile. It is ultimately revealed that woman was the one everyone thought she was, that the death was really suicide, and that one of the passengers knew the truth but could not say anything as it would have raised a large number of awkward questions.
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[[quoteright:250:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thinking_machine.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:250:"Two plus two equals four, not some of the time, but all of the time."]]
[[caption-width-right:250:"Two plus two equals four, not some of the time, but all of the time."]]
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* FramingTheGuiltyParty: The 'frame yourself' version is done by the murderer in [[spoiler:"The Fatal Cipher"]]. The killer plants a lot of false evidence to implicate themselves; relying on Van Dusen to discover that this evidence is fake, and then find the second set of false evidence they planted to implicate their chosen patsy. The entire scheme ends verging into ComplexityAddiction.
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* FramingTheGuiltyParty: The 'frame yourself' version is done by the murderer in [[spoiler:"The Fatal Cipher"]]. The killer plants a lot of false evidence to implicate themselves; relying on Van Dusen to discover that this evidence is fake, and then find the second set of false evidence they planted to implicate their chosen patsy. The entire scheme ends up verging into ComplexityAddiction.
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* FramingTheGuiltyParty: The 'frame yourself' version is done by the murderer in [[spoiler:"The Fatal Cipher"]]. The killer plants a lot of false evidence to implicate themselves; relying on Van Dusen to discover that this evidence is fake, and then find the second set of false evidence they planted to implicate their chosen patsy. The entire scheme ends verging into ComplexityAddiction.
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* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: The Thinking Machine's real name is [[AC:Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S.]]. Several of the stories add 'etc., etc.' to show that this is not the complete list of Van Dusen's titles.
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* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: The Thinking Machine's real name is [[AC:Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S.]].]] [[labelnote:explanation]]Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Law, Fellow of the Royal Society, Doctor of Medicine, Master of Dental Surgery[[/labelnote]]. Several of the stories add 'etc., etc.' to show that this is not the complete list of Van Dusen's titles.
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* TheUnreveal: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen asserts that he had at least two other methods of escaping from the cell if his first plan proved unviable (and his first plan relied on facts he did not know before entering the cell). The reader never learns what these other plans were.
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* ThePerfectCrime: As the title implies, "His Perfect Alibi" involves a murder where the murderer has constructed what seems to be an airtight alibi making it impossible for him to have committed the crime, despite all of the other evidence poiting to him. It falls to Van Dusen to work out how he did it.
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* ThePerfectCrime: As the title implies, "His Perfect Alibi" involves a murder where the murderer has constructed what seems to be an airtight alibi making it impossible for him to have committed the crime, despite all of the other evidence poiting pointing to him. It falls to Van Dusen to work out how he did it.
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* SmartPeoplePlayChess: Played with. The title GreatDetective has never played chess before and doesn't have a high opinion of it, but is somehow able to use his clever reasoning to beat a chess champion on his first try.
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* KidnappingBirdOfPrey: This is proposed as a solution to the vanishing of Baby Blake in "The Disappearance of Baby Blake". Van Dusen shoots the idea down by pointing out that no eagle found in the local area would have the strength to lift a two year old. Of course, the real solution turns out to be stranger (and even less likely).
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* ComplexityAddiction: This is the only thing that can explain the incredibly convoluted plan the criminal comes up with in "The Fatal Cipher". It actually relies on the fact that Van Dusen is a deductive genius to stand any chance of succeeding.
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* AppropriatedAppellation: Professor Van Dusen acquired the nickname 'The Thinking Machine' when an angry Russian chess grandmaster hurled it at him after Van Dusen had beaten him at chess despite never having played the game before by using AwesomenessByAnalysis. The Russian says "You are not man; you're a brain - a machine - a thinking machine". Journalist Hutchinson Hatch picks it up and starts using it in his stories about Van Dusen. Van Dusen himself does not seem to care one way or the other about the nickname.
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* AppropriatedAppellation: Professor Van Dusen acquired the nickname 'The Thinking Machine' when an angry Russian chess grandmaster hurled it at him after Van Dusen had beaten him at chess despite never having played the game before by using AwesomenessByAnalysis. The Russian says "You are not man; you're a brain - a machine - a thinking machine". Journalist Hutchinson Hatch picks it up and starts using it in his stories about Van Dusen. Van Dusen himself does not seem to care one way or the other about the nickname.
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* GreatDetective
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* {{Contortionist}}: A midget contortionist who folds himself up inside a suitcase is integral to the seemingly impossible theft committed in "The Lost Radium".
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* CatchPhrase: Van Dusen is fond of saying "Two plus two equals four, not sometimes but always".
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* CatchPhrase: Van Dusen is fond of saying "Two plus and two equals makes four, not sometimes but always".always".
* ClockTampering: Crucial to how the murder was committed in [[spoiler:"His Perfect Alibi"]]. Once Van Dusen works what the killer has done, he then has to work out how he did it.
* ClockTampering: Crucial to how the murder was committed in [[spoiler:"His Perfect Alibi"]]. Once Van Dusen works what the killer has done, he then has to work out how he did it.
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* GirlInABox: The solution to [[spoiler:"The Problem of DressingRoom A"]] involves the missing actress having been hypnotized and then folded into one of the trunks of her room, so she was carried out with the rest of her luggage when the troupe moved cities.
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* InterdisciplinarySleuth: Van Dusen is a logician, mathematician, physician, and has qualifications in multiple other fields. However, none of his qualifications are in criminology. He solves crimes by the rigorous application of logic.
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* AmateurSleuth: Van Dusen is a university professor who solves 'impossible' crimes brought to him by his journalist friend Hutchinson Hatch. Van Dusen receives no financial renumeration for his efforts; merely the satisfaction of proving that nothing is impossible.
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* InspectorLestrade: Detective Mallory is this to Professor Van Dusen. Van Dusen seems to respect Mallory, regarding him as a decent, if plodding detective. Mallory varies between welcoming Van Dusen's involvement in his cases, or regarding him as an irritating intrusion. While Mallory is quite capable of handling ordinary crimes, he is out of his depth in dealing with the 'impossible' crimes Van Dusen specialises in: either becoming totally flummoxed or simply arresting the most obvious suspect.
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* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D., LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., dubbed as "The Thinking Machine" by his reporter friend Hutchison Hatch, is one of these.
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* HypnoticEyes: In "The Problem of Dressing Room A", Van Dusen claims you can tell a hypnotist through his eyes.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D., LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., dubbed as "The Thinking Machine" by his reporter friend Hutchison Hatch, is one of these. In "The Problem of Dressing Room A", it is stated that Van Dusen is an expert in a dozen different disciplines.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D., LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., dubbed as "The Thinking Machine" by his reporter friend Hutchison Hatch, is one of these. In "The Problem of Dressing Room A", it is stated that Van Dusen is an expert in a dozen different disciplines.
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* AppropriatedAppellation: Professor Van Dusen acquired the nickname 'The Thinking Machine' when an angry Russian chess grandmaster hurled it at him after Van Dusen had beaten him at chess despite never having played the game before by using AwesomenessByAnalysis. The Russian says "You are not man; you're a brain - a machine - a thinking machine". Journalist Hutchinson Hatch picks it up and starts using it in his stories about Van Dusen. Van Dusen himself does not seem to care one way or the other about the nickname.
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* AwesomenessByAnalysis: Van Dusen acquired his nickname when he defeated a Russian grandmaster despite never having played a game of chess just by reading the rules and then applying pure logic.
*CatchPhrase: Van Dusen is fond of saying "Two plus two equals four, not sometimes but always".
*CatchPhrase: Van Dusen is fond of saying "Two plus two equals four, not sometimes but always".
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* DyingClue: "His Perfect Alibi" features a rare variant in the which the victim manages to actually write down the name of his killer before expiring. However (as might be guessed from the title), the killer has a seemingly perfect alibi that makes it physically impossible for him to have committed the murder.
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* ThePerfectCrime: As the title implies, "His Perfect Alibi" involves a murder where the murderer has constructed what seems to be an airtight alibi making it impossible for him to have committed the crime, despite all of the other evidence poiting to him. It falls to Van Dusen to work out how he did it.
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* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The Missing Necklace", is a master jewel thief that Scotland Yard have been trying to catch for years..
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* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The Missing Necklace", is a master jewel thief that Scotland Yard have been trying to catch for years..years.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D., LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., dubbed as "The Thinking Machine" by his reporter friend Hutchison Hatch, is one of these.
* OmnidisciplinaryScientist: Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph. D., LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., etc., dubbed as "The Thinking Machine" by his reporter friend Hutchison Hatch, is one of these.
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* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The Missing Necklace".
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* CreepyGasStationAttendant: "The Grinning God" is a pair of short stories by May and Jacques Futrelle (her's is "Wraiths of the Storm" and his reply is "The House That Was", both 1907) that feature a crusty New Englander variant of the unhelpful and alarming gas station attendant. He lives above the store in the middle of nowhere and is reluctant to sell fuel at night, despite the driver's car being clearly out of gas, miles from the nearest big city. He won't put the driver up for the night despite the signs of an approaching storm. He tells the driver that the road to the next town is "straight 'cept where it bends." Only an offer to pay double prompts the man to finally sell the fuel at all. The driver goes his way, and has a series of strange experiences. He comes to doubt his own sanity and act accordingly. It is up to Jacques Futrelle's Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen ("The Thinking Machine") to work out the answer, bringing the distraught man along on a re-enactment of the trip to show that it was all real. [[spoiler:The driver had turned and backtracked instead of going on toward his destination; the attendant tried to call after him but had his voice drowned out by the thunder and the roar of the engine]].
* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The MissingNecklace".Necklace", is a master jewel thief that Scotland Yard have been trying to catch for years..
* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The Missing
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* TheAlcatraz: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen accepts a challenge to escape from a death row cell in an 'inescapable' prison within a week.
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* TheAlcatraz: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen accepts a challenge to escape from a death row cell in an 'inescapable' prison within a week. He does so in a truly spectacular fashion.
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* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: The Thinking Machine's real name is [[AC:Professor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S.]]. Several of the stories add 'etc., etc.' to show that this is not the complete list of Van Dusen's titles.
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TProfessor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S., a.k.a. 'The Thinking Machine', is a the central character in a series of detective short stories and two novels by Jacques Futrelle. In the stories, Professor Van Dusen solves a variety of different mysteries with his friend and companion, reporter Hutchinson Hatch. The professor is known as "The Thinking Machine", solving problems by the remorseless application of logic.
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TProfessor Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen, Ph.D., LL.D., F.R.S., M.D., M.D.S., a.k.a. 'The Thinking Machine', is a the central character in a series of detective short stories and two novels by Jacques Futrelle. In the stories, Professor Van Dusen solves a variety of different mysteries with his friend and companion, reporter Hutchinson Hatch. The professor is known as "The Thinking Machine", solving problems by the remorseless application of logic.
!! The Thinking Machine stories contain examples of:
* TheAlcatraz: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen accepts a challenge to escape from a death row cell in an 'inescapable' prison within a week.
* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The Missing Necklace".
* ScoobyDooHoax: In "The Flaming Phantom", a criminal masquerades as a ghost to give himself time to search a house that is due to be renovated for hidden jewels.
* TheWatson: Hutchinson Hatch serves this role. In the radio adaptations, his role is expanded and he becomes the narrator of the stories, much like the original Watson.
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!! The Thinking Machine stories contain examples of:
* TheAlcatraz: In "The Problem of Cell 13", Van Dusen accepts a challenge to escape from a death row cell in an 'inescapable' prison within a week.
* GentlemanThief: Leighton, the villain of "The Missing Necklace".
* ScoobyDooHoax: In "The Flaming Phantom", a criminal masquerades as a ghost to give himself time to search a house that is due to be renovated for hidden jewels.
* TheWatson: Hutchinson Hatch serves this role. In the radio adaptations, his role is expanded and he becomes the narrator of the stories, much like the original Watson.
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