Licensed for Murder, first published in 1958, is part of the series of mysteries featuring private detective Dr. Priestley. Author John Rhode, a pen name of Cecil Street (1884-1964), was a prolific writer of mostly detective novels, publishing more than 140 books between 1924 and 1961. Licensed for Murder concerns the new managers of an English country inn, who, during the inn's renovation, discover the grisly, burned remains of a man behind corrugated sheeting in the inn's main fireplace. With the man's identity impossible to determine, Superintendent Jimmy Waghorn calls on the now elderly Dr. Priestley for much needed assistance in solving this gruesome case of murder.

Noted American mystery critic Anthony Boucher praised Licensed for Murder, writing in the New York Times that the "detection is competent; the murders have novelty and ingenuity to recommend them; and the background details on the management of a village inn are fascinating. Slow and heavy, but kind of nice."