Thou Shell of Death (30 page)

‘Yes, Judith Fear’s death was revenged after no common action,’ Nigel went on after a long silence. ‘O’Brien had those lines on his lips as he went out to revenge her through his own death. The speeches of the remorseless, heartbroken Vendice must have been running through his head for months before. Why, the very first words he spoke to me were a phrase of Vendice’s; and if only I’d been a bit quicker on the uptake I would have realised he had given me the first clue to the whole tortuous affair. I was snooping about in the hut; he caught me looking at that photograph of Judith Fear, and he came up behind me and said, “My study’s ornament”. I remember thinking vaguely it was rather an odd remark. The day Cavendish killed himself I read through the
Revenger’s Tragedy
, and on the second page I came to this: Vendice is talking to the skull; he says:

‘Thou shell of death. A shell contained O’Brien’s vengeance on Knott-Sloman. And O’Brien’s death
was
like a shell that held in secret the answer to the deaths of his two enemies. “It is a piteous tale.” One could not help loving O’Brien. But for him love was buried in the grave of Judith. After she was dead, from the moment he brought down his first enemy plane to the moment he baited with his own body the trap for Cavendish, life for him was a revenger’s tragedy, a shell of death.’

There was a long, long silence in the room. The sound of traffic pulsed and ebbed along the streets below. Then Philip Starling rose to his feet and exclaimed briskly:

‘Well, Nigel, old boy, you’re a credit to my pedagogy. The only redeeming feature I can see in this case is the extinction of Knott-Sloman. A squalid fellow.’

‘Oh, I wouldn’t quite say that,’ Nigel said softly. ‘Not the
only
redeeming feature.’

Judith Fear’s lovely, sad, elfish face was fading from his mind’s eye. And the face of Georgia Cavendish seemed to smile at him out of the shadowy future.

THE END

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NICHOLAS BLAKE

The Beast Must Die

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.

‘Ingenious’ P.D. James

‘An engaging yarn’
Guardian

Also available from Vintage

NICHOLAS BLAKE

There’s Trouble Brewing

‘His plots are ingenious’
Times Literary Supplement

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. 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 found in the same vat, boiled down to its bones, Nigel is called into action to help capture the killer.

‘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 Times

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NICHOLAS BLAKE

Malice in Wonderland

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

Elizabeth Bowen

Private detective Nigel Strangeways receives a call for help from Wonderland, a new holiday camp that has recently opened only to be plagued by a series of cruel practical jokes conducted by someone calling themselves ‘The Mad Hatter’.

The camp’s owners are convinced a rival firm, desperate to put them out of business, are behind the events but could it be a disgruntled employee, or even one of the four hundred guests currently staying at the camp? As the pranks become increasingly dangerous and tensions rise, Nigel must do all he can to uncover the Mad Hatter’s true identity – before it’s too late.

Also available from Vintage

NICHOLAS BLAKE

Minute For Murder

‘An outstanding mystery novel. Mr Blake’s writing is a delight in itself’
New York Times

The Second World War has just finished and amateur detective and poet Nigel Strangeways is working at the Ministry of Morale in London, in the Visual Propaganda Division. With war over, life seems to be calm again, that is until the Director’s beautiful secretary is poisoned in full view of seven members of the division, including Nigel himself. Who could have killed her? And how?

Also available from Vintage

NICHOLAS BLAKE

A Question of Proof

‘A master of detective fiction’
Daily Telegraph

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 Question of Proof
is the first Nigel Strangeways Mystery and is the perfect introduction to this most charming and erudite detective from the Golden Age of crime writing.

Also available from Vintage

NICHOLAS BLAKE

The Worm of Death

‘Mr Blake tirelessly and entertainingly baffles his readers’

Times Literary Supplement

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.

‘It is one of Blake’s very best - and his best is better than almost anyone’s’ Louis Untermeyer

Also available from Vintage

NICHOLAS BLAKE

The Smiler With the Knife

‘Nicholas Blake at the very top of his form’
Woman’s Journal

Detective Nigel Strangeways and his explorer wife Georgia have taken a cottage in the countryside. They are slowly beginning to adjust to a more relaxed way of life when Georgia finds a mysterious locket in their garden and unwittingly sets the couple on a collision course with a power-hungry movement aimed at overthrowing the government.

It will take all of Nigel’s brilliance and Georgia’s bravery if they are to infiltrate the order and unmask the conspirators.

‘An extraordinarily well written and entertaining thriller’

Saturday Review of Literature