Thou Shell of Death: Nicholas Blake

Towards the end of each year, I try to include a few Christmas mysteries in my reading. Often, Christmas and the associated events are an excuse to gather people who normally would not be together, and that is the case in Thou Shell of Death.

Summary from the back of my paperback edition:

Nigel Strangeways is off to a Christmas houseparty hosted by Fergus O’Brien, a legendary World War I flying ace now retired ... who has received a series of mocking letters predicting that he will be murdered on Boxing Day.  

His guest list includes everyone who could even remotely be suspected of making the threats, including several people who stand to profit from O’Brien’s death, as well as Nigel, who is invited in his capacity as a criminal investigator. 

Despite Nigel’s presence, the murder takes place as predicted, and he’s left to aid the local police in interviewing the suspects. One of them is Georgia Cavendish, a brave and colorful explorer who has been romantically linked with O’Brien ...

I have always enjoyed country house mysteries, and three of the Christmas mysteries I read this year fit in that sub-genre. One attraction of that type of story is the mix of classes, and the interactions of well-to-do owners and guests, the investigators and police, and the servants of the house.

I am a big fan of the Nigel Strangeways mysteries by Nicholas Blake. I read a good number of them when I was younger, and on reading three of them in the last few months, I have found that they still entertain me. They are very well written and full of literary allusions (most of which I don't get). They are puzzle mysteries, at least the first ones in the series.

Although it is only a minor quibble, I have the same complaint for this book as I did for Minute for Murder (1947). There is too much conversation at the end about the reveal of the culprit. Once the sleuth knows who it is, I don't want the denouement to be strung out.

This is the second mystery in the series. In the first one, A Question of Proof, Nigel has several odd quirks. The one I noticed the most was that he drank a lot of tea, almost seeming addicted to his cups of tea. In this story he seem less quirky.

Blake wrote 16 mysteries in this series over 31 years (1935-1966). From what I have read the earlier books were the more formal classic mysteries of the Golden Age and his post-war books were more character driven works. I look forward to reading through them in order and following this evolution in his writing.

Nicholas Blake is a pseudonym used by Cecil Day-Lewis, who was an Anglo-Irish poet and the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1968 until his death in 1972. He was the father of actor Daniel Day-Lewis. Per various sources, he wrote mysteries to supplement his income and support his family.

This post is submitted for Friday's Forgotten Books at Patti Abbott’s blog. Check out posts for other forgotten books HERE and this week there are some "Best of 2016" lists also. Also this is my last entry for the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt in the "Bloodstains" category.

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Publisher:  Rue Morgue Press, 2009 (orig. pub. 1936)
Length:     191 pages
Format:     Trade Paperback
Series:      Nigel Strangeways #2
Setting:     England
Genre:      Country house mystery
Source:     Purchased in April 2016.

Minute for Murder: Nicholas Blake

Minute for Murder by Nicholas Blake is my submission for the Crimes of the Century meme for the year 1947. I selected this book because the story was related to World War II. You would think just about any book written between 1940 and 1947 would have references to the war and how the war affected people and their lives, but that isn't true. This one was perfect in that respect.

The Crimes of the Century meme is hosted by Rich at Past Offences. Every month he designates a year and bloggers contribute a post on a crime fiction book (or film, TV, comics, or short story) published in that year. There is still time to join in for March.

The book opens shortly after V-E Day. Nigel Strangeways works in the Visual Propaganda Division in the Ministry of Morale. A war-hero (and former member of the division) returns to visit the group, and the director's personal secretary is poisoned at the office gathering to celebrate his return. Nicholas Blake is the pseudonym of Cecil Day Lewis, who worked as a Publications Editor for the Ministry of Information during World War II, and used his experiences in writing this book.

In this excerpt from the book, Nigel ruminates on his former co-worker, the "improbable hero, Charles Kennington."

It was pleasant to reflect how many of his sort this war had thrown up. The long-haired, sensitive types, who had voted at the Oxford Union that under no circumstances would they die for king and country, and a few years later had gone up into the air with the professionals of the R.A.F. and helped win the Battle of Britain, fighting with the same skill and abandon as once they had speechified. The conscientious objectors, who refused to kill but performed prodigies of valor during the blitzes as members of rescue squads and fire brigades. The clever little dons, who vanished one day from their universities and were next heard of having dropped by parachute into occupied territory, organizing the resistance, dynamiting bridges, standing up to a firing party in a squalid backyard. The anonymous-looking scientists, who walked up to unexploded bombs and coldly took them to pieces, as though they were demonstrating an experiment in a laboratory, and generally were not blown to bits. ...

I have read some of Nicholas Blake's mysteries in the distant past but I wasn't sure I wanted to read more of them, with the exception of The Beast Must Die, which has a very good reputation. After reading this book, I know I want to find more of his books. Primarily, I liked the author's style of writing, although I have a few quibbles with this book.

Quibble 1: There is too much conversation at the end about the reveal of the culprit. Once the detective (in this case, the amateur detective) knows who it is, I don't want the denouement to be strung out.

Quibble 2: The portrayal of women. Not many women have roles in this book, and those that are there are not especially complimentary. There are plenty of secretaries and assistants mentioned towards the beginning but they fade away when the real detection gets underway. Maybe it makes sense in this context, but still, I noticed the absence.

Thus not a perfect book, but entertaining and a good depiction of the time period. I must be a sucker for mysteries set in the office environment because I also liked With A Bare Bodkin by Cyril Hare (set in another fictitious wartime Government office) and Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers (set in a publicity firm).

Some quotes from a review at PaperBack Swap:

He captures the tensions among different grades of staff and the problems of supervising talented but temperamental people. 

The material on the human factor and red herring combine to make this rather longer than the typical old-time whodunnit, but he’s such a charming writer that we don’t mind.

This review is also a submission for the Golden Vintage Scavenger Hunt in the "Blond (woman)" category.

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Publisher:   Perennial Library, 1985. Orig. pub. 1947.
Length:      261 pages
Format:      Paperback
Series:       Nigel Strangeways, #8
Setting:      Wartime Britain
Genre:       Mystery
Source:      Purchased at the Planned Parenthood book sale, 2010.