Rhode, John
Entry updated 21 December 2023. Tagged: Author.
Best known pseudonym of UK author Major Cecil John Charles Street (1884-1964), who wrote about 145 detective novels (see Crime and Punishment) as by Miles Burton, Rhode, or (less often) Cecil Waye. Julian Symons called Rhode the "master of the humdrum" (i.e. puzzle-focused) mystery, not intended as a compliment; another mystery author and critic, H R F Keating, was kinder to Rhode when introducing a 1980s reissue. The Rhode byline was mainly used for stories featuring Dr Lancelot Priestley, who employed logic and science to solve crimes. Scientific gimmicks were frequent, such as the gelatine "medicine" capsule containing metallic sodium that burns through the stomach wall of a hapless victim in The Claverton Mystery (1933; vt The Claverton Affair 1933), which for good measure climaxes with a faked seance; or an infernal device triggered by altimeter in a lift in Drop to His Death (1939; vt Fatal Descent 1939) with John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson.
The Miles Burton novels usually featured the detective Desmond Merrion, and one with elements of sf interest is Dead Stop (1943). Here, during World War Two, the Scientist Wilfred Louth demonstrates his new Invention to Merrion – currently assisting the Admiralty – which is a Ray that destroys the insulation of electrical systems. Shortly after, the inventor is killed in an explosion. Merrion investigates, finding this was no accident: yet no one else could have entered the laboratory where the explosion occurred. [SP/DRL]
Cecil John Charles Street
born Gibraltar: 3 May 1884
died Eastbourne, East Sussex: 8 December 1964
works (highly selected)
- The Claverton Mystery (London: Collins, 1933) [Dr Lancelot Priestley: in the publisher's Crime Club series: hb/]
- The Claverton Affair (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1933) [vt of the above: Dr Lancelot Priestley: hb/]
- Drop to His Death (London: Collins, 1939) with John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson [in the publisher's Crime Club series: hb/]
- Fatal Descent (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1939) with John Dickson Carr writing as Carter Dickson [vt of the above: hb/]
- Dead Stop (London: Collins, 1943) as by Miles Burton [Desmond Merrion: in the publisher's Crime Club series: hb/Thompson]
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