Reading the Detectives discussion

Published in 1949, this is the 9th Nigel Strangeways mystery.

Staying with a friend in Oxfordshire, poet turned amateur detective Nigel Strangeways pays a visit to Robert Seaton, a distinguished British poet whom Nigel greatly admires but whose reputation has been on the decline of late. Seaton proves to be an irascible, temperamental man, and his unconventional household, simmers with tension.

When a headless corpse is found floating in the river by the Seaton's house just a few weeks later, the poet becomes the prime suspect. But whose body is it?

Please do not post spoilers in this thread - thank you.

I've been really enjoying the Nicholas Blake series, but I can't say this one was my favourite. The prose is as readable as ever, and it has a wonderful setting, a country house where a great poet lives - also fascinating to see author Cecil Day-Lewis' love for poetry play such a big part.

But the plot isn't one of the best for me (I'll save this for the spoiler thread!) and the portrayal of the disabled "dwarf" character, Finny, makes uneasy reading.

No, this is a difficult one. I love this series, but it is an uncomfortable read, I agree. Both for the portrayal of Finn and the awful scene with Nigel and Mara, which made me applaud the 'Me Too' movement!

Yes, I've liked the few that I've read in this series but this one was literally unreadable for me: a good example of how some books just don't travel out of their own historicised and cultural setting. Nigel 'mansplaining' Mara's experience to her was breathtakingly objectionable to me, even more so than Finn.

From your comments, it does not seem to be worth the effort. After all, there are lot of other books in the series. But, since I did enjoy Minute for Murder, a try?

Good to hear you liked Minute for Murder, Bicky. This is, most definitely, not the best - but I have enjoyed most of the others so far. You could try the first in the series, perhaps, or The Beast Must Die, which is the most famous?

Oh dear! I haven't started yet and this thread is not making me eager.

I agree about Mara - I'm sure there will be more discussion of this. But I have to say, despite all the problems, I did find this book hard to put down, as always with Blake.

One thing I did like was that Nigel pays tribute to Georgia - talking about how brave she was, and how he thought his life was over when she died. It was a bit much that her death was dealt with in just a sentence in the previous book - at least here we do get a glimpse of his grief.

Yes, it was nice that Georgia was mentioned and, although this was certainly not the best, there was also much about it that I found interesting. Over to the spoiler thread!

I have read through Part 1 and am enjoying it more than I expected, based on comments in this thread. I find the treatment of Finny, the disabled dwarf character, very disturbing but at least the group warned me.

Some of the book does jar with modern sensibilities, but it is not without merit, as a mystery.

I agree with Susan.

Now I've read the cringeworthy scene with Mara. The excellent scene with Nigel's reflections on his wife is a good contrast.

Hmmm, yes. I think the Mara scene is worse than Finny... I have just read a modern crime novel, Whisper Network and, reading books like these, you wonder how female readers felt about such scenes at the time.

Just starting this, I managed to pick up a really battered 1950s copy with this delightfully sinister cover .

Susan wrote: "Hmmm, yes. I think the Mara scene is worse than Finny... I have just read a modern crime novel, Whisper Network and, reading books like these, you wonder how female readers felt about such scenes at the time."

I suspect it wasn't a clear divide between male and female readers: women have been equally disparaging in the past about 'girls' who've 'asked for it' through their behaviour, looks, dress, being out of the house and so on - I have the feeling this point came up in discussions of a previous book we read but can't remember which one. And it wasn't as blatant and somehow gleeful as it is here.

Pamela wrote: "Just starting this, I managed to pick up a really battered 1950s copy with this delightfully sinister cover ."

Great cover!

Yes, that's quite a cover, Pamela! This was mine, not quite so good but still a lot more interesting than the plain pink cover on the latest editions.

It would be nice if more publishers used the original covers, but perhaps it is copyright. A cover could make such a difference when I used to buy physical books, but I hardly notice them on kindle. Indeed, on kindle, when you open the book, it skips the cover altogether!

Susan, that opening bit irritates me all the time.

Me too, Bicky :)

And me, I always go to the cover and start again!

Pamela wrote: "And me, I always go to the cover and start again!"

I'm with you Pamela! I at least want to see the cover once. But its not like the physical book when you saw it each time you picked it up ... and when you ignored it on your nightstand. (Figuratively speaking; I don't read in bed.)

That is what I also do - every time. I think, that their assumption is that as we have already bought the book, the cover is no longer a necessity. But I want to start from the beginning, the real beginning. I want to see the cover and know the year it was first published, the dedication etc. Once the automatic start missed the prologue!

Susan wrote: "It would be nice if more publishers used the original covers, but perhaps it is copyright. A cover could make such a difference when I used to buy physical books, but I hardly notice them on kindle..."

This is why I prefer the printed book to see the interesting covers.
Sometimes it has clues in it. But when I am reading on my kindle, I usually make sure to view the cover. I also look on GR for different versions to view those covers as I like to see the cover of the 1st printing of the book.

I love my kindle, but I agree that I do miss book covers. When my children were younger, I always brought physical books, as I think picture books don't work well in kindle. Mind you, my daughter likes to read a kindle book while listening to the audible version - especially with longer books.