Cecil Street

Cecil John Charles Street (* probably 1884 in Gibraltar ; † probably January 1965 ) was a British detective writer and army officer.

Life

Street began his military career as an artillery officer in the British Army . During World War I , he became a major propaganda officer in the Propaganda and Censorship (MI7) section of the Directorate of Military Intelligence . After the end of the war, he commuted between Dublin and London during the Irish War of Independence as an information officer for the British administration in Dublin Castle , where he worked closely with Lionel Curtis . Street was awarded the Military Cross and the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

From 1925, Street made a living as an extremely prolific crime novelist .

plant

The most successful works Streets were under the pseudonym John Rhode published crime novels about the forensic scientist Dr. Priestley, who (succeeding Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes ) uses the scientific methods of criminology to identify perpetrators.

Another popular series of Streets were the novels published under the name Miles Burton about the amateur detective Desmond Merrion, who works with Inspector Arnold of Scotland Yard.

Under the name Cecil Waye , Street published four more detective novels with the main characters Christopher and Vivienne Perrin ("Perrins, Private Investigators").

reception

The crime writer and critic Julian Symons reckoned Street 1974 with his classic detective stories and Whodunit plots to a group of crime writers, which he describes as the "humdrum school of detective fiction" ("the stupid school of crime literature") and which he has every artistic value agreed.

Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor take a friendlier point of view in their “Catalog of Crime” and even expressly praise some of the Dr. Priestley novels, even if they only discuss a fraction of the numerous novels.

Street's novels are in great demand among collectors of British crime fiction (not least because his books are long out of print); high prices are now being paid for first editions.

Works

Works as John Rhode

Dr. Priestley novels:

• The Paddington Mystery , 1925
• Dr. Priestley's Quest , 1926
• The Ellerby Case , 1927
• The Murders in Praed Street , 1928, reprinted: Penguin, 1937
• Tragedy at the Unicorn , 1928
• The House on Tollard Ridge , 1929
• The Davidson Case , 1929 (in the US as Murder at Bratton Grange )
• Peril at Cranbury Hall , 1930
• Pinehurst , 1930 (in US as Dr. Priestley Investigates )
• Tragedy on the Line , 1931
• The Hanging Woman , 1931
• Mystery at Greycombe Farm , 1932 (in the US as The Fire at Greycombe Farm )
• Dead Men at the Folly , 1932
• The Motor Rally Mystery , 1933 (in the US as Dr. Priestley Lays a Trap )
• The Claverton Mystery , 1933 (in the US as The Claverton Affair )
• The Venner Crime , 1933 ( digitized version )
• The Robthorne Mystery , 1934
• Poison for One , 1934
• Shot at Dawn , 1934
• The Corpse in the Car , 1935
• Hendon's First Case , 1935
• Mystery at Olympia , 1935 (in the US as Murder at the Motor Show )
• Death at Breakfast , 1936
• In Face of the Verdict , 1936 (in the US as In the Face of the Verdict )
• Death in the Hop Fields , 1937 (in the US as The Harvest Murder )
• Death on the Board , 1937 (in the US as Death Sits on the Board )
• Proceed with Caution , 1937 (in the US as Body Unidentified )
• Invisible Weapons , 1938
• The Bloody Tower , 1938 (in the US as The Tower of Evil )
• Death Pays a Dividend , 1939
• Death on Sunday , 1939 (in US as The Elm Tree Murder )
• Death on the Boat Train , 1940
• Murder at Lilac Cottage , 1940
• Death at the Helm , 1941
• They Watched by Night , 1941 (in the US as Signal For Death )
• The Fourth Bomb , 1942
• Dead on the Track , 1943
• Men Die at Cyprus Lodge , 1943
• Death Invades the Meeting , 1944
• Vegetable Duck , 1944 (in the US as Too Many Suspects )
• The Bricklayer's Arms , 1945 (in the US as Shadow of a Crime )
• The Lake House , 1946 (in the US as Secret of the Lake House )
• Death in Harley Street , 1946
• Nothing But the Truth , 1947 (in the USA as an experiment in crime )
• Death of an Author , 1947
• The Paper Bag , 1948 (in the US as The Links in the Chain )
• Up the Garden Path , 1949 (in the US as The Fatal Garden )
• The Telephone Call , 1949 (in the US as Shadow of an Alibi )
• Blackthorn House , 1949
• Family Affairs , 1950 (in the US as The Last Suspect )
• The Two Graphs , 1950 (in the US as Double Identities )
• The Secret Meeting , 1951
• Dr. Goodwood's Locum , 1951 (in the USA as The Affair of the Substitute Doctor ; German as Dr. Goodwood's deputy , translated by Hanna Maria Coste, Drei Raben Verlag, Stuttgart 1953 and Signum, Gütersloh 1964)
• Death at the Dance , 1952
• Death in Wellington Road , 1952
• Death at the Inn , 1953 (in the US as The Case of the Forty Thieves )
• By Registered Post , 1953 (in the US as The Mysterious Suspect )
• Death on the Lawn , 1954
• The Dovebury Murders , 1954
• Death of a Godmother , 1955 (in the USA as Delayed Payment )
• The Domestic Agency , 1955 (in the US as Grave Matters )
• An Artist Dies , 1956 (in the US as Death Of An Artist )
• Open Verdict , 1956
• Death of a Bridegroom , 1957
• Robbery With Violence , 1957
• Death Takes a Partner , 1958
• Licensed For Murder , 1958
• Murder at Derivale , 1958
• Three Cousins ​​Die , 1959
• The Fatal Pool , 1960
• Twice Dead , 1960
• The Vanishing Diary , 1961

Other novels:

• ASF - The Story of a Great Conspiracy , 1924 (in the USA as The White Menace ; German as ASF - Der Weg ins Traumland , translated by Wilhelm Cremer , Berlin 1925)
• The Double Florin , 1924
• The Alarm , 1925
• Mademoiselle From Armentieres , 1927
• Drop to His Death , 1939 (in the USA as Fatal Descent ) - with Carter Dickson (= John Dickson Carr )
• Night Exercise , 1942 (in the US as Dead of the Night )

Works as Miles Burton

Except for The Hardway Diamonds Mystery and Murder at the Moorings, these novels revolve around the characters Desmond Merrion and Inspector Arnold.

• The Secret of High Eldersham , 1930 (also The Mystery of High Eldersham )
• The Hardway Diamonds Mystery , 1930
• The Menace on the Downs , 1931
• The Three Crimes , 1931
• Death of Mr. Gantley , 1932
• Murder at the Moorings , 1932
• Fate at the Fair , 1933
• Tragedy at the Thirteenth Hole , 1933
• Death at the Crossroads , 1933
• To Catch A Thief , 1934
• The Charabanc Mystery , 1934
• The Devereux Court Mystery , 1935
• The Milk Churn Murder , 1935 (in the US as The Clue of the Silver Brush )
• Where is Barbara Prentice? , 1936 (in the USA as The Clue of the Silver Cellar )
• Death in the Tunnel , 1936 (in the US as Dark Is the Tunnel )
• Murder of a Chemist , 1936
• Death At the Club , 1937 (in the US as The Clue of the Fourteen Keys )
• Murder in Crown Passage , 1937 (in the US as The Man with the Tattooed Face )
• Death at Low Tide , 1938
• The Platinum Cat , 1938
• Mr. Babbacombe Dies , 1939
• Death Leaves No Card , 1939
• Mr. Westerby Missing , 1940
• Murder in the Coalhole , 1940 (in the US as Written in Dust )
• Death Takes a Flat , 1940 (in US as Vacancy With Corpse )
• Up The Garden Path , 1941 (in the US as Death Visits Downspring )
• Death of Two Brothers , 1941
• This Undesirable Residence , 1942 (in the US as Death at Ash House )
• Dead Stop , 1943
• Murder MD , 1943 (in the US as Who Killed the Doctor? )
• Four-Ply Yarn , 1944 (in the US as The Shadow on the Cliff )
• The Three Corpse Trick , 1944
• Early Morning Murder , 1945 (in the US as Accidents Do Happen )
• Not A Leg to Stand On , 1945
• The Cat Jumps , 1946
• Situation Vacant , 1946
• Heir to Lucifer , 1947
• A Will in the Way , 1947
• Devil's Reckoning , 1948
• Death in Shallow Water , 1948
• Death Takes the Living , 1949 (in US as The Disappearing Parson )
• Look Alive , 1949
• Ground for Suspicion , 1950
• A Village Afraid , 1950
• Beware Your Neighbor , 1951
• Murder Out of School , 1951
• Murder On Duty , 1952
• Heir to Murder , 1953
• Something to Hide , 1953
• Murder in Absence , 1954
• Unwanted Corpse , 1954
• A Crime In Time , 1955
• Murder Unrecognized , 1955
• Death in a Duffle Coat , 1956
• Found Drowned , 1956
• The Chinese Puzzle , 1957
• The Moth-Watch Murder , 1957
• Bones in the Brickfield , 1958
• Death Takes a Detour , 1958
• Return from the Dead , 1959
• A Smell of Smoke , 1950
• Death Paints a Picture , 1960
• Legacy of Death , 1960

Works as Cecil Waye

• Murder at Monk's Barn , 1931
• The Figure of Eight , 1931
• The End of the Chase , 1932
• The Prime Minister's Pencil , 1933

Other works

• FOO (Forward Observation Officer): With the Guns . Eveleigh Nash Company, 1916 ( digitized )
• FOO (Forward Observation Officer): The making of a gunner , 1916 ( digitized )
• FOO (Forward Observation Officer): The Worldly Hope . Eveleigh Nash Company, 1917 - a war novel
• IO (Intelligence Officer): The Administration of Ireland, 1920 , 1921 ( digitized ), reprint: Athol Books, 2001
• CJC Street: Ireland in 1921 , 1922 ( digitized )
• CJC Street: Hungary and Democracy , Fisher Unwin, London 1923 ( digitized version )
• CJC Street: Rhineland and Ruhr . Couldrey, London 1923
• CJC Street: East of Prague , 1924
• CJC Street: Upper Silesia. An economic tragedy , Athenaeum, ca.1924
• CJC Street: The Treachery of France , 1924 (German as The betrayal of France , translated by Hans Ernst Müller, Frommann, Jena 1925)
• CJC Street: Lord Reading , 1928
• CJC Street: President Masaryk , 1930, reprinted by Ayer Publishing, 1970

Also translations, short stories, magazine articles, radio broadcasts and the unlisted detective piece Sixpennyworth .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ the dates of life are unclear, for clues see http://gadetection.pbworks.com/w/page/7931418/Rhode,-John
2. ↑ Director 'MI7 (b) (1)' from April - November 1918 (PDF; 93 kB)
3. ^ The Administration of Ireland, 1920 reprint, Athol Books 2001. Introduction by Pat Walsh, p. 5
4. ↑ Julian Symons: Bloody Murder . Penguin, London 1974, ISBN 0-140-03794-2
5. ↑ there follow the link "All Files: HTTP" at the bottom, then you will find a DJVu digitized version, but unfortunately the first two text pages are missing

literature

• Allen J. Hubin: Crime fiction, 1749-1980. A Comprehensive Bibliography . Garland Publishing, New York 1980, ISBN 0-824-09219-8 (main source of the list of works)