Nicholas Blake, the crime-writing pseudonym of poet Cecil Day-Lewis, is best known for the Nigel Strangeways detective novels. A Question of Proof introduces Strangeways through a murder at a boys' school, combining the enclosed suspect group of Golden Age crime with a detective who is more psychologically curious than purely puzzle-driven. Thou Shell of Death, The Beast Must Die and The Smiler with the Knife place him in cases involving country houses, revenge, political danger and carefully concealed motives. The books vary between classic whodunnit structure and darker suspense, and several move beyond the neat social world associated with interwar detective fiction. Blake's prose is literate, concise and often character-focused. His work fits Golden Age crime, British detective fiction and literary mysteries, alongside Dorothy L. Sayers and Michael Innes. Read more Less
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