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The Courtesy of Death
By the author of Rogue Male , a classic thriller of the twentieth century.
'Household ... helped to develop the suspense story into an art form' New York Times
When retired mining engineer Yarrow is disturbed after midnight by Barnabas Fosworth, he assumes that he is just a curious eccentric. But by helping Fosworth in his search for the mysterious girl he seeks, Yarrow soon finds his life inexplicably threatened by a mystical sect who believe that taking life is forgivable, since death is only a transition.
Entombed in a cavern in the Mendips, Yarrow discovers the ancient secrets that have their origins in paleolithic paintings; and it is only through this new knowledge that he can hope to escape a very unpleasant death.
'Household ... helped to develop the suspense story into an art form' New York Times
When retired mining engineer Yarrow is disturbed after midnight by Barnabas Fosworth, he assumes that he is just a curious eccentric. But by helping Fosworth in his search for the mysterious girl he seeks, Yarrow soon finds his life inexplicably threatened by a mystical sect who believe that taking life is forgivable, since death is only a transition.
Entombed in a cavern in the Mendips, Yarrow discovers the ancient secrets that have their origins in paleolithic paintings; and it is only through this new knowledge that he can hope to escape a very unpleasant death.
- GenresHorror
138 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1967
2 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Geoffrey Household
96 books88 followersBritish author of mostly thrillers, though among 37 books he also published children's fiction. Household's flight-and-chase novels, which show the influence of John Buchan, were often narrated in the first person by a gentleman-adventurer. Among his best-know works is' Rogue Male' (1939), a suggestive story of a hunter who becomes the hunted, in 1941 filmed by Fritz Lang as 'Man Hunt'. Household's fast-paced story foreshadowed such international bestsellers as Richard Condon's thriller 'The Manchurian Candidate' (1959), Frederick Forsyth's 'The Day of the Jackal' (1971), and Ken Follett's 'Eye of the Needle' (1978) .
In 1922 Household received his B.A. in English from Magdalen College, Oxford, and between 1922 and 1935 worked in commerce abroad, moving to the US in 1929. During World War II, Household served in the Intelligence Corps in Romania and the Middle East. After the War he lived the life of a country gentleman and wrote. In his later years, he lived in Charlton, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, and died in Wardington.
Household also published an autobiography, 'Against the Wind' (1958), and several collections of short stories, which he himself considered his best work.
In 1922 Household received his B.A. in English from Magdalen College, Oxford, and between 1922 and 1935 worked in commerce abroad, moving to the US in 1929. During World War II, Household served in the Intelligence Corps in Romania and the Middle East. After the War he lived the life of a country gentleman and wrote. In his later years, he lived in Charlton, near Banbury, Oxfordshire, and died in Wardington.
Household also published an autobiography, 'Against the Wind' (1958), and several collections of short stories, which he himself considered his best work.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 22, 2022
A neat little thriller from the very prolific Household. The Courtesy of Death reads as a reflection or memoir of a certain Yarrow, our main protagonist. Yarrow had been a mining engineer and now wants to open a pub/hotel in England somewhere, and his search has taken him to Wales. The story starts with a strange man coming into the bungalow Yarrow is residing in, next to a pub he is thinking about buying.
The strange man turns out to be on the run from a 'cult' if you will, who believe mortal life is just a phase and our essence continues after death. Nonetheless, they believe in the sanctity of life, but feel a need to apologize before killing anything; hence the cover blurb "The novel of a man on the run from a cult of apologetic killers!" Well, as you might expect, Yarrow gets entangled with the cult and one thing leads to another...
This is a fun read that does a great job taking you to the Welsh countryside circa 1967 when it was first published. Household chose an unusual format for this, as the book has no chapters, and our narrator just recalls the events of his trials and tribulations in a linear fashion. Lots of strange twists and turns flesh out the story and the surprises kept me reading. Good stuff! 3 apologetic stars!!
The strange man turns out to be on the run from a 'cult' if you will, who believe mortal life is just a phase and our essence continues after death. Nonetheless, they believe in the sanctity of life, but feel a need to apologize before killing anything; hence the cover blurb "The novel of a man on the run from a cult of apologetic killers!" Well, as you might expect, Yarrow gets entangled with the cult and one thing leads to another...
This is a fun read that does a great job taking you to the Welsh countryside circa 1967 when it was first published. Household chose an unusual format for this, as the book has no chapters, and our narrator just recalls the events of his trials and tribulations in a linear fashion. Lots of strange twists and turns flesh out the story and the surprises kept me reading. Good stuff! 3 apologetic stars!!
July 12, 2016
Geoffrey Household, The Courtesy of Death (Bantam, 1967)
[originally posted 29Jan2001]
The late Geofferey Household tends to fall into the same category as Brian Moore; he wrote quick, satisfying thrillers that have been largely forgotten in today's world of overblown, logorrheic monsters. The Courtesy of Death, Household's twenty-second novel, centers on an ex-mining engineer named Yarrow, who's attempting to settle down in the English countryside and find himself a combination inn/garage he can run. One night, while staying in the coach-house of an inn for sale near the historic site of Avalon, he is awakened by a pounding on the door. When he answers, he's confronted with a lunatic on the run and babbling about all sorts of seemingly unconnected things. Being a nice sort of guy, Yarrow tries to help his new pal, one Barnabas Farnsworthy, and in doing so finds himself drawn into Farnsworthy's circle of friends. Not necessarily a bad thing, unless your circle of friends happens to be an animistic cult with a secret they'd go to almost any lengths to hide.
Household writes a cracking good story, mixing in elements of the spy thriller, the supernatural thriller, and the basic mystery to come up with something that will be familiar to fans of all those genres, yet still has an air of originality about it. Household was a solid writer, and it's relatively hard to go wrong with any of his novels; this is certainly a worthwhile starting point, not as cerebral as some of his books while retaining the page-turnability that marks all his work. ***
[originally posted 29Jan2001]
The late Geofferey Household tends to fall into the same category as Brian Moore; he wrote quick, satisfying thrillers that have been largely forgotten in today's world of overblown, logorrheic monsters. The Courtesy of Death, Household's twenty-second novel, centers on an ex-mining engineer named Yarrow, who's attempting to settle down in the English countryside and find himself a combination inn/garage he can run. One night, while staying in the coach-house of an inn for sale near the historic site of Avalon, he is awakened by a pounding on the door. When he answers, he's confronted with a lunatic on the run and babbling about all sorts of seemingly unconnected things. Being a nice sort of guy, Yarrow tries to help his new pal, one Barnabas Farnsworthy, and in doing so finds himself drawn into Farnsworthy's circle of friends. Not necessarily a bad thing, unless your circle of friends happens to be an animistic cult with a secret they'd go to almost any lengths to hide.
Household writes a cracking good story, mixing in elements of the spy thriller, the supernatural thriller, and the basic mystery to come up with something that will be familiar to fans of all those genres, yet still has an air of originality about it. Household was a solid writer, and it's relatively hard to go wrong with any of his novels; this is certainly a worthwhile starting point, not as cerebral as some of his books while retaining the page-turnability that marks all his work. ***
March 14, 2012
[light spoilers] Outrageous and sensational on a different level from all other Household novels I’ve read. The setup was worthy of the British spyfi TV program that ran contemporary with the release of this book: The Avengers. A man appears at a stranger’s door one evening after being pursued across the countryside by a malicious veterinarian representing . . . a cult of killers who scrupulously beg the pardon of their victims before carrying out each execution.
There are conspicuous similarities/obsessions to all Household’s thrillers--to a degree that some readers may find tiring--and yet he varies them with such ingenuity! Someday Household’s genius will be rediscovered, and the cinematic potential of these stories will be realized. I read the last 2/3s of this one at a single sitting, staying up into the wee hours just like my 15-year-old self would have done.
There are conspicuous similarities/obsessions to all Household’s thrillers--to a degree that some readers may find tiring--and yet he varies them with such ingenuity! Someday Household’s genius will be rediscovered, and the cinematic potential of these stories will be realized. I read the last 2/3s of this one at a single sitting, staying up into the wee hours just like my 15-year-old self would have done.
September 28, 2018
Great, albeit a bit gruesome. This was one I had trouble putting down. English country side. Retired engineer. Pagan death cult. What more could you want? Here is a bit of the blurb from Amazon:
"Chilling, surprising, and utterly riveting, The Courtesy of Death is a wildly imaginative suspense yarn that blends intrigue with a touch of the otherworldly. Filled with action and unforeseen twists, this is the bravura work of a master storyteller operating at the very top of his game."
Let's hear it for engineers!
"Chilling, surprising, and utterly riveting, The Courtesy of Death is a wildly imaginative suspense yarn that blends intrigue with a touch of the otherworldly. Filled with action and unforeseen twists, this is the bravura work of a master storyteller operating at the very top of his game."
Let's hear it for engineers!
September 20, 2011
The Courtesy of Death is a novel that will grab the reader and compel them to read it through in one sitting. In fact Geoffrey Household wrote the book with no chapter divisions, which in and of itself is unusual and has the effect of drawing the reader into the inexorable plot. The reader is taken on a compelling, tension filled psychological journey that is at times confusing and others chilling. Weird, different, but highly entertaining.
November 9, 2016
In the 1960s,Yarrow, a mining engineer is staying at a cottage in the Mendip Hills of Somerset while looking for a suitable country gastro-pub to purchase when a fugitive named Fosworthy bursts in. Seeing off the man's pursuer, Yarrow decides to help the hapless, lovelorn young man, but, being mistaken for a rival of the locals (who have a secret to protect), becomes embroiled in a madcap but deadly game of hide and seek around and under the local countryside.
February 5, 2021
My dad lent this to me when I was in high school and I was riveted by it, especially the narrator's speculation about the possible survival of a paleolithic folk myth. I reread it as an adult and it hadn't lost any of its power. I love the way this man writes about the English countryside. He has always made me want to move there, even though I expect that by now it doesn't remotely resemble his haunting consciousness of it, and I'm an urban person in any case.
He is way more than just a genre fiction writer--and I'm not sure what genres his work would fall into; it's just that the paperbacks I grew up with seemed to be marketing him that way. Little books with lurid covers. He seems to have something in common with the British psychogeographers like Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd, though he doesn't hit you over the head with it like they sometimes do (I like them anyway).
He is way more than just a genre fiction writer--and I'm not sure what genres his work would fall into; it's just that the paperbacks I grew up with seemed to be marketing him that way. Little books with lurid covers. He seems to have something in common with the British psychogeographers like Iain Sinclair and Peter Ackroyd, though he doesn't hit you over the head with it like they sometimes do (I like them anyway).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews