Dr. Priestley's Quest by John Rhode

It all began when Mr. Gerald Heatherdale came to Dr. Priestly's home at Westbourne Terrace with new evidence in the murder of his brother Austin which had occurred a year before. Gerald's brother Austin, had written Gerald asking him to come to see him at his home at White Pelham. Gerald and Austin had not been getting along well, but Gerald decided that he really should go. When he arrived at White Pelham, he found that Austin had not returned from a short trip that he had taken to London to see his solicitor, Mr. Withers. The next morning, Austin's body was found. There were signs of a struggle, and it was decided that his death was brought about by thieves who had then robbed him. The new evidence Gerald had found was a note which had been sent to Austin warning him to stay away from the area in which his body was eventually found.

The will which Gerald and Austin's father, Sir Francis Heathedale,  had left seemed to be quite important in the events which followed.  Sir Francis had been in shipping and had had built a new vessel which was named The Brackenthorpe Manor. In the will, he left this ship to Gerald, Austin, and Captain Murchison, her current skipper. They were responsible for keeping the ship in operation for the next twenty years. If they did not, they would receive nothing from the estate. If one died, the other two would be responsible for the ship, and if two died, one would be left with the cost of this ship which would be aging by that time. In the event of the death of all three, Sir Francis' estate would give some money to Mr. Withers, his house to his housekeeper, and the rest to a distant relative in New Zealand. Gerald and Austin did not really have any interest in the ship and resented the money which they needed to spend on it. With Austin's death, the financial responsiblity of Gerald and Captain Muchison grew.

Dr. Priestly told Gerald that there was nothing that he could do about a crime which was a year old. Shortly after this, Dr. Priestly received an anguished plea from Gerald to come to his home because he had received a warning note which was similar to the one that Austin had received a year earlier. Dr. Priestly and his secretary, Harold Merefield who is the narrator of this story, went immediately to investigate. Gerald was becoming a nervous wreck, and arrangements were made to remove him from harm's way. This did not go as anticipated, and the results were very bad.

Dr. Priestly is a very meticulous investigator. He takes nothing at face value. Every detail is examined from every angle. He does not believe that witnesses can be trusted because they can be too easily influenced by just being associated with a murder case. He believes that the police are extremely incompetent and accept questionable observations too quickly. Dr. Priestly is a scientific investigator, and a great deal of the book is given to exposition of his methods and analysis of his findings which makes the book a bit dry. Readers looking for action and character development will be disappointed.

John Rhode is the pseudonym of  Cecil John Charles Street. He was quite a prolific author and wrote two series, The Dr. Priestly series, and another which featured Desmond Merrion and Inspector Henry Arnold under the pen name of Miles Burton. Dr. Priestley's Quest was written in 1926 which is rather early in his writing career. He would continue to write books under the name of John Rhode until 1961.