Looking Back: "A Question of Proof"

"Thou Shell of Death" was the second of Nicholas Blake's excellent mysteries. The first, published in 1935, was called "A Question of Proof." It introduced Blake's detective, Nigel Strangeways, to readers in a fascinating and literate book about murder at an English school. Strangeways knows almost from the start who committed the murder, but he is reluctant to share his information with the police until he can prove it.

I reviewed "A Question of Proof" earlier in this series, and you can listen to a full podcast review here. The author wrote the book while he was a schoolmaster himself, and it's a good way to meet both the author and his stylish, literate mysteries.

Comments

[Katie]

I am really enjoying the podcast and now your blog. Thanks for all the great reviews.

[Josiah]

"Strangeways knows almost from the start who committed the murder, but he is reluctant to share his information with the police until he can prove it."

So is it kind of an inverted mystery, a la R. Austin Freeman?

This one sounds good too. I'm going to have to dig deep and find some of these...

[Les Blatt]

No, it's not an inverted mystery. Strangeways does know who the killer is - but he does not share the information with anyone or with the reader until the final explanation. This is largely, as he explains, because he hasn't a shred of real evidence. The inverted detective story begins by showing readers the murderer (and, usually, the murder), and then follows a detective as he tries to determine what happened. What you have in "A Question of Proof" is a traditional story, and, while the detective shares his facts, he does not share his suspicions. It's a very good book. Frankly, I prefer "Thou Shell of Death," but they are both excellent - as are the other Nicholas Blake books that I have read so far.