There is nothing more satisfying than reading a book while sipping a hot cup of tea.
According to Wikipedia, in 1940, Major Cecil John Street, published five novels, 3 under his pseudonym of Miles Burton (one of which Mr. Westerby Missing has been reviewed earlier on the blog) and two under the name of John Rhode. For the #1940 Club, I read those two. Death on the Boat Train finds the … Continue reading #1940 Club: Death on the Boat Train and Murder at Lilac Cottage by John Rhode
The British navy is worried. Their ships sailing from Penmouth are being torpedoed at regular frequency especially if they happen to be carrying important cargo. Desmond Merrion of Naval Intelligence is asked to find the spy operating in that area. As Merrion himself cannot go over there, he dispatches one of his men. Meanwhile, Valetta … Continue reading Friday’s Forgotten Book: Four-Ply Yarn by Miles Burton (1944)
After reading three mysteries by Miles Burton recently, I was able to borrow two mysteries of Cecil John Street's other nom de plume, John Rhode. Death on a Sunday begins in Barleyfield Park, a rather upper-class boarding house that caters to the respectable gentry. There are people who have been knighted, reverends, widows with money... … Continue reading Two Mysteries by John Rhode: Death on Sunday (1939) and Death at the Helm (1941)
Miles Burton has been more miss than hit with me yet when I see his books I usually borrow them. Recently, I was lucky to find three of his lesser-known titles. Where is Barbara Prentice? When a police officer finds part of a fur coat wrapped around the buffer of an engine, he is bewildered … Continue reading Three Mysteries by Miles Burton
Miles Burton is one of the psuedonyms of prolific GAD writer, Cecil John Charles Street, more famously known by another of his pseudonyms, John Rhode. This year I made a calculated effort to read the Burton novels. THE SECRET OF HIGH ELDERSHAM (1930): The first appearance of Burton's detective, Desmond Merrion, the novel begins well … Continue reading Four Novels by Miles Burton
MR. WESTERBY MISSING (1940) Has it ever happened that you have wanted to shake the police-man sleuth in a novel, asking him to wake up? He is one of the finest, an officer of Scotland Yard, and yet why is he so clueless? It happened to me in John Rhode’s The Murders in Praed Street … Continue reading Forgotten Books: Two Novels by Miles Burton
Vegetable Duck by John RhodeMy rating: 3 of 5 stars SPOILERSFirst Line: At a quarter to nine in the evening of Thursday, August 31st, Mr. Charles Fransham walked hastily up to the entrance of G Block, Mundesley Mansions, Battersea, and went in. Series: Dr. Priestly # 40First Published: 1944Source: Open LibraryCan't understand how a person … Continue reading Review: Vegetable Duck
The Right Reverend Gerald William Kinghorn, Bishop of Fencaster, is going through his correspondence one January afternoon when his much-harassed chaplain brings him the card of one Reverend Jonathan Derby who is waiting for the bishop to grant him an audience. At first, the name means nothing to the Bishop and then he recalls that … Continue reading Forgotten Book: Death Takes the Living by Miles Burton (1949)
Listening there, in tense expectation of the first sudden shot which would tell that the opposing forces had made contact, Ledbury felt a quickening of the pulses. Ridiculous, perhaps, for this was merely an exercise, a mock-battle, in which imagination ruled and much had to be taken for granted. But, after all, it was a … Continue reading Murder during a Mock Attack: John Rhode’s Night Exercise
a hot cup of pleasure 