A small boy playing in the park is handed a crumpled piece of paper by a stranger, who then collapses and dies. The boy, realising that he himself is now in danger, flees from the park with the help of detective Nigel Strangeways, only to discover that the mysterious message consists of just his own name and Bert Hale 12.
Bert and his young friends are confident that they can crack the case but they soon discover that they will need the help of not just Nigel Strangeways, but of the whole British government...
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.
Nicholas Blake is the pseudonym of poet Cecil Day-Lewis C. Day Lewis, who was born in Ireland in 1904. He was the son of the Reverend Frank Cecil Day-Lewis and his wife Kathleen (nee Squires). His mother died in 1906, and he and his father moved to London, where he was brought up by his father with the help of an aunt.
He spent his holidays in Wexford and regarded himself very much as Anglo-Irish, although when the Republic of Ireland was declared in 1948 he chose British citizenship.
He was married twice, to Mary King in 1928 and to Jill Balcon in 1951, and during the 1940s he had a long love affair with novelist Rosamond Lehmann. He had four children from his two marriages, with actor Daniel Day-Lewis, documentary filmmaker and television chef Tamasin Day-Lewis and TV critic and writer Sean Day-Lewis being three of his children.
He began work as a schoolmaster, and during World War II he worked as a publications editor in the Ministry of Information. After the war he joined Chatto & Windus as a senior editor and director, and then in 1946 he began lecturing at Cambridge University. He later taught poetry at Oxford University, where he was Professor of Poetry from 1951-1956, and from 1962-1963 he was the Norton Professor at Harvard University.
But he was by then earning his living mainly from his writings, having had some poetry published in the late 1920s and early 1930s, and then in 1935 beginning his career as a thriller writer under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake with 'A Question of Proof', which featured his amateur sleuth Nigel Strangeways, reputedly modelled on W H Auden. He continued the Strangeways series, which finally totalled 16 novels, ending with 'The Morning After Death' in 1966. He also wrote four detective novels which did not feature Strangeways.
He continued to write poetry and became Poet Laureate in 1968, a post he held until his death in 1972. He was also awarded the CBE.
He died from pancreatic cancer on 22 May 1972 at the Hertfordshire home of Kingsley Amis and Elizabeth Jane Howard, where he and his wife were staying. He is buried in Stinsford churchyard, close to the grave of one of his heroes, Thomas Hardy, something that he had arranged before his death.
This is the eleventh in the Nigel Strangeways series, which was first published in 1954. It is an odd combination of mystery and adventure story, which half-reminded me of the Just William books and of black and white Sunday afternoon movies.
A young boy is sailing his ship in a park pond, when a man stumbles against him and passes him a note. Suddenly, the young boy, Bert Hale, finds himself being chased by all kinds of criminals, helped by his friends, Foxy and Copper. Also, initially, by Nigel Strangeways, who, walking through the park, helps Bert evade capture by the men chasing him.
This is a strange addition to the series, but – despite the bizarre coincidences and rather wayward plotting – I enjoyed it. There are some interesting characters, including the louche Alec Gray, new love interest, Clare Massinger and club owner, Sam Borch. There are also shoot outs, kidnappings and a visiting Soviet delegation. Good fun and, despite the flaws, enjoyable.
I like that Nigel works along with the police and not make them look like plodding incompetents. Also, it was good to see him finding love again since the death of Georgia.
A Nigel Strangeways book that doesn't deal with a straightforward murder case, but rather with a political intrigue, which I think is a weakness. It starts with a police snitch being expertly stabbed during a concert in a London park. Incredibly, the dying man manages to write a few words on a newspaper, stagger over to a boy sailing a toy boat on the pond, put the torn-off bit of paper into the boy's boat and shove it into the middle of the pond before collapsing. Bert Hall, the boy in question, instinctively resists the two men who appear out of nowhere with first, an offer to buy his boat, and second, threats to rearrange his face. By another incredible coincidence, the adult he latches onto to escape from the park and the menacing strangers, is Nigel Strangeways. By another incredible coincidence, the note found in the boat contains his name and the number twelve.
What follows is a confusing story involving a Russian political delegation arriving in London, not one but two hired assassins, an unsavory playboy, a former actress giving costume parties, a senile former nanny.... To me it sounded like the author was trying to capitalize on the paranoia of the Cold War (the book was printed in 1954) rather than to deal with good oldfashioned private murder. So I thought the book was okay, but certainly not one of the best Strangeways books.
A man hands a piece of paper to a young boy in the park, moments before he collapses and dies. Before long, the boy is fleeing from a gang of criminals, and by chance encounters Nigel Strangeways, who soon becomes involved in a complex investigation involving robberies, assassinations and kidnapping.
This was great fun if totally unbelievable. Blake throws every kind of crime and criminal into the mix, and there's also a gang of schoolboys (who reminded me of Just William and his friends) who get involved with potentially deadly consequences. It is more a thriller than a mystery, as the workings of the plot are evident quite early on, but it's quite an enjoyable one.
Nigel Strangeways gets pulled into an unusual thriller by an encounter with a 12-year-old boy in this entry in the series. I really liked how much of the story is told from the perspective of the boys involved.
La trama del libro es interesante, pero hasta que logras hilar todas las partes te zampas muchas páginas bastante prescindibles. El final es un gran thriller, eso sí.
Grf. Maybe I'm just sick of Nicholas Blake. Had high hopes for this, because the other adventure (not mystery) featuring Nigel Strangeways was so good. This features 12 year-old boys, and I'm guessing Blake wrote it to entertain his own. They are not particularly interesting 12 year-old boys and Blake makes the horrible mistake (three times) of having a character withhold vital information because he doesn't see its relevance. Anyway, I got sick of the story getting longer and longer because the boys wouldn't tell the right people the truth, so I threw it at the wall. Will try again when I'm not feeling so impatient.
I've read several Nicholas Strangeway's mysteries and this was the least appealing. It had more in common with a boy scout adventure story(the unknown man behind the scenes,secret messages,an mysterious plot...)than with a mystery.
I really enjoyed this rollicking mystery novel! Blake begins with a suspenseful sequence in a London park involving a young boy with a boat, a spy, and a Quack. I was so taken with this beginning that I found it hard to wait until I went to bed each night to read more. Nigel Strangeways is also in the story from the beginning and meets a sculptor who is more than his match in intelligence and deduction ability.
The charm in this novel comes from the three young boys, Bert, Foxy, and Copper. Foxy especially proves to be fearless at times. While they want what the police want, and what Nigel wants, they go about it much differently with some hilarious results. And some scary ones, too. Very clever to learn eventually what the message on the paper in Bert's boat really means -- Bert thinks it's all about him and he can't imagine how that happened at all since the man who gave him the piece of paper was a complete stranger. Blake does a good job of showing the boys realistically, and I found their plans and actions quite plausible.
I also really enjoyed the sparks that flew between Nigel and Clare. Those two have a future, I'm sure. And watch out for all the misdirection -- there's quite a lot, but it makes for a fun read. What the message really means gets twisted several times until the real meaning is finally deduced and that sets in motion quite a wonderful action sequence -- actually 2 of them -- at the end.
I'd recommend this book to mystery readers who like some complexity to their mysteries, anyone interested in old fashioned mysteries like Agatha Christie, and readers who'd like something different. I'm reading another Nicholas Blake mystery right now!
Twelve-year-old Bert, known as "the Brain" to his friends, is about to sail his toy boat in Kensington Gardens when a dying man thrusts a message into the hull. Two men try to take his boat, and realizing he is in danger, he attaches himself to a strolling stranger, who happens to be Nigel Strangeways. Strangeways helps him get away safely, but Bert runs off without giving his name or any details. Realizing that the dead man was murdered for the information he now has, and fearing to trust any adult, Bert and his fellow Martian Society members, Foxy and Copper, try to solve the mystery themselves. In the meantime, Nigel, making the connection between the unknown boy and the murder, tries to find the boy and help Scotland Yard find the reason behind the assignation.
This was not a typical Strangeways novel, as it is more adventure than mystery. The attentive reader will recognize the guilty party early on, and the rest of the story is a race to see who will find Bert first, Nigel or the bad guys, and if either Bert or Nigel will correctly interpret the coded message. The boys were nicely written and their part of the story was thoroughly enjoyable. Nigel's actions played a minor role, but still made a good tale. On the whole, this is one of the best of the series that I've read so far.
This is the first work by Nicholas Blake, the pen name of c. Day Lewis, and it is most worthwhile. Both the beginning and the end are real standouts. A young boy sailing his toy boat in a boat park is moments away from both a brutal killing and a note of international importance being placed in his boat. The ending, a frantic search for an assassin at Albert Hall, evokes memories of the final scenes of both "The Day of the Jackal" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much."
This book was quite a pleasant read, and although it felt a little "famous five" like I did enjoy it. I had a little trouble visualizing the characters in this book, probably due to the era that this book was written. I was a good story with a bit of drama and a nail biting ending.
A good classical mystery. It's well written, with interesting characters and an entertaining plot. Some partes reminded me when I was reading when I was a child like the Three Investigators. Really likeable. Many thanks to Netgalley and Ipso Books
Completely far fetched, with so many coincidences and unlikely circumstances, but a fun adventure with a small gang of young boys taking on criminal gangs and political assassinations.
A good thriller/mystery that could have taken place any time during a 40 or 50 year span. Yes, it is a little dated by todays standard but it still stands up well. A fun read.