Part of Series
‘The best detective story of 1928’ Times Literary Supplement_'A case of suicide, accident or murder?' New York Times‘A keenly interesting and enjoyable detective story’ The ScotsmanGolden Age of Crime writer John Rhode’s fifth Dr Priestley detective novel, republished here for the first time in almost a centuryThis Spitfire Publishers edition includes a complete bibliography of John Rhode’s Dr Priestley detective novels A party of five yachtsmen check-in one late summer Sunday evening at the Unicorn, an old-fashioned country hotel on the south coast of England. A sixth guest, Dr Victor Grinling, known to the group, is also in residence. The next morning Dr Grinling’s valet and confidential servant, Ferguson, discovers his long-time master dead in his bedroom – poisoned. It soon transpires that each of the five crew of Levity had in one way or another, a motive for desiring an untimely death of the very rich, very difficult, Dr Grinling. Dr Lancelot Priestley is brought in to apply his unique blend of scientific analysis and human psychology to solving the mysterious death, ably assisting his old-sparring partner, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Haslet. About the Author John Rhode was the pseudonym for the author Cecil Street, one of the best-selling and most popular British authors of the Golden Age of Crime. His most famous literary creation was Dr Lancelot Priestley, a forensic detective who featured in seventy-two novels written over forty years, solving many ingenious and misleading murders. Cecil Street was born in 1884 in Gibraltar to a military family. At sixteen he attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. He served with distinction in the First World War and then in military intelligence before taking up writing full-time. He was a founding member of the Detection Club, the illustrious dining club of detective story writers, and created the famous ‘Eric the Skull’ used in the rituals of the organisation. He would write over 140 detective novels (writing also as Miles Burton and Cecil Waye) and died aged 80, in 1964. Praise for John Rhode ‘A Dr Priestley story is always an event for armchair sleuths’ New York Times ‘Scientific investigator, Dr Priestley, is one of the most satisfactory successors to Sherlock Holmes’ New York Times ‘Dr Priestley, a scientist with a flair for criminal investigation’ New York Times ‘Standing in the front rank of those who write detective fiction’ Times Literary Supplement ‘Any murder planned by John Rhode is bound to be ingenious’ The Observer ‘One always embarks on a John Rhode book with a great feeling of security. One knows that there will be a sound plot, a well-knit process of reasoning and a solidly satisfying solution with no loose ends or careless errors of fact’ Dorothy L Sayers_
Author
AKA Miles Burton, Cecil Waye, Cecil 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. -Wikipedia
