''The Motor Rally Mystery'' is a 1933 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 fourteenth 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 Dodd, Mead and Company was one of the pioneer publishing houses of the United States, based in New York City. Under several names, the firm operated from 1839 until 1990. History Origins In 1839, Moses Woodruff Dodd (1813–1899) and John S. Ta ...

under the alternative title ''Dr. Priestley Lays a Trap''.Reilly p.1257 It takes place against the backdrop of the real life RAC Motor Rally, which concluded at Torquay. Reviewing the novel in '' The Spectator'' Dilys Powell concluded "Dr. Priestley as usual takes nothing on trust; and Mr. Rhode achieves a pretty piece of deduction." In the '' New York Times'' Isaac Anderson felt "this story is one of the best of the Priestley series, and that is no faint praise."

Synopsis

During an overnight thousand mile motor rally an accident to one of the cars leads to the death of the two occupants. The local police are far from convinced that everything is above board and call 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 of London, the square mile that forms London's ...

. The case is led by

Inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

Hanslet, but the real work is done by the criminologist Priestley who retraces the entire journey of care in order to solve the mystery.

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. * Herbert, Rosemary. ''Whodunit?: A Who's Who in Crime & Mystery Writing''. Oxford University Press, 2003. * Reilly, John M. ''Twentieth Century Crime & Mystery Writers''. Springer, 2015. 1933 British novels Novels by Cecil Street British crime novels British mystery novels British detective novels Collins Crime Club books Novels set in London Novels set in Devon {{1930s-crime-novel-stub