Murders in Praed Street

*The Murders in Praed Street* is a 1928 detective novel by John Rhode, a pen name of the British writer Cecil Street. It features the fourth appearance of the armchair detective Doctor Lancelot Priestley. >Seldom has Scotland Yard been faced by a more baffling problem than that presented by the series of terrible outrages known as the Praed Street Murders, which spread horror and fear throughout every home in London. >Not the least singular feature of these crimes was that in each case the victim was a middle-aged man, some petty shop-keeper or clerk, leading a quiet and unobtrusive life. Hence there appeared to be no motive for the murders. >And yet these crimes were clearly planned by a single fiendish brain, for in each case the destined victim had received the same sinister intimation of his impending doom…