Rating: 3/5
Review:
Well written but flawed
This is the first Nicholas Blake I have read and although I
enjoyed aspects of it, I wasn't that keen overall.
Published in 1949, Head Of Traveller sees Nigel Strangeways
in his role as a sort of unofficial police consultant called to a beautiful and
ancient manor house to help in solving the murder of an unidentified corpse
found close by. It becomes plain that
the family there are involved and an intricate puzzle is set involving complex
time-lines and possible mistaken identities.
The book began excellently, I thought. "Nicholas Blake" (i.e. Cecil
Day-Lewis) was a fine writer and I enjoyed the style and set-up for the first
50 pages or so. Things did begin to pall a little after that, though. Despite all the false trails and
distractions, I thought the identity of the murderer was fairly plain quite
early on, there is a good deal of psychologising which is largely pretty silly
and in one case plain offensive, and some of the period attitudes and
ignorance, especially toward a dwarf character, were pretty hard to take.
I did finish the book, which has a rather indecisive and
unconventional ending, but I found it a bit of a struggle. I can only give it a very qualified
recommendation.
(I received an ARC via NetGalley.)
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