Nigel Strangeways

Last updated
Nigel Strangeways
First appearance A Question of Proof
Last appearance The Morning after Death
Created by Cecil Day-Lewis (writing as Nicholas Blake)
Portrayed byErnesto Bianco
Nigel Stock
Glyn Houston
Bernard Horsfall
Richard Hurndall
Simon Cadell
Philip Franks
Billy Howle
In-universe information
GenderMale
OccupationPrivate detective
SpouseGeorgia Cavendish (deceased)
NationalityBritish

Nigel Strangeways is a fictional British private detective created by Cecil Day-Lewis, writing under the pen name of Nicholas Blake. He was one of the prominent detectives of the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, appearing in sixteen novels between 1935 and 1966. He also features in a couple of short stories. [1]

Contents

Character overview

A gentleman detective Strangeways is an Oxford-educated writer and nephew of an Assistant Commissioner at Scotland Yard. His surname is derived from the Strangeways Prison in Manchester. In the first novel A Question of Proof he is modelled on the poet W. H. Auden but this aspect became less marked as the series progressed. [2] As well as being a private investigator he also works as a literary scholar, producing a study of the Caroline poets amongst other works. Slightly arch, he is given to using literary quotes during his investigations, which often pass over the heads of the other characters. His style of detection has been compared to that of John Dickson Carr's Gideon Fell. [3]

During the course of the novels, Strangeways becomes involved in a number of cases reflecting the changing periods of the time. A variety of locations are used for the murder investigations he undertakes including a public school ( A Question of Proof , 1935), a brewery ( There's Trouble Brewing , 1937), a holiday camp (Malice in Wonderland, 1940) a Whitehall ministry ( Minute for Murder , 1947), a publishing house ( End of Chapter , 1957) and a cruise ship ( The Widow's Cruise , 1959). The Smiler with the Knife (1939) features a Fascist organisation plotting to overthrow British democracy, while The Sad Variety (1964) focuses on an attempt by British Communists and their Soviet backers to kidnap a professor.

Novels

Adaptations

Film

The fourth novel in the series The Beast Must Die has been adapted several times for film and television. The film versions include a 1952 Argentine adaptation, and the 1969 French film This Man Must Die . [4]

Television

End of Chapter and The Beast Must Die were separately adapted for the 1960s BBC anthology series Detective . Strangeways was played by Glyn Houston and Bernard Horsfall, respectively. [5] [6]

In 2021, The Beast Must Die was yet again adapted as a television series for BritBox and AMC. Billy Howle starred as Strangeways.

BBC Radio

In 1960, A Question of Proof was adapted for the Saturday Night Theatre, with Nigel Stock as Strangeways [7] , whilst in 1966, Richard Hurndall starred in I Am Lucy Wragby, an adaptation of The Sad Variety. [8] Simon Cadell played the detective in a 1991 adaptation of The Smiler with the Knife. [9]

A Question of Proof and The Beast Must Die were adapted by Michael Bakewell in 2004. Both dramas starred Philip Franks as Strangeways. [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<i>King Solomons Mines</i> 1885 novel by H. Rider Haggard

King Solomon's Mines (1885) is a popular novel by the English Victorian adventure writer and fabulist Sir H. Rider Haggard. It tells of an expedition through an unexplored region of Africa by a group of adventurers led by Allan Quatermain, searching for the missing brother of one of the party. It is one of the first English adventure novels set in Africa and is considered to be the genesis of the lost world literary genre. It is the first of fourteen novels and four short stories by Haggard about Allan Quatermain. Haggard dedicated this book to his childhood idol Sir Humphry Davy.

<i>Busmans Honeymoon</i> 1937 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers

Busman's Honeymoon is a 1937 novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, her eleventh and last featuring Lord Peter Wimsey, and her fourth and last to feature Harriet Vane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cecil Day-Lewis</span> Irish-born British poet (1904–1972)

Cecil Day-Lewis, often written as C. Day-Lewis, was an Anglo-Irish poet and Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1968 until his death in 1972. He also wrote mystery stories under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake, most of which feature the fictional detective Nigel Strangeways.

<i>Oliver Twist</i> 1837–1839 novel by Charles Dickens

Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens. It was originally published as a serial from 1837 to 1839 and as a three-volume book in 1838. The story follows the titular orphan, who, after being raised in a workhouse, escapes to London, where he meets a gang of juvenile pickpockets led by the elderly criminal Fagin, discovers the secrets of his parentage, and reconnects with his remaining family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Marlowe</span> Fictional character

Philip Marlowe is a fictional character created by Raymond Chandler who was characteristic of the hardboiled crime fiction genre. The genre originated in the 1920s, notably in Black Mask magazine, in which Dashiell Hammett's The Continental Op and Sam Spade first appeared. Marlowe first appeared under that name in The Big Sleep, published in 1939. Chandler's early short stories, published in pulp magazines such as Black Mask and Dime Detective, featured similar characters with names like "Carmady" and "John Dalmas", starting in 1933.

<i>The A.B.C. Murders</i> 1936 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

The A.B.C. Murders is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, featuring her characters Hercule Poirot, Arthur Hastings and Chief Inspector Japp, as they contend with a series of killings by a mysterious murderer known only as "A.B.C.". The book was first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club on 6 January 1936, sold for seven shillings and sixpence (7/6) while a US edition, published by Dodd, Mead and Company on 14 February of the same year, was priced $2.00.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arthur Hastings</span> Only close friend of Hercule Poirot, the fictional detective of Agatha Christie

Captain Arthur J. M. Hastings, OBE, is a fictional character created by Agatha Christie as the companion-chronicler and best friend of the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. He is first introduced in Christie's 1920 novel The Mysterious Affair at Styles and appears as a character in seven other Poirot novels, including the final one Curtain: Poirot's Last Case (1975), along with a play and many short stories. He is also the narrator of several of them.

<i>Sad Cypress</i> 1940 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

Sad Cypress is a work of detective fiction by British writer Agatha Christie, first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in March 1940 and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company later in the same year. The UK edition retailed at eight shillings and threepence (8/3) – the first price rise for a UK Christie edition since her 1921 debut – and the US edition retailed at $2.00.

<i>Murder Is Easy</i> 1939 novel by Agatha Christie

Murder Is Easy is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie first published in the UK by the Collins Crime Club in June 1939, and in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in September the same year under the title Easy to Kill. Christie's Superintendent Battle has a cameo appearance at the end, but plays no part in either the solution of the mystery or the apprehension of the criminal. The UK edition retailed at seven shillings and sixpence (7/6), and the US edition at $2.

Kurt Wallander is a fictional Swedish police inspector created by Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell. He is the protagonist of many thriller/mystery novels set in and around the town of Ystad, 56 km (35 mi) south-east of the city of Malmö, in the southern province of Scania. Wallander has been portrayed on screen by the actors Rolf Lassgård, Krister Henriksson, Sir Kenneth Branagh and Adam Pålsson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literary adaptation</span> Adaptation of a literary work into another work

Literary adaptation is adapting a literary source to another genre or medium, such as a film, stage play, or video game.

<i>Alice in Wonderland</i> (1988 film) 1988 Australian 51-minute direct-to-video animated film

Alice in Wonderland is an Australian 51-minute direct-to-video animated film from Burbank Films Australia originally released in 1988.

<i>The Girls of Slender Means</i> Book by Muriel Spark

The Girls of Slender Means is a novella written in 1963 by British author Muriel Spark. It was included in Anthony Burgess's 1984 book Ninety-Nine Novels: The Best in English since 1939 — A Personal Choice. In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.

<i>The Narrow Corner</i> 1932 novel by W. Somerset Maugham

The Narrow Corner is a novel by the British writer W. Somerset Maugham, published by William Heinemann in 1932.

<i>The Green Archer</i> (novel) 1923 novel by Edgar Wallace

The Green Archer is a 1923 thriller novel by the British writer Edgar Wallace. The novel was serialized in The Detective Magazine, Amalgamated Press, London, July 20, 1923-Oct 1, 1924, in 14 parts. The first UK book edition was published by Hodder & Stoughton in London in 1923. The first US book editions were by Small, Maynard & Co, New York, 1924 and by A.L. Burt Co., New York, 1924. Hodder & Stoughton reprinted the book in 1940 and in 1953.

<i>The Daffodil Mystery</i> 1920 novel

The Daffodil Mystery is a 1920 thriller novel by the British writer Edgar Wallace. It features the detective Jack Tarling and his Chinese assistant Ling Chu.

Slim Callaghan is a fictional London-based private detective created by the writer Peter Cheyney. Like another of Cheyney's characters, the FBI agent Lemmy Caution, he was constructed as a British response to the more hardboiled detectives of American fiction such as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe.

<i>The Wicked Flee</i> 1940 novel

The Wicked Flee is a 1940 mystery crime novel by the British writer Anne Hocking. It was the second novel in a long-running series featuring her detective character Chief Inspector William Austen of Scotland Yard.

<i>The Beast Must Die</i> (novel) 1938 novel

The Beast Must Die is a 1938 detective novel by Cecil Day-Lewis, written under the pen name of Nicholas Blake. It combines elements of the inverted thriller with a classic Golden Age-style investigation. It is the fourth in a series of novels featuring the private detective Nigel Strangeways. The title is inspired by a line in Four Serious Songs by Johannes Brahms, itself a reference to Ecclesiastes.

Detective is a British mystery anthology television series adapted from stories by numerous prominent crime fiction writers, with each episode focusing on a particular detective character. Several prominent fictional sleuths were showcased, including Sherlock Holmes, Dr. John Thorndyke, Philip Trent, Sir Henry Merrivale, Roderick Alleyn, Father Brown, Albert Campion, C. Auguste Dupin, Sir John Appleby, Inspector Ghote, Nigel Strangeways and Gervase Fen.

References

  1. Blackwell p.63
  2. James p.192
  3. Blackwell p.63
  4. Goble p.931
  5. "Detective: End of Chapter". IMDb . Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  6. "Detective: The Beast Must Die". IMDb . Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  7. "Saturday-Night Theatre: A Question of Proof". BBC Radio Programme Index. Retrieved May 19, 2024.
  8. "SATURDAY-NIGHT THEATRE". BBC Radio Programme Index. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  9. "The Smiler with the Knife". BBC Radio Programme Index. Retrieved October 24, 2023.
  10. "The Saturday Play: A Question of Proof". BBC Genome. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  11. "Afternoon Play: The Beast Must Die". BBC Genome. Retrieved December 18, 2021.

Bibliography