Thou Shell of Death

Nicholas Blake was the pseudonym of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis, who was born in County Laois, Ireland in 1904. After his mother died in 1906, he was brought up in London by his father, spending summer holidays with relatives in Wexford. He was educated at Sherborne School and Wadham College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1927. Blake initially worked as a teacher to supplement his income from his poetry writing and he published his first Nigel Strangeways novel, A Question of Proof, in 1935. Blake went on to write a further nineteen crime novels, all but four of which featured Nigel Strangeways, as well as numerous poetry collections and translations. 
 
During the Second World War he worked as a publications editor in the Ministry of Information, which he used as the basis for the Ministry of Morale in Minute for Murder, and after the war he joined the publishers Chatto &amp; Windus as an editor and director. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1968 and died in 1972 at the home of his friend, the writer Kingsley Amis.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BEAST MUST DIE - NOW A BRITBOX SERIES 
 
Fergus O'Brien, a legendary World War One flying ace with several skeletons hidden in his closet, receives a series of mocking letters predicting that he will be murdered on Boxing Day. 
 
Undaunted, O'Brien throws a Christmas party, inviting everyone who could be suspected of making the threats, along with private detective Nigel Strangeways. But despite Nigel's presence, the former pilot is found dead, just as predicted, and Nigel is left to aid the local police in their investigation while trying to ignore his growing attraction to one of the other guests - and suspects - explorer Georgina Cavendish. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

There's Trouble Brewing

Blake's resourceful and well-read amateur investigator Nigel Strangeways is a distinctive sleuth, inveigling his way into the trust of his suspects via a loquacious charm

The Nicholas Blake books are something quite by themselves in English detective fiction

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BEAST MUST DIE - NOW A BRITBOX SERIES 
 
Private detective and poet Nigel Strangeways is invited to address the Maiden Astbury literary society. The picturesque Dorset town is home to Bunnett's Brewery, run by the much disliked, and feared, Eustace Bunnett and shortly before Nigel's visit, Bunnett's dog Truffles, was found dead in one of the brewery's vats. The culprit was never caught - although there was no shortage of suspects - but when a body is then found in the same vat, boiled down to its bones, Nigel is called into action to help capture the killer. 
 
The third book in the Nigel Strangeways series, this is a gloriously inventive, puzzling and witty investigation to delight all fans of classic crime. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

The Beast Must Die

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BEAST MUST DIE - NOW A BRITBOX SERIES 
 
Respected crime writer Frank Cairns plots the perfect murder - a murder that he himself will commit. 
 
Cairns intends to murder the hit-and-run driver who killed his young son, but when his intended victim is found dead and Cairns becomes the prime suspect, the author insists that he has been framed. An old friend of Cairns calls in private detective Nigel Strangeways, who must unravel a fiendishly plotted mystery if he is to discover what really happened to George Rattery. 
 
The Beast Must Die is one of Nicholas Blake's most acclaimed novels and was picked by the Observer as one of the 1,000 novels everyone must read. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

The Worm of Death

READ ALL AGATHA CHRISTIE? TRY A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
In the depths of foggy London, private detective Nigel Strangeways must unravel a curious case of a murdered doctor and his missing diary. The fourteenth Nigel Strangeways mystery.

Mr Blake tirelessly and entertainingly baffles his readers

It is one of Blake's very best - and his best is better than almost anyone's

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
 
Several days after private detective and poet Nigel Strangeways dines with Dr Piers Loudon and his family, the doctor vanishes, only for his legless corpse to be fished out of the river Thames. When his family ask Nigel to protect their interests during the police investigation, it soon becomes apparent that each member of the deceased's family, from his adopted son to his daughter's unpleasant fiancée, had a strong motive for killing him. 
 
As the winter fog swirls outside, Nigel must find his way through a maze of conflicting stories, missing diaries and red herrings. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

The Case of the Abominable Snowman

READ ALL AGATHA CHRISTIE? TRY A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
Nigel Strangeways is called to investigate a series of strange events at a country manor in this classic crime story

The finding of the body is a masterly scene of the macabre... The problems are skilfully set and unexpectedly solved

If there is a distinction between the novel and the detective story, then this book deserves a high place in both categories

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
 
Poet turned detective Nigel Strangeways is summoned to Easterham Manor in the depths of winter to investigate a series of strange events, which culminate in the apparent suicide of a wealthy young woman whose behaviour has scandalised the village. 
 
As Nigel begins his investigations into the dead girl's past it soon becomes clear that someone in the manor is trying to hide something, and they will stop at nothing to keep their secrets safe. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

End of Chapter

READ ALL AGATHA CHRISTIE? TRY A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
In the twelth Nigel Strangeways mystery an esteemed publishing firm has been sabotaged. But worse is still to come when one of their bestselling authors is murdered - in the publishers' offices. Can Nigel Strangeways catch the killer?

An adroit formal detective puzzle...and a knowing picture of publishing

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
 
Wenham &amp; Geraldine are a long-established and very well respected publishing firm, so when a printer's proof is sabotaged and libellous passages are mysteriously reinstated, they call in private detective Nigel Strangeways. But the situation takes a turn for the worse when one of the publishers' best-selling authors - glamorous novelist Millicent Miles - is found dead in the offices. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

Nicholas Blake

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE BEAST MUST DIE - NOW A BRITBOX SERIES 
 
The annual Sports Day at respected public school Sudeley Hall ends in tragedy when the headmaster's obnoxious nephew is found strangled in a haystack. The boy was despised by staff and students alike, but English master Michael Evans, who was seen sharing a kiss with the headmaster's beautiful young wife earlier that day, soon becomes a prime suspect for the murder. Luckily, his friend Nigel Strangeways, nephew to the Assistant Commissioner of Scotland Yard, is on hand to help investigate the case. 
 
A Nigel Strangeways murder mystery - the perfect introduction to the most charming and erudite detective in Golden Age crime fiction.

Nicholas Blake

Books by Nicholas Blake

Series by Nicholas Blake

A Nigel Strangeways Mytery

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter