A nephew with a debt problem. An uncle with a boat, a will, and rather too much whisky. And one perfectly ordinary piece of fruit, rolling across a cabin table in the moonlight.Sandhaven is a quiet little port. Nothing much happens there — except, on this particular spring night, a slow leak, a sleeping man, and a plan with no loose ends.Almost none.John Rhode at his most precisely, mercilessly clever.

We rely on your support to help us keep producing beautiful, free, and unrestricted editions of literature for the digital age. Will you support our efforts with a donation ? The Murders in Praed Street features Dr. Lancelot Priestley, an eccentric scientist and mathematician. The novel's first part introduces the neighborhood of Praed Street, its shopkeepers, and their families. Among these characters are the first victims of a series of shocking murders that terrorize London and baffle t...

The Elusive Bullet by John Rhode is a finely crafted Golden Age detective story that showcases the author's hallmark precision, ingenuity, and methodical approach to crime-solving. Featuring the meticulous Dr. Lancelot Priestley, one of classic detective fiction's great analytical minds, the story presents a baffling case in which science and logic are the keys to the truth. When a seemingly straightforward shooting results in a death under circumstances that defy explanation, the physical...

The Murders in Praed Street features Dr. Lancelot Priestley, an eccentric scientist and mathematician. The novel's first part introduces the neighborhood of Praed Street, its shopkeepers, and their families. Among these characters are the first victims of a series of shocking murders that terrorize London and baffle the police. In the second part, Scotland Yard seeks the help of Dr. Priestley, who is eager for "some enticing problem, mathematical or human." To confirm his theory o...

Sixpennyworth by John Rhode is a classic Golden Age detective story featuring the meticulous and methodical investigations typical of Rhode's celebrated Inspector Lancelot Priestley series. Known for his ingenious plotting and focus on scientific and logical methods of detection, Rhode delivers a story where careful observation and deductive reasoning are key to unraveling a puzzling crime. The story begins with a seemingly ordinary transaction—or a trivial purchase—worth only sixpence. Ye...

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 se...

The "astute and sharp-spoken" crime-solving professor must find out if a missing man got away with murder ( The New York Times).After some initial suspicion, the death of Ernest Venner's wealthy uncle was attributed to natural causes—a simple infection. But Dr. Lancelot Priestley and his crime-solving companions find it intriguing, to say the least, that as soon as Venner collected his much-needed inheritance, he vanished into the wind.Digging into...

A classic crime novel by one of the most highly regarded exponents of the genre.The murder of old Mr Fransham while washing his hands in his niece’s cloakroom was one of the most astounding problems that ever confronted Scotland Yard. Not only was there a policeman in the house at the time, but there was an ugly wound in the victim’s forehead and nothing in the locked room that could have inflicted it.The combined efforts of Superintendent Hanslet and Inspector Waghorn brou...

A shady operator is targeted for death and needs help from a professor with an "uncanny ability to ferret out the truth" ( The New York Times).An expert in alternative medicine is creating a clinic in Cranbury Hall that promises to cure fatigue, and Arnold Gilroy is happy to invest in this promising moneymaking venture.Unfortunately, his brother Oliver has just finished a stint in prison for fraud—and has weaseled his way into running Cranbury Hall...

Death on the Boat Train, first published in 1940, is book no. 32 in the series of mysteries featuring private detective Dr. Priestley and Scotland Yard's Superintendent Hanslet and Inspector Jimmy Waghorn. 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. From the dustjacket: Fair blew the wind from France, and the Channel steamer Isle of Jethou rolled ...

A night of revelry ends with a perplexing death in the first novel featuring one of the greatest detectives of the Golden Age of Mystery.In the early hours of a wintery morning, Harold Merefield returns home from a festive little party at The Naxos, a popular nightclub in Paddington. But just as he tries to get some much-needed sleep, he is startled by a gruesome discovery on his bed: a corpse.There is no way to identify the dead man or the cause of his death...

The Fatal Garden, first published in 1949, is book no. 49 in the series of mysteries featuring private detective Dr. Priestley and Scotland Yard's Superintendent Waghorn. 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. From the dustjacket: "Yes, the initial murder in this book was certainly committed on a path in a garden; but it is possible that the ...