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John Rhode

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. At the inquest, the jury rules it a “Death from Natural Causes.” But even if they are correct, how did this unfortunate stranger meet his end in Harold’s home?

 Determined to uncover the whole truth, Harold seeks the help of Dr. Lancelot Priestley. A retired professor of applied mathematics, Dr. Priestley employs a simple but unusual method of logical reasoning to shed light on what proves to be a dark and exceedingly curious affair.

MysteriousPress.com/Open Road

The Dr. Priestley Detective Stories

The Paddington Mystery

Was it a tragic drunk-driving accident, or something more twisted? “You can never go far wrong with a Dr. Priestley story. ” —The New York Times

Superintendent King has concluded that the drunk driver with a dead body in his car was only guilty of manslaughter, not intentional murder. But Dr. Lancelot Priestley thinks there’s more to the story—especially considering that the victim’s estate, Pinehurst, has been plagued by burglaries of late.

As he applies his usual scientific rigor to the case, Priestley will be drawn into not one crime but many—and some of them date back years—in this classic British mystery.

Dr. Priestley Investigates

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 while pursuing some nefarious business on the side. Before long, he’s been grazed by a bullet—and Dr. Lancelot Priestley will have to step in before the killer strikes again, with more success this time, in this Golden Age British mystery.

Peril at Cranbury Hall

A body on the tracks and a pair of missing wills have Dr. Priestley puzzled …

Gervase Wickenden’s estate is close to a railroad line—and that’s where his mangled body is found after an unfortunate meeting with a train. The timing is a bit odd though, considering this happened only two days after Wickenden changed his will. And now, neither version of the will can be located …

The heirs ask Dr. Lancelot Priestley to look into the matter of the missing documents, but he soon stumbles on something else entirely: evidence that the train was not the actual cause of death. It’s up to him to deduce the facts behind this fatal so-called accident, in a compelling British mystery by a Golden Age master.

“You can never go far wrong with a Dr. Priestley story. ” —The New York Times

Tragedy on the Line

A scientifically minded professor is stumped by a case involving séances and an inexplicable inheritance …

After drifting apart from Sir John Claverton, Dr. Lancelot Priestley is finally visiting his old friend for dinner. But Claverton’s situation is worrying. He’s surrounded by relatives, among them a sister who speaks to the dead—but not to him—and a niece who may or may not be a qualified nurse. Based on Claverton’s odd behavior, Priestley and a mutual friend suspect that someone is slipping him arsenic.

But when Priestley discovers that Claverton has died just a week later and shares his concerns with the police, no trace of arsenic—or anything else untoward—is found during the autopsy. Still, the perceptive professor can’t shake his sense that something isn’t right, and Claverton’s recently revised will only adds to the mystery …

“The puzzle is sound, the atmosphere menacing in a splendidly gloomy way. ” —Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, A Catalogue of Crime

“You can never go far wrong with a Dr. Priestley story. ” —The New York Times

The Claverton Affair

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 the disappearance, though, will lead Priestley to some dangerous places, in this suspenseful Golden Age mystery featuring the scientifically minded sleuth …

The Venner Crime

An “extremely clever” mystery about a doctor who appears to have fatally injected himself and a dinner party devoted to detection (The Saturday Review).

Dr. Richard Mawsley was a happy man and a careful man. So how and why did the Harley Street specialist inject himself with strychnine while in his locked office? There’s no hint that anyone else was at the scene, and the guests at Dr. Lancelot Priestley’s weekly dinner party, including two from Scotland Yard, are determined to figure out what happened.

Did he suddenly become despondent, or pick up the wrong bottle? This band of crime-solvers is puzzled indeed, and Priestley is left to wonder if there’s another possibility beyond accident, murder, or suicide …

“A scientist who turns to crime puzzles for recreation … The more difficult they are, the better he likes them. ” —The New York Times

Death in Harley Street

A man’s car is impounded as a stolen vehicle—but that’s not the worst of it—in this classic British mystery starring a “tartly logical professor” (The New York Times).

Kenneth Winslow’s company has sold a car to his nephew, Noel Yewdale, who’s supposed to transport the large, locked chest in it. But before he can get the job done, the police seize the car—saying they think it’s stolen.

When the cops confirm he won’t get the car back, he’s out of luck—but at least they’re willing to help him carry the heavy chest out of the garage where the vehicle has been stored. Unfortunately, Yewdale has an even bigger problem when they pry the chest open to find out why it smells so bad—his uncle’s body is stuffed inside. Superintendent Waghorn will do his best to solve the crime, but he may need some help from Dr. Lancelot Priestley to put the puzzle pieces together …