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Nigel Strangeways
Calling James Braithwaite - a Nigel Strangeways Play
Nigel Strangeways, described as "a charismatic amateur detective and gentleman sleuth" by Tony Medawar, first appeared in 1935. He was featured in 16 novels and few short stories and plays.
The author, using the pen name Nicholas Blake, was Cecil Day Lewis, 1904-1972, a teacher and poet. He served as Poet Laureate under the Queen from 1968 until his death. He eventually found, however, that detective fiction paid the freight.
One of the Strangeways short stories is Calling James Braithwaite. It's written as a play in two acts and was first performed on the BBC in 1940. Braithwaite is a businessman who owns several freight ships. His life has been full of controversy to the extent that he hires detective Strangeways as his secretary for a family-and-friends voyage on one of his ships, the James Braithwaite. The real reason? To have him keep an eye on developments. Unfortunately, one of the developments is murder.
Librarian's note: the play can be found in Bodies from the Library from 2019.
The author, using the pen name Nicholas Blake, was Cecil Day Lewis, 1904-1972, a teacher and poet. He served as Poet Laureate under the Queen from 1968 until his death. He eventually found, however, that detective fiction paid the freight.
One of the Strangeways short stories is Calling James Braithwaite. It's written as a play in two acts and was first performed on the BBC in 1940. Braithwaite is a businessman who owns several freight ships. His life has been full of controversy to the extent that he hires detective Strangeways as his secretary for a family-and-friends voyage on one of his ships, the James Braithwaite. The real reason? To have him keep an eye on developments. Unfortunately, one of the developments is murder.
Librarian's note: the play can be found in Bodies from the Library from 2019.
31 pages, Paperback
First published July 20, 1940
2 people want to read
About the author
Nicholas Blake
85 books72 followersNicholas 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
April 8, 2025
Murder on a sea voyage!
Nobody likes Braithwaite. Not even his wife.
He hires the gentleman detective Nigel Strangeways to pretend to be his secretary while looking out for anything hinky.
And things do get hinky.
This one didn't leave much of an impression other than I'd like to maybe find more Nigel Strangeways stories.
Originally a radio play from 1940.
I read this as part of the short story detective anthology Bodies from the Library.
Nobody likes Braithwaite. Not even his wife.
He hires the gentleman detective Nigel Strangeways to pretend to be his secretary while looking out for anything hinky.
And things do get hinky.
This one didn't leave much of an impression other than I'd like to maybe find more Nigel Strangeways stories.
Originally a radio play from 1940.
I read this as part of the short story detective anthology Bodies from the Library.
October 11, 2025
4 Stars. I thoroughly enjoyed it - although I found keeping track of the characters and their motivations a touch confusing - one of the reasons I try to do character listings for all the good mysteries and thrillers I read. Nigel Strangeways is new for me. A young gentleman detective. He's more in the background than some others. Here he has been hired by Sir James Braithwaite, a shipping magnate, to accompany him on a sea voyage with family and friends. Ostensibly as his secretary but actually to keep an eye on the same group! The cargo ship has just enough cabins for the small party. The story is told as a short play, original in itself, through the interplay of each character with others. Braithwaite has accumulated a large share of enemies. His younger wife, Lady Alice, is truly not happy, and the first mate holds him responsible for a demotion he received when one of Braithwaite's ships foundered through no fault of his own. You may ask, what is the meaning of the title? Easy. Someone is always looking for Braithwaite. The play was performed on the BBC in 1940 and never published until recently. I'd enjoy seeing a production. (Au2022/Oc2025)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews