The Fourth Bomb

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The Fourth Bomb
The Fourth Bomb.jpg
American first edition
Author John Rhode
Country United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Series Lancelot Priestley
GenreDetective
Publisher Collins Crime Club (UK)
Dodd Mead (US)
Publication date
1942
Media typePrint
Preceded by They Watched by Night  
Followed by Dead on the Track  

The Fourth Bomb is a 1942 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. [1] [2] It is the thirty sixth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. [3] In The Observer Maurice Richardson wrote "Inspector Waghorn does the investigating, but the evidence is so contradictory and suspicion so widely distributed that the solution calls for Dr. Priestley, whom, you will be sorry to hear, I thought was looking alarmingly shaky. Sound recommendation, of course" while Isaac Anderson in the New York Times wrote "It is merely the familiar Dr. Priestley formula set against the background of wartime England."

Contents

Synopsis

At the height of the Second World War, a German air raid sees four bombs dropped on the English village of Yardley Green. Four bombs fall on the settlement, the first three doing some damage and injuring two of the inhabitants. The fourth bomb appears to have killed Gazeley, a prosperous diamond merchant. However it soon transpires that Gazeley had been murdered after the air raid, and a fortune of diamonds he had on his person is now missing. Inspector Waghorn of Scotland Yard calls for the assistance of Doctor Priestley.

Related Research Articles

Cecil John Charles Street, who was known to his colleagues, family and friends as John Street, began his military career as an artillery officer in the British Army. During the course of World War I, he became a propagandist for MI7, in which role he held the rank of Major. After the armistice, he alternated between Dublin and London during the Irish War of Independence as Information Officer for Dublin Castle, working closely with Lionel Curtis. He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels.

<i>Hendons First Case</i> 1935 novel

Hendon's First Case is a 1935 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty first in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. The novel introduced the character Inspector Jimmie Waghorn, a graduate of the newly established Hendon Police College. Over time Waghorn would increasingly become the dominant figure of the series, taking over the role from Priestley who took up a smaller, advisory role.

<i>In Face of the Verdict</i> 1936 novel

In Face of the Verdict is a 1936 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty fourth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Unusually in the series Priestley takes a more active role in the investigation himself, rather than solving it from a detached distance. It was not published in the United States until 1940, by Dodd Mead, with the slightly altered title of In the Face of the Verdict.

<i>Death of an Author</i> (Rhode novel) 1947 novel

Death of an Author is a 1947 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty fifth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. The New Yorker described it as "Rather pleasant, in a ponderous fashion" while Will Cuppy, writing in the New York Herald Tribune, felt "Mr. Rhode provides one of those satisfying British stories in the old tradition, full of mystery meat and brain-work."

<i>Nothing But the Truth</i> (Rhode novel) 1947 novel

Nothing But the Truth is a 1947 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty forth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.

<i>Death in Harley Street</i> 1946 novel

Death in Harley Street is a 1946 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty third in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Several sources consider it to be the author's masterpiece.

<i>Blackthorn House</i> 1949 novel

Blackthorn House is a 1949 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty eighth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective.

<i>Death Invades the Meeting</i> 1944 novel

Death Invades the Meeting is a 1944 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty ninth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Reviewing the novel for the Times Literary Supplement Maurice Willson Disher noted "His ingenuity is becoming as delicate to handle as high explosive. His stories may become so difficult to review without saying too much that his triumph will come when they cannot, for discretion’s sake, be reviewed at all."

<i>Family Affairs</i> (novel) 1950 novel

Family Affairs is a 1950 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the fifty first in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America by Dodd Mead under the alternative title The Last Suspect. It has been described as "probably the best post-war Rhode novel".

<i>The Secret Meeting</i> (novel) 1951 novel

The Secret Meeting is a 1951 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the fifty second in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America the same year by Dodd Mead. Unusually for the series it has an early Cold War element.

<i>The Lake House</i> (Rhode novel) 1946 novel

The Lake House is a 1946 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty second in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was his first novel after returning to his original publisher Geoffrey Bles after all his books between 1931 and 1945 had been published by Collins. His other series featuring Desmond Merrion continued to be released by Collins.

Dr. Priestley's Quest is a 1926 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It was the second appearance of the armchair detective Lancelot Priestley, who featured in a long-running series of novels during the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. It has been described as the first major detective novel by the author. In its relationship between Priestley and his secretary and future son-in-law Harold Merefield is shown the influence of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Watson. Similarly, Inspector Hanslet of Scotland Yard fulfils a similar role to that of Lestrade.

<i>Proceed with Caution</i> 1937 novel

Proceed with Caution is a 1937 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty seventh in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in the United States the same year by Dodd Mead under the alternative title Body Unidentified.

<i>Men Die at Cyprus Lodge</i> 1943 novel

Men Die at Cyprus Lodge is a 1943 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty eighth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Reviewing it for the San Francisco Chronicle, Anthony Boucher wrote "at his best, nobody can touch Rhode for ingenious murder gadgets and very few can top him for meticulous unravelling; he's very close his best in this one".

<i>Bricklayers Arms</i> (novel) 1945 novel

Bricklayer's Arms is a 1945 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the forty first in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in America by Dodd Mead under the alternative title Shadow of a Crime. It was particularly notable for the lesser role played by Priestley, with the case being solved largely by Inspector Waghorn of Scotland Yard alone.

<i>Dead on the Track</i> 1943 novel

Dead on the Track is a 1943 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty seventh in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. Like a number of mystery novels of the era, it has a railway setting. In theme and plot it is very similar to the author's earlier 1931 work Tragedy on the Line. It is the first entry in the series since Hendon's First Case (1935) in which Priestley's old associate Hanslet is the lead investigator. The other recurring police officer in the series Inspector Jimmy Waghorn is now working with military intelligence.

<i>The Bloody Tower</i> 1938 novel

The Bloody Tower is a 1938 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the twenty ninth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in the United States the same year by Dodd Mead under the alternative title Tower of Evil. It is notable amongst Rhode's more realistic style during the series, for its Gothic elements. For The Guardian E. R. Punshon wrote "in The Bloody Tower Mr. John Rhode gives another excellent example of his eminently satisfactory and solid talent."

<i>They Watched by Night</i> 1941 novel

They Watched by Night is a 1941 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty fifth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It was published in the United States by Dodd Mead with the alternative title Signal for Death.

<i>Death at the Helm</i> 1941 novel

Death at the Helm is a 1941 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty fourth in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. It makes reference to earlier stories in the series as the lawyer had defended in court the murderers Priestley had exposed in The Corpse in the Car and Death on the Boat Train. The characters in it were arguably more complexly drawn than in other books by the author.

<i>Death on the Boat Train</i> 1940 novel

Death on the Boat Train is a 1940 detective novel by John Rhode, the pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It is the thirty second in his long-running series of novels featuring Lancelot Priestley, a Golden Age armchair detective. As in most of the later novels much of the detective footwork is done by Inspector Waghorn of Scotland Yard. The construction of the murder setting bears similarities to Death in the Tunnel, written by Street under his other pen name Miles Burton. With is focus on seemingly unbreakable alibis and railway and ship timetables, it is also similar in style to the Inspector French novels of Freeman Wills Crofts.

References

  1. Evans p.134
  2. Magill p.1417
  3. Reilly p.1257

Bibliography