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Dr. Priestley
Dr. Lancelot Priestley is a fictional investigator born in July 1869 in a series of books by John Rhode After 1924, Dr. Priestley took over from Dr. Thorndyke as the leading fictional forensic investigator in Britain, and featured in 72 novels written over 40 years, solving many ingenious and misleading murders. Dr Priestley's involvement is usually at the request of the police but only if the case piques his scientific curiosity; having little, or no, interest in criminal justice. "''Hanslet had brought many problems which confronted him in the course of his duties to Dr. Priestley's notice, usually with results highly satisfactory to himself. But in nearly every case Dr. Priestly's interest in the problem ceased when he had solved it to his own satisfaction. The fate of the criminal was a matter of complete unconcern to him. He treated detection much as he would have treated a game of chess. The pieces in the game had no more than a passing interest to him. Not that he was uns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Rhode
Cecil John Charles Street (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as 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 Armistice with Germany (Compiègne), the armistice, he alternated between Dublin and London during the Irish War of Independence as Information Officer for Dublin Castle administration in Ireland, Dublin Castle, working closely with Lionel Curtis. He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels. Early life, education, and career Street was born in Gibraltar, son of General John Alfred Street, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB, of Uplands, Woking, and his second wife, Caroline (born circa 1850), daughter of Charles Horsfall Bill, of Storthes Hall, Yorkshire, and The Priory, Tetbury, Gloucestershire, head of a landed gentry family. Caroline had ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shot At Dawn
''Shot at Dawn'' is a 1934 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the nineteenth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Synopsis A motor boat ''Alandra'' arrives one evening in Riddinghithe and anchors in the harbour bay. In the morning a passing fisherman discovers a body lying on top of the cabin. The local police call in Scotland Yard and Inspector Hanslet arrives to investigate but is unable to discover anything more about the dead man other than his name and his interest in yachting. He is forced once again to turn to the assistance of Priestley. Reception ''Shot at Dawn'' was one of the best-received novels in the series. In a review for the '' Sunday Times'', the novelist and critic Dorothy L. Sayers wrote "Mr. John Rhode is one of those kind, thoughtful writers who patiently explain all the technical points of the narrative in words that a child could unders ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death At The Helm
''Death at the Helm'' is a 1941 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty fourth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It makes reference to earlier stories in the series as the lawyer had defended in court the murderers Priestley had exposed in '' The Corpse in the Car'' and ''Death on the Boat Train''. The characters in it were arguably more complexly drawn than in other books by the author. Synopsis The wife of the celebrated barrister Hugh Quarrenden and another man die, apparently of poisoning after drinking a gin cocktail aboard the yacht A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ... ''Lonicera''.vans p.79 Priestley deduces that the drinks had been s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Murder At Lilac Cottage
''Murder at Lilac Cottage'' is a 1940 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty third in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reilly p.1257 In the '' Times Literary Supplement '' reviewer Maurice Willson Disher noted "With both ingenuity and originality at command, he will keep puzzle-solvers guessing until it pleases Dr. Priestley to explain why clues are not what they seem." while Ralph Partridge gave it a broadly positive review in the ''New Statesman''. Synopsis In a largely peaceful village in England during the early stages of the Second World War the body of the young man who owns Lilac Cottage is found dead. The only clue that the investigating officers of Scotland Yard can find is a five pound note 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Lite ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death On The Boat Train
''Death on the Boat Train'' is a 1940 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty second in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reilly p. 1257 As in most of the later novels much of the detective footwork is done by Inspector Waghorn of Scotland Yard. The construction of the murder setting bears similarities to '' Death in the Tunnel'', written by Street under his other pen name Miles Burton. With is focus on seemingly unbreakable alibis and railway and ship timetables, it is also similar in style to the Inspector French novels of Freeman Wills Crofts. Synopsis A passenger in a private compartment on the boat train from Southampton to London Waterloo is found dead with a needle puncture in is back. He had travelled on Guernsey on a channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bloody Tower
''The Bloody Tower'' is a 1938 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty ninth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in the United States the same year by Dodd Mead under the alternative title ''Tower of Evil''.Reilly p.1257 It is notable amongst Rhode's more realistic style during the series, for its Gothic elements. For ''The Guardian'' E. R. Punshon wrote "in The Bloody Tower Mr. John Rhode gives another excellent example of his eminently satisfactory and solid talent." Synopsis The crumbling Farningcote Priory has been the home of the Glapthorne family for generations. In the grounds stand a tower, built as a folly during the eighteenth century which seems to have a strange, almost mystical power over the family. When Caleb Clapthorne is killed in what at first appears to be a shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a proj ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invisible Weapons
''Invisible Weapons'' is a 1938 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty eighth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reilly p.1257 A locked room mystery, the title revolves around the fact that two murders are committed by apparently invisible methods. Synopsis In suburban London, a man named Fransham is found dead after going to wash his hands in his niece's bathroom A bathroom or washroom is a room, typically in a home or other residential building, that contains either a bathtub or a shower (or both). The inclusion of a wash basin is common. In some parts of the world e.g. India, a toilet is typically ..., an apparently locked room. The circumstances baffle the investigating officers of Scotland Yard until Priestley takes up the case, connecting it with another seemingly unrelated death. References Bibliography * Evans, Curtis. ''Masters of the "Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Proceed With Caution
''Proceed with Caution'' is a 1937 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty-seventh in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in the United States the same year by Dodd Mead under the alternative title ''Body Unidentified''.Reilly p.1257 Synopsis Superintendent Hanslet and Inspector Waghorn of Scotland Yard respectively investigate a diamond robbery and a suspicious death. A consignment of valuable jewels have gone missing while being transported from Hatton Garden. Meanwhile a corpse is found in a tar burner in a Kent village, completely unrecognisable. It takes the genius of Dr. Priestley to demonstrate how these two events are linked. Literary Significance E.R. Punshon writing in ''The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death On The Board
''Death on the Board'' is a 1937 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty sixth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in the United States by Dodd Mead under the slightly altered title ''Death Sits on the Board''.Reilly p.1257 Isaac Anderson in ''The New York Times'' considered "The reader may not have much difficulty in spotting the murderer, but he will not find it so easy to figure out the hows and whys of the case. The murders are most ingeniously planned and executed, and even Dr. Priestley is put to a severe test before the story is ended. This is easily the best of the recent Dr. Priestley mysteries." Synopsis At his residence in Beckenham in Kent on the outskirts of London, Sir Andrew Wiggenhall the chairman of the board of directors of a large firm of ironmongers is killed by an explosion that largely wrecks the house. Investigating o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death In The Hopfields
''Death in the Hopfields'' is a 1937 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty fifth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America by Dodd Mead under the alternative title ''The Harvest Murder''.Reilly p.1257 Caldwell Harpur gave the novel a broadly positive review in the ''Times Literary Supplement'' but felt that the murder mystery was so simple that there had really been no need for the local police to need assistance to crack the case. Synopsis The novel takes place in rural Kent during the hop-picking season. A burglary takes place and the complex circumstances surrounding it lead to Sergeant Wragge of the local force calling in Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's 32 boroughs, but not the City ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Face Of The Verdict
''In Face of the Verdict'' is a 1936 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty fourth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reilly p.1257 Unusually in the series Priestley takes a more active role in the investigation himself, rather than solving it from a detached distance. It was not published in the United States until 1940, by Dodd Mead, with the slightly altered title of ''In the Face of the Verdict''. Synopsis After the inquest in the port town of Blacksand concludes that the death of Major Walter Bedworthy was an accident due to drowning Drowning is a type of suffocation induced by the submersion of the mouth and nose in a liquid. Most instances of fatal drowning occur alone or in situations where others present are either unaware of the victim's situation or unable to offer as ..., his friend summons in Priestley due to his belief that it was in fact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Death At Breakfast
''Death at Breakfast'' is a 1936 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty third in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reilly p.1257 It received a negative review from Cecil Day-Lewis, writing as Nicholas Blake in ''The Spectator'' noting "Some attempt is made to establish the character of the victim, but the remaining dramatis personae are stuffed men". Synopsis Victor Harleston is apparently poisoned at the breakfast table after drinking a cup of coffee Coffee is a drink prepared from roasted coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. It is the most popular hot drink in the world. Seeds of .... Its connection to two other crimes are not at first established by the investigating Scotland Yard officers and it falls to Professor Priestley to crack the cas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
