Augustus S. F. X. Van Dusen

In the stories, Professor Van Dusen solves a variety of different mysteries with his friend and companion, Hutchinson Hatch, reporter of a fictional newspaper called The Daily New Yorker. The professor is known as "The Thinking Machine", solving problems by the remorseless application of logic. This nickname was given to him after his winning of a match against the fictional chess champion of the day, Tschaikowsky, in a demonstration to show the power of applying pure logic. He was able to win against the reigning champion having only been taught the game the morning of the match. Many of his titles are actually honorary degrees awarded to him serving only to amuse the universities and scientific institutions that crown him with those titles. His catchphrases include, "Two and two always equal four," "Nothing is impossible" and "All things that start must go somewhere." Futrelle died at age 37 on April 15, 1912, on the RMS Titanic. He refused to board a lifeboat, insisting that his wife board instead.

1. The Chase of the Golden Plate (1906)

1. The Problem of Dressing Room A. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. (Minneapolis) Sunday Journal, 2 September 1996
2. The Problem of the Auto Cab. Associated Sunday Newspapers e.g. (Washington) Evening Star, 14 April 1907
3. The Problem of the Broken Bracelet
4. The Brown Coat
5. The Case of the Life Raft
6. The Case of the Mysterious Weapon
7. The Case of the Scientific Murderer
8. Convict #97
9. The Problem of The Cross Mark
10. The Crystal Gazer. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 23 September 1906, as 'The Problem of the Crystal Gazer'
11. The Disappearance of Baby Blake
12. The Deserted House. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Washington Evening Star, 7 July 1907, as 'Parable of the Deserted House'
13. The Fatal Cipher. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. New York Tribune, 3 February 1907, as 'The Thinking Machine Looks into the Cipher Message'
14. The Flaming Phantom (Hatch is sent to investigate a "haunted house" where a flaming ghost chases off any intruders, but he is forced to summon Van Dusen)
15. The Ghost Woman
16. The Golden Dagger
17. The Great Auto Mystery
18. The Green Eyed Monster. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 28 October 1906
19. The Haunted Bell. The Saturday Evening Post, 17 November 1906
20. The House That Was (Part 2 of a story published as "The Grinning God". May Futrelle wrote Part 1, 'Wraiths of the Storm')
21. The Problem of The Hidden Million
22. The Interrupted Wireless
23. The Jackdaw Girl
24. The Knotted Cord
25. The Leak
26. The Lost Radium (Takes place in a laboratory at the fictional "Yarvard University", a pastiche of Yale and Harvard). Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 7 October 1906, as 'The Problem of the Lost Radium'
27. The Man Who Was Lost
28. The Missing Necklace. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 21 October 1906, as 'The Problem of the Missing Necklace'
29. The Motor Boat. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 9 September 1906, as 'The Problem of the Motor Boat'
30. The Mystery of a Studio
31. The Mystery of Room 666
32. The Opera Box. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 14 October 1906, as 'The Problem of the Opera Box'
33. The Organ Grinder
34. A Perfect Alibi. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 4 November 1906, as 'The Perfect Alibi'
35. The Phantom Motor. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 11 October 1906, as 'The Phantom Auto'
36. A Piece of String. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 16 September 1906
37. Prince Otto
38. The Private Compartment
39. The Problem of Cell 13 (Van Dusen accepts a challenge to escape from a death row cell within a week, and Hatch publicizes it in the newspaper)
40. The Ralston Bank Burglary
41. The Red Rose
42. The Roswell Tiara. Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 30 September 1906, as 'The
43. The Scarlet Thread
44. The Silver Box (A businessman asks Van Dusen's help when his industrial secrets are instantly leaked to a competitor from a closed office)
45. The Problem of The Souvenir Cards
46. The Problem of The Stolen Rubens
47. The Superfluous Finger (A doctor comes to Van Dusen with an ethical quandary: a woman wants a perfectly good little finger amputated, but won't say why). Associated Sunday Magazines e.g. Minneapolis Journal, 25 November 1906
48. The Thinking Machine Investigates
49. The Three Overcoats
50. The Problem of The Vanishing Man
51. The Yellow Diamond Pendant

• The Thinking Machine (1907)
• The Thinking Machine on the Case (1908)
• Best "Thinking Machine" Detective Stories (1973), edited by E. F. Bleiler
• Great Cases of the "Thinking Machine" (1976), edited by E. F. Bleiler
• Jacques Futrelle's Thinking Machine (2003), edited by Harlan Ellison 21 stories
• The Great Thinking Machine: "The Problem of Cell 13" and Other Stories (2018) (Dover Mystery Classics) 12 stories

• Selected stories and bibliographical information about Futrelle
• BBC Radio 4 - The Rivals: The Problem of Cell 13
• BBC Radio 4 - The Rivals: The Mystery of the Scarlet Thread
• Works by Jacques Futrelle on Project Gutenberg
• Works by Jacques Futrelle on LibriVox