Fans of historical fiction may want to pick up a novel in the Nigel Strangeways series that was written in 1944, and re-released again as a Kindle book in 2017, and a hardcover in 2018. The author, who wrote under the pseudonym, Nicholas Blake, Cecil Day-Lewis, was a poet in the UK, and was named Poet Laureate in 1968 until his death in 1972. The Corpse in the Snowman features Nigel and his wife Georgia Strangeways as they travel to Dover House located next to Esterham Manor, an old Victorian estate and home of the wealthy Restoricks. While the Strangeways are there to solve the mystery of a cat at the manor who bounced off the wall several times after a séance that occurred in a so-called haunted room, the bigger mystery is the death of Elizabeth Restorick who is found hanging in her room. While it looks like suicide, Nigel believes she was murdered, and works with local law enforcement to find the murderer.

Nothing in the estate is as it seems, and Blake weaves the story as readers deal with characters who are staying at the estate. Blake does an excellent job of developing the characters, and as the readers follow them throughout, they really won’t have an idea who the real murderer is.

One thing about books written during this time, is that they are often wordy and longer than they need to be. It seemed to take forever to get through this novel, even though it is interesting and has an excellent plot. The style of writing is also historical as is the story.

This is one novel that is worth reading, if the reader wants to take the extra time to get through it. As an English major, it reminded me of novels written during the Victorian era, and includes plenty of historical facts that are nice to know.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

I have enjoyed other books by this author, but this one has not aged well. There’s a fallen woman, the evils of marijuana, a cat who may have seen a ghost and way too many planted clues. The first book in the series was delightful. Start there, and skip over this one, it is really too dated. Actions and motives do not ring true. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.

Beginning in the 1930s and running up to the 1960s, British poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis wrote a series of mysteries under the pen name Nicholas Blake. The series follows Nigel Strangeways and, in many of the titles, Georgia Strangeways as well.

This time the two visit a country house in the winter. It is a strange and unsettling location with odd occurrences. However when a murder takes place, Nigel is on the case.

Those who enjoy old fashioned British mysteries will want to give this one a look. There are many novels about Nigel so those who enjoy this one will have lots to look forward to.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Ipso Books for this title. All opinions are my own.

The Corpse in the Snowman by Nicholas Blake.
A Nigel Strangeways Mystery.
In middle of a cold snap, with snow swirling round the imposing Easterham Manor, Nigel and Georgia Strangeways enter the warmth of the Victorian estate. But upon their arrival, the couple quickly learn that all is not as cozy as it seems..
A really enjoyable read with good characters. I love this author. Unputdownable. 5*.

Loved the twist and turns in this mystery thriller. I loved that it was recently replublished and everyone once again got to read an amazing book first written in the 1900s.

A very enjoyable read! Hooked me right off the get go. A country house, snowed in, solid characters, twists and turns, what more could you ask for? This is my second Nigel Strangeways mystery, don’t you just love the name! I’m glad Ipso books are reprinting these Golden Age mysteries again for a whole new generation to enjoy.

The start was good, got my interest but as I continued to read...I somehow got lost. Most events were left dangling for a long time and characters were portrayed in a rather vague way. Overall , it was a good read but it does not compete with other writings of Blake.

A Golden Age crime classic from Nicholas Blake featuring his amiable amateur sleuth Nigel Strangeways, this time investigating a series of odd occurances, with a series of even odder eccentrics in situ, at Easterham Manor. Mr Strangeways is, of course, always perfectly placed to investigate even the strangest of requests and this one begins with a most bizarre scenario. Prose perfect in almost every way, this series, as a whole, is a delight to read. This particular tale isn't up there with the absolute best of Strangeways but still remains an enjoyable read indeed.

Nigel and Georgia Strangeways visit a cousin who takes them to her neighbor's dinner party. .Supposedly Nigel is to determine if the home has a ghost that's making the cat behave in strange ways. After observing odd behavior by all the dinner guests, Nigel suspects he's been asked to be here for a different reason. The following morning one of the family members is found dead, and it seems that everyone has their own secret.

Interesting story, a bit like reading an Agatha Christy novel. There is a death to be solved and a handful of suspects. Nigel needs to figure out the who and why.

The Corpse in the Snowman is a reprint of a classic 1941 British mystery. It is actually the seventh book in the Strangeways series. Loved the cover of the new edition, but found the story itself while well-written, lacking excitement, action, and attitude.

I enjoyed The Corpse in the Snowman by Nicholas Blake* a vintage murder mystery with a complicated plot. There’s a death and a body hidden in a snowman that is only discovered when a thaw sets in. It is set in 1940 in an isolated country house with a closed cast of characters and an amateur detective, Nigel Strangeways, helping the police and eventually solving the mystery. There are numerous twists and turns and red herrings before the murderer is revealed.

Easterham Manor in Essex, the home of the Restorick family is cut off from the neighbouring village by snow. Strange things have been going on. On Christmas Eve the family and their guests had gathered in what was said to be a haunted room waiting to see if the ghost would appear when Scribbles, the family cat sprang at a corner of the room and repeatedly struck her head against the wall and turned herself into a whirling dervish.

Some weeks later Nigel Strangeways and his wife Georgia have been invited by Georgia’s cousin, Clarissa to stay at the Manor’s Dower House to investigate the cat incident. The next morning Elizabeth Restorick is found hanged and naked in her room, a hint of a smile playing on her painted lips. Was it suicide, or a murder made to look like suicide? Nigel is convinced it was murder and finds there are plenty of suspects. Elizabeth was a drug addict – so, was she killed by the doctor who was treating her addiction, or by Will Dykes, a romantic novelist in love with Elizabeth, or her friend Miss Ainsley, described as a ‘nondescript sort of fribble‘ -a frivolous or foolish person – or by one of the family?

The title and the first chapter give away a vital element of the plot – the snowman, built by the Restorick children, twins John and Priscilla, melts to reveal a corpse hidden inside. But at this point the identity of the corpse is unknown and as I was reading the rest of the book I kept trying to work out who it could be. It wasn’t too difficult, but it did detract a little from the mystery and I didn’t enjoy it as much as his earlier book Malice in Wonderland.

*Nicholas Blake was the pseudonym of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis (1904 – 1972), one of the leading British poets of the 1930s. He began writing mysteries in 1935 to supplement his income from poetry and published his first Nigel Strangeways detective novel, A Question of Proof in 1935. The Corpse in the Snowman aka The Case of the Abominable Snowman is the 2nd in the series.

Nicholas Blake was a pseudonym of the Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis under which he wrote a series of mystery novels featuring the private investigator Nigel Strangeways. It seems there are twenty in the series, published between 1935 and 1968, which is good news for me as The Corpse in the Snowman is my first and I enjoyed it so much I will certainly be reading more of them!

This book is set in winter, as you will have guessed from the title – and yes, there is a snowman and yes, there’s a dead body hidden inside it. We know this from the very first chapter, but what we don’t know is whose body it is and how it has come to be in such a strange and macabre hiding place. To find out what is going on, we have to go back several weeks to the moment earlier in the winter when Nigel and Georgia Strangeways arrive at Easterham Manor in Essex, home of the Restorick family. They have been invited by Clarissa Cavendish, an elderly cousin of Georgia’s who lives on the estate and who has become convinced that there is something badly wrong at the Manor.

Clarissa’s fears are proved correct when, the day after the Strangeways’ arrival, the beautiful Elizabeth Restorick is found dead in her bedroom. It looks like a suicide, but Nigel is sure it is murder – and with a large party of guests gathered at Easterham for the festive season, there are plenty of suspects to choose from.

All the elements of a classic mystery novel are here – a country house cut off by snow; a locked room murder; an amateur detective working alongside the local police; family secrets, clues and red herrings – but a lot of attention is also given to themes such as drugs and drug addiction (with some interesting insights into the attitudes of the time). Published in 1941, the war is in the background but doesn’t really have any influence on the story; it’s set in those early days of the war when not much seemed to be happening and apart from a reference to blackout curtains and Nigel’s complaint at having to travel to Essex in wartime on an old woman’s whim, it is barely mentioned at all.

Although Nigel Strangeways is very ordinary as far as literary detectives go (there’s nothing to make him stand out amongst the Poirots, Campions and Wimseys of the genre), I did like him and will be happy to spend more time in his company. I was intrigued by mentions of his wife Georgia’s past career as an explorer; she doesn’t have a very big part to play in the novel, but I enjoyed what we do see of her. As for the other characters, there are a good variety of them within the Restorick household, ranging from an author who is in love with Elizabeth to a doctor whose speciality is ‘nervous disorders’ in women. I particularly loved Clarissa Cavendish, who is obsessed with the Georgian period and speaks of it as ‘in my day’ as if she had actually been alive at the time.

I am so pleased to have discovered Nicholas Blake and I’m sure I’ll be trying another of his books soon!

If you like historical mysteries or reprints of novels from the Golden Age of Mystery, you should definitely read at least one of Nicholas Blake’s novels. The Nigel Strangeways mysteries are challenging puzzles where human psychology plays a major role. The Corpse in the Snowman is an excellent manor house mystery that pits Nigel Strangeways and his wife Georgia against a cunning criminal, but is that criminal also a murderer?

Elizabeth Restorick is beautiful and troubled, a hedonist and an addict. Her family is stunned when her body is discovered. But is it a suicide, or a murder made to look like suicide. At the urging of Georgia's cousin and the Restorick family, Nigel explores the possibilities. Is it the enigmatic doctor from London who has been treating Elizabeth’s addiction, or her spurned suitor ? A jealous friend or a member of the family embarrassed by her behavior or seeking her inheritance? The case is a complicated one, made more so by the strange circumstances surrounding her death.

The Corpse in the Snowman is a fascinating mystery that stands the test of time. If you enjoy traditional manor house mysteries, The Corpse in the Snowman is an excellent choice.

4 / 5

I received a copy of The Corpse in the Snowman from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

This is vintage Nicholas Blake, just could not put it down, and when it finished I wish there would have been more. This is a classical mystery set in 1940, but perfectly relevant to this age in some ways. There really isn't anything that can compare with the storytelling style of Nicholas Blake, he has a real way with twisting a mystery, drawing characters and telling a story that just pulls you into the story and the era.

This book is very much of its time - you need to put aside any thoughts about female and class equality. Like other detective novels of the period it is enjoyable and the plot is ingenious. There is perhaps one coincidence too many, but it is a fun read.

Despite the age of this book it does not feel dated. This is a good read about a death and a body found hidden in a snowman. An easy read which was just the right length. I enjoyed this book and would read more by Nicholas Blake.

Very interesting storyline. At times confusing. lots going on. Got to read slowly.

“The Corpse” is a Golden Age Mystery (first published in 1941) with all of its comforting, typical tropes. Country house, private detective, landed gentry, bumbling bobbies…. I enjoyed my first of the Nigel Strangeways series, and will definitely read another as they are republished in the US.