Nigel Strangeways, private detective, is invited to a Christmas party by flying ace Fergus O'Brien. Mr O'Brien has more than one skeleton in his closet, however, furthermore he has been on the receiving end of some fairly serious threatening letters - as a result of which he has invited everyone who may be a suspect to this same party.....as anticipated, it's not long before the legendary flying ace is found dead. Our protagonist, Nigel, steps in to assist the police with their enquiries. Brilliantly written, golden age crime with twists and turns aplenty - an engrossing read and highly recommended.

First of all, let me just say that I thoroughly enjoyed this Nigel Strangeways mystery. Nicholas Blake has written yet another witty, literate mystery. Blake was a pen name of Cecil Day-Lewis, who was poet laureate in the UK from 1968 until his death in 1972, and even in his mystery novels, he uses words in poetic ways. His words seem to flow, there’s nothing awkward or discordant about them. They are purely and simply, a pleasure to read. I stayed up half the night to finish this one, and I was sorry when it ended.

The mystery in this novel is outstanding. In some ways, this is a typical British country house novel, and some of its characters will seem familiar to those who enjoy that genre, (me included.). Georgia, who eventually becomes Mrs. Strangeways, is first introduced in this novel, although I wouldn’t call her a “typical” character. There are plenty of clues sprinkled about, but I wouldn’t have guessed the actual ending no matter how many clues I was presented with. Despite that, the ending was completely plausible, although it did come as a complete surprise.

I highly recommend this book to both mystery and non mystery readers alike. In terms of a mystery, it has that Golden Age feel, it offers you all the clues you need to come to the correct conclusion, and it’s violence is extremely understated. In terms of any type of fiction, it is well written, witty, and populated with interesting characters. It’s author assumes that readers have brains and like to use them, there’s nothing silly or condescending about it.

Another fabolous mystery by Nicholas Blake. I loved the other books I read by this author and I loved this one.
The style of writing is great, the mystery both engaging and entertaining.
A book you cannot put down and keep you guessing till the end.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC

This book is vintage Nicholas Blake. Fabulous mystery which takes you down many roads before the final reveal. It really keeps your interest throughout the whole book, and in parts it leaves you gasping.
a classic golden age mystery, all the clues are there to solve the mystery, but somehow the twists and turns are added with such subtlety that the conclusion is a surprise.
Great book

This is one of the early Nigel Strangeways mysteries and, in lots of ways, one of the most traditional - albeit with Blake's own twist on the Golden Age genre. Set during a house-party at Christmas we have a wonderfully eccentric cast of characters (including Georgia who we meet for the first time), poison pen letters, red herrings galore and lots of confusion! Nigel sifts through the clues and chaos... Huge fun, an ingenious plot, and superbly witty writing.