Pick Up The Widows Cruise (Nigel Strangeways, #13) Developed By Nicholas Blake Available As Online Book
across the Adriatic to help his significant other, sculptor Clare Massinger, find new inspiration, Nigel Strangeways finds the other passengers a curious group, Chief among them are two unlikely sisters, one a goodhearted sexpot, the other a former teacher recovering from a breakdown, Also on board: one of the teacher's former students and her brother a notable lecturer on Greek history who regards said teacher as a Nemesis and a seedy fellow whom Nigel suspects of being some sort of confidence trickster.
Then there's the snoopy child of two psychologists, who frequently turns up exactly where she's least wanted, taking notes,
When two deaths occur on a single night, Nigel believes they must be connected, and that there must be a single murderer, But what motive could the killer have to kill two such different people Nigel proceeds to puzzle out the tangled threads of the passenger connections to arrive at one of Nicholas Blake's more interesting mystery solutions.
I reread this in The Nicholas Blake Treasury Vol,. Nigel Strangeways and his partner Clare Massinger take a cruise around the Greek Islands, They spend some time observing the other passengers and realise there are tensions among them, Cantankerous schoolteacher Ianthe Ambrose is conducting a feud with onboard lecturer Jeremy Street, her glamorous sister Melissa has gathered a pair of admirers, and a precocious schoolgirl is spying on her fellow passengers.
The tension heightens as the cruise continues, until finally murder is committed, Strangeways investigates as the cruise ship heads towards the Greek mainland,
This is an interesting and well thought out murder mystery, the clues are skilfully inserted throughout the novel for those sharp enough to see them and the tension on board deck feels real.
The characters are clearly distinguished from each other, as always in GA mysteries there is an element of caricature the naive schoolboy, the rotter but not enough to make the story ridiculous or the characters unconvincing.
Strangeways is likeable and intelligent, with a touch of vanity that makes him more human than many detectives, Blake occasionally shows flashes of the grumpiness, even misogyny, that marred some of the more recent Books, but on the whole this is a return to the style of his more enjoyable earlier Books, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Well done mystery! Nigel Strangeways, with Scotland Yard, and Clare, a sculptures and Novel's girlfriend, go on a cruise of the Greek Islands out of Athens, Early on they meet some of the passengers and worry what will happen, There are some very interesting characters, A schoolgirl, Faith, recognizes the Bross, Miss Ambrose, a former schoolmaster, who had caused Faith to be expelled, Smith's twin brother is trying to make Iantha Ambross retract her accusations, Anthea is accompanied by her sexy sister Mrs, Melissa Blaydon. The way too friendly BentinckJones is trying to learn too much about his shipmates, The young daughter of two psychiatrists promised Chalmers, is snooping while carrying around a notebook to record private conversations, learning too much for her own good, The supposed expert on Greece is very pompous and bristles at Ianthe's correction in his lectures as well as bad reviews of his translations, Something is bound to happen, and does, First Primrose is found strangled in the pool, and then Ianthe is missing, later found dead, Nigel must solve everything before the ship returns to Athens and the Greek police, The reader is in suspense to the very end when Nigel comes up with a clever trick, A very good book, only the solution was a little unconvincing, A great thriller and police novel, For real, this story is fenomenal, Blake is a major writer, The finals chapters are a big master piece, A shipboard mystery in the vein of Death on the Nile, but with a lot more focus on interpersonal behavior and not so much on timetables and drawing a map of the ship.
No one is pleasant, really, in this cast, which is okay by me but may annoy readers who need a little more investment in the murderer/victim/suspects, A definite recommend, especially because of the descriptions of summertime Greece during this rainy, grey "spring"has decided to hand us,
I received an ecopy from the publishers and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review, A solid thriller featuring a pair of sisters on a cruise through Greece, One sister is nasty, one is nice, Sounds a little like on the soaps! It was an entertaining read, but I guessed the big twist that sort of gave the ending away about/of the way through the book.
Still, it was worth finishing,
CMB The second of the two Nicholas Blake actually the poet C, Day Lewis mysteries I've read over the past week, This one is apparently typical of the series in that it is a straight mystery, set aroundon a cruise ship in the Mediterranean, I had hoped for a good deal more classical allusion from the translator of Virgil, but at least there was some I had also hoped for more description of the Greek islands, but I had to be satisfied with relatively little.
The plot involves a wildly implausible set of circumstances, and the solution is equally implausible but the author so completely accounts for and explains away all the unbelievable aspects, that you have to admire his ingenuity.
And meanwhile he writes with a poet's precision and respect for words, I'll be reading more of these, I'd been wanting to read a Nicholas Blake mystery for a while and, since I have a soft spot for whodunits set onboard ships, I started with The Widow's Cruise.
The book is very well written, the prose is poetic in places but not purply, it's not as Grated as a lot of cozy mysteries which I appreciate, and Nigel is interesting and likeable.
Blake's writing is like a smarter version of Agatha Christie's in a lot of ways, and so is his plotting,
I flew through this book today but I have to give it abecause of the following hint of a spoiler, I just can't really rate a mystery fairly if I have figured it out/th into the book, especially if I figured it out simply for recognizing a more popular writer's famous plot.
But the bottom line is I recommend the book and I can't wait to pick up the otherNigel Strangeways books,
SPOILER: Any Agatha fan will suss out whodunit by pageor so, There's a lot of evil under the Greek sun, if you catch my drift, I think Blake also riffs Strangers on a Train in another book so maybe he lifts plots a lot I will update this review after I've read some more Blake.
PS Why doesn't Daniel Day Lewis get cracking on some Nigel Strangeways films
PPS Keep your dictionary handy, Every few pages Blake breaks out a ten dollar word, which I find belletristic and not rebarbative, A½ This is the thirteenth in the Nigel Strangeways series, written by Nicholas Blake, a pseudonym for Cecil DayLewis, I am sad that I am coming towards the end of these books now, as I have enjoyed most of the books especially those at the beginning, and end, of the series admittedly, there was a bit of a dip in the middle, but Blake seems to have got a second wind around this period this particular book was published in.
Strangeways goes on a Greek cruise with sculptor, Clare Massinger, Of course, there are mixed group of passengers, all with their secrets and motives for murder, From the beginning, you feel that Nigel Strangeways suspects something will go wrong and, indeed, murder does seem to follow him about, I liked the cruise setting and the interplay between those on board from a rather overly curious child, to a bullying exschoolmistress and a Greek expert humiliated by a passenger during a lecture.
Of course, Strangeways solves the crime, but the journey is very enjoyable,
Just ok, Clare is a pleasant helpmate to Nigel, and the Greek Isles and cruise ship a nice setting, but the story is rather workmanlike, if that's the word I want.
Kindle Unlimited Free Trial If I hadn't known from the very beginning long before anyone was killedexactly how it would all end up, I'd have enjoyed this a lot more.
But Agatha Christie wrote this plot in, which made it very transparent for me, Deserves to be among Classic Cruise Mysteries
The Widows Cruise compares favorably to other classic mysteries set on cruise ships such as Agatha Christies Death on the Nile and Eric Amblers Journey to Fear.
The closed society with its limited suspects and simmering tensions among a few characters thrown together is a standard Golden Age ploy but Nicolas Blake the poet C, Day Lewis uses it to create an interesting group of literate and academic passengers, allowing us to see a bygone world of English public schools with its literate professors and students struggling with jealousies and resentment.
Strangeways is a less outlandish detective than some other series such as Poirot and Lord Peter Wimsey both of whom I like but are often characterized by their eccentricities and while I was somewhat troubled that his loose connection to Scotland Yard seemed to give him incredible power and authority, he is presented as a quite regular guy.
In these days of so many historical mysteries, its good to read a mystery from an earlier time that presents characters accurately as they are seen at the time.
The book is frank about sexuality and is presents its nonEnglish characters with respect and lacks the Imperialist posturings of so many “historical mysteries” trying to set the record straight.
And while it is not that hard to figure out the solution, it is still fun to follow along with Nigel and see how he solves and presents the mystery.
I read this well out of order, I am now starting at the beginning of the series, I found this book confusing mostly because I hadn't read the previous books, A good old fashioned mystery, Intelligently done
This is one of those mysteries where there is the "obvious murderer" but it was done in such a way that I was left with a sense of "wow!" at the end.
Just about all of the ugly human traits were on display but it was a very interesting mystery, DayLewis redeemed himself from that atrocious Murder With Malice story, This may be my favorite in the series yet, An interesting cast of characters that can be found in any tour group: the slightly shifty guide, nosy busybody, whinny teenagers, obnoxious child with indulgent parents, pompous lecturer, femme fatale, and kindly vicar.
Add our heroes, the wellknown detective and his artist girlfriend, and the murderer doesn't have a chance, ok. but the characters were all odd,
Ive never been
on such a cruise so perhaps Im wrong, But for example the two sisters being so opposite didnt altogether make sense, The bishop having such a busybody nasty gossip of a wife seemed unlikely, But I read it through so it gets a three and Im willing to try another, Nigel Strangeways books a cruise to the Greek Islands with sculptor Claire Massinger only to find himself involved with a group of people who seem to have a lot of secrets between them.
Some of them seem to know each other but don't want to admit it, It is a classic scenario for murder to take place and it will keep the reader guessing,
I enjoyed the cruise background to this story and as ever Nicholas Blake makes the characters believable and interesting, There are plenty of clues to keep the reader trying to fit everything together, The murder doesn't happen until half way through the book so if you prefer books where the murder takes place near the beginning you won't like the scene setting.
The book is well written as are all Nicholas Blake's Nigel Strangeways series, The series can be read in any order though if you want to read them in the order in which they were published then this is number thirteen, Predecible. Esperaba mucho más de esta novela, y realmente me decepcionó, Simplemente no logro entender cómo puede ser tan obvia, Es una pena. También me resultó ofensiva hacia las personas con enfermedades mentales,
No es que el libro no sea entretenido, en eso cumple, pero no me convenció,
La forma de actuar de Nigel Strangeways es ridícula, para nada brillante,
No se lo recomendaría a nadie, hay libros de detectives y de "whodunit" muchos mejores que este,
“The only thing I have against cruise life,” said Clare, yawning again, “is that its turning us all into busybodies and gossips, ”
Renowned sculptor, Clare Massinger, is in a bit of a creative slump, To provide a little inspiration, Nigel Strangeways books them a relaxing cruise on the Aegean Sea, Filled with Greek temples, swimming pools, and sandy beaches, this scenic vacation should be the perfect getaway, But when they meet the other passengers, Nigel and Clare realize the cruise may not be as peaceful as planned,
It seems everyone knows everyone elses business: a schoolteacher recovering from a nervous breakdown is confronted by a former student a scholar is embarrassed by a scornful reviewer a seductive temptress is known to a Bishop, and, to top it off, two busybodies are keeping tabs on everyone.
As the passengers lives become increasingly intertwined, it seems a plot for revenge may be afloat, Amidst steamy assignations, false accusations, and suicide threats, Nigels holiday doesnt last long, and he must take charge to uncover the truth before the passengers have something more disturbing to gossip about.