I gave the first book in this series four stars, and I think this one is substantially better, so I guess I have to give it five. Written in 1936, and the second in the series of Nigel Strangeways mysteries by C. Day-Lewis. Very, very reminiscent of the later Peter Wimsey novels (in fact one of the characters in this one is reading "the latest Sayers novel"--and in 1936 only Busman's Honeymoon was left to be written). Nigel is quite similar to Lord Peter (although not titled), and in this one he falls in love with the chief suspect, frankly telling her that all the evidence points to her, but he doesn't believe it. (Sayers fans: sound familiar?) Georgia Cavendish is a much more appealing character than Harriet Vane, and Nigel will eventually marry her. She in fact will become the amazingly resourceful heroine of The Smiler with the Knife. This one is in a form which I normally dislike--in which all the most crucial clues lie in backstory and are revealed in long soliloquies by minor characters. But here the stories are so well told, that they are at least as memorable as the mystery itself. A guilty party is identified and dies in the next-to-last chapter, and in the final chapter Nigel explains why almost all the (pretty reasonable) analysis given by the the police superintendent to describe what happened and why was in fact wrong. A real tour-de-force of plotting, characterization, motive, and erudition.
With his second Nigel Strangeways novel, Nicholas Blake (the pen name of poet Cecil Day Lewis) matured into one of the best mystery writers of the so-called Golden Age. Though Shell of Death takes up many of the conventions of the genre, such as the gathering of all the suspects into a country manor house, and makes them sing due to the strength of characterization and dialogue. You find yourself engrossed in the human relationships as much if not more than the working out of the solution of the crime. That's not to say that the mystery itself is an afterthought--it is an elaborate con but one that is carefully revealed and just plausible enough to suspend your disbelief. What's more, Nigel S. is a great character. Supposedly based on CDL's friend W. H. Auden, Nigel bears some resemblance to eccentric amateur sleuths such as Lord Peter Wimsey and Hercule Poirot, but his speech and behavior are rendered in a more realistic, closely observed manner so he doesn't come across as an awkward caricature.
Do You like book Thou Shell Of Death (1977)?
A little disappointing: the amateur sleuth protagonist is pretty much a cliche who goes about exclaiming phrases such as "By Jove!" and who conveniently remembers vital clues when the story is very near to the end. Also, the way the other chractes keep telling him how brilliant he is when his guesses seem not particularly impressive gets very annoying. Lastly, the police allow him a completely free hand with lying to and entrapping the suspects, explicitly giving a nod and a wink that this is okay because he isn't an official law enforcement person. I found this mystery very disappointing, considering how often it is recommended as a great example of golden age mystery fiction.
—Kestrell
#2 in series. Originally published 1936.WooHoo!!! I have a new favorite author to mine!Cecil Day-Lewis (father to Daniel Day-Lewis) was a serious poet when he decided to embark on a new experience-writing one of those new-fangled mystery detective stories. But surely not under his own name! Thus was born Nicholas Blake, my newest discovery amongst those dusty, smelly paperbacks that I've been collecting for 40 years. I have no idea when this one came into my shelves, but now that it's been in my
—Jz
Nicholas Blake, who wrote about twenty detective novels starting in the mid-1930s, was actually the poet Cecil Day Lewis. A fairly distinguished poet too, who was made Poet Laureate in 1968. Thou Shell of Death, written in 1936, is in some ways a typical English detective novel of the period – all country houses and Oxford dons and cigars and port and that sort of thing. His detective, Nigel Strangeways, is an aristocrat and an Oxford graduate, and a strictly amateur sleuth. As you might expect there are plenty of literary allusions and the novel is actually based loosely on a 1607 play, The Revenger's Tragedy, by Cyril Tourneur. The style of the book is witty and entertaining, and the characters are vivid and in many cases flamboyant and highly amusing. And what of the murder? I have to say that the murder at the heart of this novel is extremely ingenious, very complicated, and tremendously satisfying. Thou Shell of Death is tremendous fun.
—Dfordoom
