Murder at Bratton Grange by John Rhode, 1929

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This title was also published as The Davidson Case. It is Dr. Priestley #6.

About the author: John Rhode is one of the pseudonyms used by Cecil John Charles Street. He also wrote as Miles Burton.

Major characters:

• Guy Davidson
• Sir Hector Davidson, his cousin
• Olga Watkins, Sir Hector's secretary
• Frederick Cannon, Sir Hector's butler/chauffeur
• Philip Lowry, Chief Designer
• Tom White, van driver
• Dr. --- Priestley
• Harold Merefield, Priestley's secretary
• Chief Inspector Hanslet, Scotland Yard

Locale: London and Bratton Grange

Synopsis: Sir Hector Davidson is the president of Davidson's, a London manufacturer of laboratory equipment. His cousin, Guy Davidson, was drummed out of the business so Hector could milk all the profits to himself. Hector gives notice to his chief designer, Philip Lowry, because of a patent condition which gave him 30% of the profits while he is employed.

Hector also has a taste for the ladies, making weekend visits to his country house at Bratton Grange with various women. He also makes unwanted advances to his secretary, Olga Watkins, who is the girlfriend of Lowry.

Hector dismisses Lowry early one afternoon, and once he is out of the way, packs up a crate with the valuable patterns of their product. He takes the box on the train to Bratton Grange. He obtains a ride from the station with Tom White, riding in the back of the van, sitting on the box. When the van arrives at Bratton Grange, Hector is found dead inside of a stab wound.

Guy  Davidson enlists the help of Dr. Priestley and his assistant Harold Merefield to investigate. It is a puzzle, Hector was alive at the start of the ride, but dead at the end - inside a closed van. And the box of valuable patterns is missing.

Review: Oh, this book was a lot of fun! I couldn't put this one down. It has a locked-room type puzzle (the van being the locked room), and a small cast of characters. I had a hunch the box was the key to the puzzle, and what I thought happened wasn't quite it. There were several possible explanations considered throughout the book, of course not of these were the solution.

Dr. Priestley is not too enthusiastic about the issue, and mostly stays at home grumbling while his assistant Harold Merefield runs around and does the leg work - in much the same mold as Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. 

The identity of the killer came as a big surprise with a clever workaround in court at the end. This is an excellent, clever, fast-paced book.