Thou Shell of Death

This is one of the early Nigel Strangeways mysteries and, in lots of ways, one of the most traditional - albeit with Blake's own twist on the Golden Age genre. Set during a house-party at Christmas we have a wonderfully eccentric cast of characters (including Georgia who we meet for the first time), poison pen letters, red herrings galore and lots of confusion! Nigel sifts through the clues and chaos... Huge fun, an ingenious plot, and superbly witty writing.

What a delightfully literate book. Do you know what an aorist imperative is? Do you show agility in climbing up and down family trees? Do you wander through archipelagos of small tables. Do you, as an English aristocrat, use cooing condescension when sparking to the lower classes? Written in the mid 1930’s, this book has nothing to do with most modern mystery stories. The author assumes his reader is educated and that he has some knowledge of the classics. And who did it is indeed a mystery. Revenge is sweet. Believable characters who could be your neighbors if you lived in a British country house. A fine story well written.

This book is vintage Nicholas Blake. Fabulous mystery which takes you down many roads before the final reveal. It really keeps your interest throughout the whole book, and in parts it leaves you gasping.
a classic golden age mystery, all the clues are there to solve the mystery, but somehow the twists and turns are added with such subtlety that the conclusion is a surprise.
Great book

Another fabolous mystery by Nicholas Blake. I loved the other books I read by this author and I loved this one.
The style of writing is great, the mystery both engaging and entertaining.
A book you cannot put down and keep you guessing till the end.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC

First of all, let me just say that I thoroughly enjoyed this Nigel Strangeways mystery. Nicholas Blake has written yet another witty, literate mystery. Blake was a pen name of Cecil Day-Lewis, who was poet laureate in the UK from 1968 until his death in 1972, and even in his mystery novels, he uses words in poetic ways. His words seem to flow, there’s nothing awkward or discordant about them. They are purely and simply, a pleasure to read. I stayed up half the night to finish this one, and I was sorry when it ended.

The mystery in this novel is outstanding. In some ways, this is a typical British country house novel, and some of its characters will seem familiar to those who enjoy that genre, (me included.). Georgia, who eventually becomes Mrs. Strangeways, is first introduced in this novel, although I wouldn’t call her a “typical” character. There are plenty of clues sprinkled about, but I wouldn’t have guessed the actual ending no matter how many clues I was presented with. Despite that, the ending was completely plausible, although it did come as a complete surprise.

I highly recommend this book to both mystery and non mystery readers alike. In terms of a mystery, it has that Golden Age feel, it offers you all the clues you need to come to the correct conclusion, and it’s violence is extremely understated. In terms of any type of fiction, it is well written, witty, and populated with interesting characters. It’s author assumes that readers have brains and like to use them, there’s nothing silly or condescending about it.

"Impossible" style murder at a Christmas time country house gathering, with a small and ever shrinking number of suspects, and just a touch of romance. Loved the final revelations scene. Very fun stuff

Nigel Strangeways, private detective, is invited to a Christmas party by flying ace Fergus O'Brien. Mr O'Brien has more than one skeleton in his closet, however, furthermore he has been on the receiving end of some fairly serious threatening letters - as a result of which he has invited everyone who may be a suspect to this same party.....as anticipated, it's not long before the legendary flying ace is found dead. Our protagonist, Nigel, steps in to assist the police with their enquiries. Brilliantly written, golden age crime with twists and turns aplenty - an engrossing read and highly recommended.

Nigel is visiting his aunt and uncle, Lord and Lady Marlinworth. His His Uncle, who raised him, Sir John Strangeways, Assistant Commissioner of Police arrives with a job for Nigel. The Great Fergus O'Brien, an ex-flyer in WWI with the most German kills, is staying at Dower House on the Marlinworth's estate, and needs some help. He has received three threatening letters that he will be killed the day after Christmas. Nigel travels to the estate with the Marlinworths and gets to know Fergus some before the others (who might include the man sending the notes) arrive to spend Christmas. Fergus seems to spend a lot of time, including sleeping, in a hut in the front yard. The first guest to arrive was Philip Starling, an expert in Homeric civilisation and literature whom Nigel knows. Then, Lucilla Thrale (a very attractive vain blond) and Knott-Sloman, who owns a pub with a poor reputation. Lastly, Georgia Cavendish, the African explorer and her middle-aged brother Edward arrive. Lucilla has been sleeping with Fergus and used to sleep with Cavendish. After two days, Nigel has noticed nothing suspicious. Also in the house are Arthur, Fergus' servant and the cook.

On Christmas night, it appeared that both Nigel and Arthur might have been slipped something to make them sleep. The next morning, they wake late, see footsteps in the snow going to the hut, and hurry to find Fergus in the hut. Fergus is lying dead in the kitchen, his revolver next to his hand. Nigel calls in police Superintendent Bleakley and his uncle. It appears to be suicide, but Nigel is sure it's murder and finally convinces Bleakley.

Meanwhile, Nigel is falling in love with Georgia, and all the members of the party are possible suspects. However, soon an attempt is made to kill Arthur, and then Knott-Sloman is found dead. The three main suspects are now Georgia, her brother Edward, and Lucilla. Nigel realizes he needs to find out more about old history of what happened in Ireland before the war. He talks to a man who fought with Fergus to find that Fergus never talked about his former life and that he signed up with Fear, who talked a lot about his big house and his sister. Fergus spent a lot of time trying to protect Fear, until Fear was shot down when he was ordered to a different air group. Nigel makes a quick trip to Ireland and learns more history which finally convinces him of the real culprit.

The story ends with another death, and a completely new version of what happened! This book has a very complicated plot and a real surprise ending.

Superbly plotted and beautifully written mystery. Nigel Strangeways is asked to keep an eye on a famous WWI flying ace that has received death threats. These threats indicate the murder will occur immediately after the Feast of Stephen, which coincides with a house party the ace is hosting. He hints to Strangeways that one or more of his guests may want him dead.

Nicholas Blake is a joy to read as there are so many layers of description and dialogue intertwining. Granted, I have to google Latin quotations and most literary references, but these just add to the atmosphere of early 20th century upper crust Britain. Revenge is the motivation behind the multiple murders and, of course, everyone is the obvious suspect at one point or another during the tale. Enjoyable classic mystery!

I generally enjoyed Thou Shell Of Death, but it has its weaknesses.

This is classic Golden Age stuff: a famous War Hero who is now a virtual recluse receives some threatening letters. Naturally, he throws a Country House party for all the people he thinks may possibly be responsible and asks Nigel Strangeways, the private detective, to join the party to try to work out what is going on. Well, of course he does – who wouldn’t?

The whole set-up was like a very laboured Agatha Christie, but with more pretension and condescension toward anyone who is not connected to the nobility and living in an expensive part of London. I found it very wearing. However, after 80 pages or so, there is a death, the plot begins to move and a little wit started to show, too. The development was well done and kept me reading; it is tightly, if not wholly plausibly, plotted and it’s an enjoyable read. I found the dénouement rather a trial as the long slog through repeated convoluted explanations became a bit of a chore.

Overall, this is an enjoyable Golden Age detective novel. Its posh, well-connected detective puts it in a similar sort of genre as Dorothy L. Sayers or Margery Allingham; for me it’s nothing like as good, but much of it makes a diverting read if you can wade through the turgid opening. 3.5 stars, rounded up.

(My thanks to Vintage for an ARC via NetGalley.)

I'm generally a fan of the Nicholas Blake books, although some are better than others. This is one of the good ones. One of my favorite things about this series is that the writing goes down smoothly -- a lot of thrillers and mysteries just have horrible clunkers in style that I can't get through (looking at you Dan Brown, John Grisham, Preston and Child). These are in the "thinking person's leisure reading" class.
An interesting puzzle, and vivid characters (some are stock characters, but a couple are quite unusual). The descriptive writing is good, as always with him.
I reserve 5 stars for something like War and Peace, so four stars is definitely a positive recommendation from me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It reminded me of the couple of "mystery club" restaurants we used to have here in SoCal, where a murder mystery was played out by various waiter / actors wandering around while you were eating. Same premise: you know there's a murderer in your midst, but you don't know who it is, and you can't leave. This is an interesting romp through madness, and I highly recommend it for those wet, cold nights where a good book is just what the doctor ordered. Great read!

Sharala
Golden Age Mystery, Literary Delight
November 18, 2018
Format: Kindle Edition
Author was a Poet Laureate and the literary allusions prove it. In fact, the words of a Renaissance play solve the mystery when amateur sleuth and scholar Nicholas Strangeways finally figures it out. Country house Xmas house party, all suspects locked in for questioning, incredibly convoluted developments, blackmail, background Ophelia story, coverup attacks and murder, emerging romance for hero — what more could one want in a classic Golden Age Mystery?