6 Books in the Dr. Priestley series (#2,15,18,21,23,24) by John Rhode
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Overview: John Rhode, AKA Miles Burton, Cecil Waye, C.J.C. Street, I.O., F.O.O..
Cecil John Charles Street, MC, OBE, (1884 – January 1965), known as CJC Street and John Street, began his military career as an artillery officer in the British army. During the course of World War I, he became a propagandist for MI7, in which role he held the rank of Major. After the armistice, he alternated between Dublin and London during the Irish War of Independence as Information Officer for Dublin Castle, working closely with Lionel Curtis. He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels.
He produced two long series of novels; one under the name of John Rhode featuring the forensic scientist Dr Priestley, and another under the name of Miles Burton featuring the investigator Desmond Merrion. Under the name Cecil Waye, Street produced four novels: The Figure of Eight; The End of the Chase; The Prime Minister’s Pencil; and Murder at Monk’s Barn. The Dr. Priestley novels were among the first after Sherlock Holmes to feature scientific detection of crime, such as analysing the mud on a suspect’s shoes. Desmond Merrion is an amateur detective who works with Scotland Yard’s Inspector Arnold.
Critic and author Julian Symons places this author as a prominent member of the "Humdrum" school of detective fiction. "Most of them came late to writing fiction, and few had much talent for it. They had some skill in constructing puzzles, nothing more, and ironically they fulfilled much better than S. S. Van Dine his dictum that the detective story properly belonged in the category of riddles or crossword puzzles. Most of the Humdrums were British, and among the best known of them were Major John Street.
Genre: Fiction > Mystery/Thriller > Crime > Traditional Hard-Boiled
Dr. Priestley’s Quest (Dr. Priestley #2):
Mysterious warnings are sent to the murder victims instructing them to avoid the places where their corpses are afterwards lound, and this, not unnaturally, preys upon the mind of the recipient of the second of these documents. All precautions taken to preserve his life are in vain. It is a spine tingling plot, but Doctor Priestley’s fortunate discovery of a packing case of unusual manufacture, held together with brass screws, puts him upon the track of the very last person who could reasonably be suspected of the crime. The book ends with a dramatic denouement of an ingenious campaign of assassination.
The Motor Rally Mystery (Dr. Priestley #15):
In March 1932, the Royal Automobile Club Rally was held, the first major rally to be held in the UK. Over three hundred cars, started from nine different towns and made their way via a series of checkpoints to Torquay, a distance (as it was a circuitous route) of roughly one thousand miles over three days. It wasn’t a race, but a test of reliability of the cars, who were expected to maintain an average speed and perform a series of other tests, such as braking, along the route.
Bob Weldon and his crew, co-driver Richard Gateman and navigator Harold Merefield, are running late due to terrible fog – why this hasn’t affected any of the other competitors is never really mentioned. They find themselves stumbling upon a fellow team, who are rather worse off though. Their car has veered off the road and the two drivers lie dead. A clear accident.
But the local constabulary are a little suspicious. Something about the tire-tracks doesn’t seem quite right, but when the car is inspected by the police, there seems to be nothing wrong with it. And that would be the end of the story, if it were not for Harold Merefield’s employer – Dr Launcelot (well that’s how he spells it here) Priestley who soon smells a rat and finds himself on the trail of a cunning murderer.
The Robthorne Mystery (Dr. Priestley #18):
The Robthorne Mystery, first published in 1934, is part of the series of mysteries featuring private detective Dr. Priestley. Author John Rhode, a pen name of Cecil Street (1884-1964), was a prolific writer of mostly detective novels, publishing more than 140 books between 1924 and 1961.
When one of the Robthorne twins commits suicide, there is a question over which one it is and whether it was, in fact, suicide or murder. From the dustjacket: Dr. Priestley, well-known crime investigator, is called in to solve the mysterious death of Mr. Robthorne, who has been found shot in the greenhouse of his country estate. A chain of damning evidence that Dr. Priestley pieces so successfully together forms one of the finest examples of crime detection that Mr. John Rhode has yet produced.
Mystery at Olympia (Dr. Priestley #21):
The next time you visit Olympia, take a good look around and see if you think it would be possible to murder someone in the middle of the crowd there without being seen.
The new Comet was fully expected to be the sensation of the annual Motor Show at Olympia. Suddenly, in the middle of the dense crowd of eager spectators, an elderly man lurched forward and collapsed in a dead faint. But Nahum Pershore had not fainted. He was dead, and it was his death that was to provide the real sensation of the show.
A post-mortem revealed no visible wound, no serious organic disorder, no evidence of poison. Doctors and detectives were equally baffled, and the more they investigated, the more insoluble the puzzle became. Even Dr Lancelot Priestley’s un-rivalled powers of deduction were struggling to solve this case.
Death at Breakfast (Dr. Priestley #23):
Meet Victor Harleston, a miserly fellow, who seems to be in line for a bit of a windfall. Not that he’ll let his half-sister Jane see any of his money, as he basically treats her like a slave rather than a housekeeper. But one morning, she finds him dying on the floor – he has apparently been poisoned. She quickly summons Doctor Mortimer Oldland, who arrives promptly but too late to do anything to save Harleston. It seems he has been poisoned with nicotine – a lethal dosage is found in his teapot and the dregs of his teacup. Yet during the autopsy, no poison is found in his stomach – so how was the poison administered? And, given the lack of other dead bodies in the vicinity, who drank the cup of tea?
Luckily, Dr Oldland is one of Dr Lancelot Priestley’s regular dining companions, along with investigating offices Superintendent No-Name Hanslet and Jimmy Waghorn, but they can’t see beyond the open and shut case. Jane and her brother Philip were the only ones with motive and the only ones with opportunity. So why does Dr Priestley think differently?
In the Face of the Verdict (Dr. Priestley #24):
Major Walter Bedworthy has a set routine. If ever he visited his friend, Sir John Hallatrow, he would never drive the circuitous route but walk the shorter route across the fields. Even in the dark, he would always find the footbridge across the stream – he had a perfect method for finding it. And then one night, he disappears, to be discovered drowned a few days later. But Hallatrow is convinced that it could not have been an accident or a suicide and luckily, Dr Priestley, eminent scientist and investigator is a friend of a friend, who soon sets off for the town of Blacksand.
The inquest rules it an accident – there is no evidence of foul play at all – but Priestley is convinced there is more to it than that. A second death soon accelerates matters but a motive seems desperately elusive. Can Priestley find the killer before their plan is complete?
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Dr. Priestley Mysteries (#1 & 28)
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22 Dr. Priestley Mysteries
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Death on the Boat Train (Dr. Priestley #32)
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