''Death at the Helm'' is a 1941 detective novel by John Rhode, the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

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 ''The Corpse in the Car'' is a 1935 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twentieth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.Reilly ...

'' 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 A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

Hugh Quarrenden and another man die, apparently of poisoning after drinking a

gin Gin () is a distilled alcoholic drink that derives its flavour from juniper berries (''Juniperus communis''). Gin originated as a medicinal liquor made by monks and alchemists across Europe, particularly in southern Italy, Flanders and the Ne ...

cocktail A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink. Most commonly, cocktails are either a combination of spirits, or one or more spirits mixed with other ingredients such as tonic water, fruit juice, flavored syrup, or cream. Cocktails vary widely across ...

aboard the yacht ''Lonicera''.vans p.79 Priestley deduces that the drinks had been spiked, but has to work out who would want to kill the couple. Before long he discovers that they both have complex private lives.

References

Bibliography

* Evans, Curtis. ''Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920-1961''. McFarland, 2014. * Magill, Frank Northen . ''Critical Survey of Mystery and Detective Fiction: Authors, Volume 3''. Salem Press, 1988. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. 1941 British novels Novels by Cecil Street British crime novels British mystery novels British detective novels Collins Crime Club books Novels set in England {{1940s-novel-stub