The Elusive Bullet

A man lies dead of a gunshot, yet the fatal bullet has simply vanished – no slug, no casing, nothing – and only the coolly logical Dr Priestley can explain the seemingly impossible.

The Elusive Bullet is a classic Dr Lancelot Priestley puzzle from John Rhode, the best-known pseudonym of Major Cecil Street, a mainstay of the golden age of detection. Priestley, an irascible retired academic who solves crimes by pure reason, confronts a killing that defies every ordinary explanation. Renowned for their fair-play ingenuity and technical precision, Rhode's mysteries turned scientific method into first-class entertainment, and this is among his most cunning short cases.