Cecil Street

Major (Cecil) John (Charles) Street
Born 3 May 1884
Gibraltar
Died 8 December 1964(1964-12-08) (aged 80)
Eastbourne, Southern England
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Rank Major
Battles/wars
World War I
Irish War of Independence
Awards MC
OBE

Cecil John Charles Street, MC, OBE (3 May 1884 – 8 December 1964), 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.[1] 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.[2] He later earned his living as a prolific writer of detective novels.

Novelist

John Street produced two long series of novels; one under the name of John Rhode, the majority featuring the academic Dr. Priestley,[3]; another under the name of Miles Burton, the majority featuring the retired naval officer Desmond Merrion; and a third under the name Cecil Waye.

The Dr. Priestley novels were among the first after Dr Thorndyke to feature scientific detection of crime,[3] such as analysing the mud on a suspect's shoes. Desmond Merrion is an amateur detective who works with Scotland Yard's Inspector Arnold.

Critic and author Julian Symons placed "John Rhode" as a prominent member of the "Humdrum" school of detective fiction. "Most of them came late to writing fiction, and few had much talent for it. They had some skill in constructing puzzles, nothing more, and ironically they fulfilled much better than S. S. Van Dine his dictum that the detective story properly belonged in the category of riddles or crossword puzzles. Most of the Humdrums were British, and among the best known of them were Major John Street ...".[4] Symons opinion has not however prevented the Rhode and Burton books becoming much sought after by collectors and many of the early ones can command high prices. Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor in their A Catalogue of Crime offer a different perspective to Symons, praising several of the Rhode books in particular, though they only review a small proportion of the more than 140 novels written by Street.

Curt Evans has written the only detailed account of Street's life and works: "I wrote my new book, Masters of the "Humdrum" Mystery: Cecil John Charles Street, Freeman Wills Crofts, Alfred Walter Stewart and the British Detective Novel, 1920–1961 (published by McFarland Press) in part to give a long overdue reappraisal of these purportedly "humdrum" detection writers as accomplished literary artists. Not only did they produce a goodly number of fine fair play puzzles, but their clever tales have more intrinsic interest as social documents and even sometimes as literary novels than they have been credited with having."

Bibliography

This bibliography has been confirmed against a standard reference.[5]

Dr. Priestley novels written as John Rhode

Series characters: Lancelot Priestley, Inspector Hanslet and Inspector Jimmy Waghorn.

Non-series novels written as John Rhode

Desmond Merrion novels written as Miles Burton

Series characters: Desmond Merrion and Inspector Henry Arnold.

Non-series novels written as Miles Burton

"Perrins" novels written as Cecil Waye

Series characters: Christopher and Vivienne Perrin – 'Perrins, Private Investigators'.

Novels written as F.O.O. (Forward Observation Officer)

Non-fiction books and pamphlets

Written as F.O.O. (Forward Observation Officer)

Written as I.O. (Intelligence Officer)

Written as C. J. C. Street

Written as John Rhode

Translations

Written as C. J. C. Street

Short Stories

Written as C. J. C. Street

Written as John Rhode

Non-Fiction articles in books, newspapers and magazines

Written as C. J. C. Street

Written as John Rhode

Theatre

Radio

Plays written as John Rhode

Non-fiction written as John Rhode

Unfinished material

References

  1. ↑ Director 'M.I.7(b)(1)' from April – November 1918
  2. ↑ The Administration of Ireland, 1920 Reprint, 2001 by Athol Books. Introduction by Dr. Pat Walsh p5
  3. 1 2 T. J. Binyon (1989). Murder will out. Oxford University Press. pp. 50–51. ISBN 0-19-219223-X.
  4. ↑ Symons, Julian (1974). Bloody Murder. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-14-003794-2.
  5. ↑ Hubin, Allen J. (1980). Crime fiction, 1749–1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography. New York: Garland Publishing. ISBN 0-8240-9219-8.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.