Inspector Priestley

“Spoilsport,' said Daisy, and she stuck her tongue out at me.”

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## Physical description

### Gender

Male

> "*Murder is always foolish. If people only murdered each other rationally, I would be out of a job.*"
> ― Inspector Priestly[source]
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**Inspector Priestley** is a Police Superintendent of the Deepdean police, who Hazel and Daisy encounter on most of their cases in England. He is revealed to have switched to a slightly higher rank in the London Police force, in Death in the Spotlight, the seventh in the series. He is known to call Daisy Wells, ‘Madame Super'. He believes the girls when they know who the killer is, one of the few adults that do, and over the course of the series shows more and more respect towards them and starts treating them as his equals and then, as his superiors. They do not see him as a 'clodhopper', being more intelligent than that.

## Appearance

He is described as having slicked back black hair, and a great coat.

## Storylines

### Murder Most Unladylike

He first met Hazel Wong and Daisy Wells when he was sent to Deepdean to investigate the murder near the end of the book. Hazel tells him all the facts they know about the case, and he believes Daisy and Hazel about who the murderer is when they give him the diary of Verity Abraham as evidence. He takes them to San to hide from Miss Griffin, and they watch from behind a curtain as he arrests her in a dramatic fashion approved by Daisy.

### Arsenic for Tea

Daisy’s mother is impressed about Inspector Priestly, and thinks he is capable and smart, so she calls him in the help them with the murder of Mr Curtis.  He meets the girls again, listens to what they have to say, and avoids a grave mistake.  In order to thank the girls, he gives them badges that say ‘detective’ (which they later use to claim, in Death Sets Sail, that they are real policewomen and should be allowed to officially take over the case). The Fallingford case apparently "got [him] noticed." He referenced Daisy and Hazel in the official report of the case, though not by name.

### Jolly Foul Play

Inspector Priestly arrives at Deepdean again to find a missing pupil, and does not believe the detectives when they tell him a murder has been committed, as they have no evidence. However, he rescues them when they are stuck in an underground tunnel with Enid, the murderer, and arrests her.

### Death in the Spotlight

When a murder happens at the Rue Theater in London, Inspector Priestly, now a London policeman, is sent to solve the murder, where he unexpectedly encounters Daisy and Hazel. After the girls’ unsuccessful attempt to pretend that they have not met each other before, Inspector Priestly gives them the chance to detect without him sticking an inconvenient finger into the pie, and offers to "turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to anything [they] do that is not obviously dangerous or criminal”, because they have been correct about so many cases and he trusts their detecting powers. In the end, he captures and arrests Rose Tree, the murderer, disguised as Nicole Patton, just in time.

### Top Marks For Murder

When Beanie claims she saw a murder in Oakeshott Woods, the girls telephone Inspector Priestley. This time, he believes them, despite their lack of evidence. He has policemen search the woods (unsuccessfully) for the body. He accepts Daisy and Hazel as his partners in solving the case. He attends the Anniversary celebrations in place of Daisy's uncle, and is looked down on by Miss Lappet for not being rich.

## Trivia

* When Robin Stevens created him, she wanted him to sound good (“priest-like”).
* He shares the same name with one of Robin Steven’s favourite authors, J.B. Priestly, who also wrote the play 'An Inspector Calls'.
* He went to a grammar school.