Qué buena novela policial ( )

Basis for the BritBox Series (2021-?)
Review of the Ipso Books paperback edition (2017) of the Collins hardcover original (1938)

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. - Ecclesiastes 3:19 (King James Version)

I saw the first 2 episodes of the new Cush Jumbo/Billy Howie/Jared Harris TV series The Beast Must Die which had the screen credit saying that it was based on a novel by Nicholas Blake, a penname of Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972). I saw that the book was listed on the Guardian/Observer's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read and that Day-Lewis had based his detective Nigel Strangeways on the poet W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Day-Lewis himself was a poet and was also the father of the actor Daniel Day-Lewis. All of this background made me curious to read it.

The TV-series gender-swaps the character of Frank Cairns into the Frances Cairns role for Cush Jumbo but does start with the same vengeance premise of the book. Otherwise most of it is totally different and it is yet to be seen how many of the novel's twists are incorporated into the screen adaptation. Nigel Strangeways is a private detective in the books, but it is on the police force in the TV version. The book takes place in Gloucestershire whereas the TV series is on the Isle of Wight.

The Beast Must Die is actually the 4th in the Nigel Strangeways novels. It is probably listed in the 1,000 Novels List due to its various clever twists so there is not much one can say about it without spoilers. I enjoyed the book quite a lot and it will be interesting to follow how the screen adaptation differs from it. ( )

I read an out-of-print edition of this book and was amazed at how good it was. It's a genre mystery set (and written) in 1938 England. Part of the Nigel Strangeways mystery series, this was written by Cecil Day-Lewis under the pen name Nicholas Blake. Day-Lewis was a poet laureate of England and the father of Daniel Day-Lewis. The Beast Must Die (which, as a title, makes sense when you get to the end--it's from a bible passage--but otherwise makes you think the book is something else) concerns a distraught father whose young son is killed in a hit-and-run accident. The father (a writer of mysteries under a pseudonym) is obsessed with trying to discover the identity of the hit-and-run and driver and exact revenge. The first half of the book is his diary, and the second half is written in the third person and unravels the mystery of what really happened in the diary. Great book, but sadly out of print in the U.S. I'm going to look for the other Nigel Strangeways mysteries. ( )

The Beast Must Die (1938) by Nicholas Blake. This is a novel or revenge gone awry. When his young son is killed by a hit and run driver, Felix Lane knows he must avenge the boy. But no one saw the car or the driver and the police are at a loss. He sets out on his own. This businessman turned mystery writer thinks through the logic of the situation, narrowing down the suspects from all people who drive in England to a very select few.
But it is a turn of luck when splashing though one of many deep, water filled ruts which make up a great portion of the country roads that he gets his break. He follows up which leads him to the movie industry and a beautiful young woman.
Te first portion of the story is a diary written by Lane. He details the search, the clues and the thread that leads him to the driver. And it outlines the steps he took to get near the murderer. It ends at the point where he it set to destroy the monster that killed his son.
The second section is told directly by Lane as he sets about confronting the killer, only to have his plan thwarted at the last moment.
The last section introduces Nigel and Georgia Strangeways as the amateur detectives on the case. They have been called in by Lane because Inspector Blount of The Yard is looking into the case. Blount has been called in because Lane’s intended victim has been murdered only a few hours after Lane’s failed attempt. Lane looks to the official eye as the most likely suspect due to the circumstances. It is up to the Strangeways’s to untangle the problem
The Beast Must Die is the best of all the Strangeways novels, of which there are seventeen. This is a dark twisted tale of plotting and revenge, of callous actions and unintended results, and it is a jolly good read. ( )

a mystery novelist tracks down and kills the hit and run killer of his only son