Rhode (John, pseud. Cecil Street) Robbery with Violence
£125
London, Geoffrey Bles, 1957.
First edition, first impression. 8vo. Original cloth. Dust-jacket, priced 12s6d.
A late Dr Priestley detective novel. The theft of £9,750 from a locked room at the Fendyke branch of the Capital and Provinces Bank, with no sign of forced entry, has completely baffled Superintendent Jimmy Waghorn. Eighteen months later the murder of Edgar Chelmsford, an unpopular local businessman found dead in a ditch beside his damaged motorcycle, takes Waghorn back to Fendyke.
Julian Symons placed Street among the “Humdrum” school, but Jacques Barzun admired several of the Rhode novels, and Curtis Evans’s Masters of the “Humdrum” Mystery (2012) has prompted a reappraisal. His books are now scarce and much sought by collectors.
In stock
Minor toning to margins; cloth slightly softened at head of spine; jacket worn at spine ends and fore-corners with minor loss, light tape burns to inside front flaps.
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