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 nieceтАЩs 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 victimтАЩs forehead and nothing in the locked room that could have inflicted it.
The combined efforts of Superintendent Hanslet and Inspector Waghorn brought no answer and the case was dropped. It was only after another equally baffling murder had been committed that Dr Lancelot PriestleyтАЩs orderly and imaginative deductions began to make the connections that would solve this extraordinary case.
John Rhode was a pseudonym for the author Cecil John Charles Street (1884тАУ1964), who also wrote as Miles Burton and Cecil Waye. Having served in the British Army as an artillery officer during the First World War, rising to the rank of Major, he began writing non-fiction before turning to detective fiction, and produced four novels a year for thirty-seven years. The Sunday Times said тАШhe must hold the record for the invention of ingenious forms of murderтАЩ, and the Times Literary Supplement described him as тАШstanding in the front rank of those who write detective fictionтАЩ. RhodeтАЩs first series novel, The Paddington Mystery (1925), introduced Dr Lancelot Priestley, who went on to appear in 72 novels, many for Collins Crime Club.