Malice in Wonderland

This is fun! Nicholas Blake was the pen-name of Cecil Day-Lewis, poet laureate, and we can tell immediately from the wonderful way this is written: "Perambulation, sir, if I may so put it, is the best aperitif for thought." In fact, this made me think that if Evelyn Waugh and P.G.Wodehouse had ever got together to write a Golden Age detective novel, it would be very like this.

The scene is set at a newly-opened holiday camp and part of the enjoyment of this book comes from the social commentary: the early Butlins'-style entertainment, the characterisation, the sly jokes at text-book Marxists and the phenomenon of Mass Observation. Mr Thistlethwaite ("A shop! My dear! Please! An establishment.") has jumped straight onto my list of favourite characters with his almost Dickensian vividness.

The plot itself rambles a bit from malicious tricks to espionage and murder, and the detective, Nigel Strangeways, has little personality (to be fair, this is mid-way through the series but the first I've read), but that doesn't really matter. A romp of a book that nods towards Agatha Christie et al. but which has a tongue-in-cheek joie de vive of its own.

The "Mad Hatter' is a prankster and presently causing all kinds of chaos at the Wonderland summer camp. The owners of Wonderland think it may be a rival business ... but there's no proof. And no one knows who the Mad Hatter is.

Private Investigator Nigel Strangeways receives a call from Wonderland asking for his help in stopping the nonsense. So far, nothing too serious has happened, but it's just plain aggravating. A piano has been tampered with. Golf balls have been dipped in molasses. And most concerning is that some swimmers are being pulled under water.

Before anyone gets hurt .. or worse ... Nigel is going to have his hands full.

Keeping in mind that this book was first published in 1940, this murder mystery is without the usual things the reader usually sees. There are no cell phones, not even pagers. The CSI effect doesn't work and DNA hasn't even been thought of.

This is a very slow paced mystery but the uniqueness of the plot keeps it moving forward. The characters are definitely distinctive, if not likeable.

Nicholas Blake was appointed Poet Laureate in 1968, and sadly passed away in 1972. My thanks to IPSO Books / Netgalley for the digital copy. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.

Malice in Wonderland is an odd but enjoyable mystery that has the flavor of classic mysteries from the 40s.  Wonderland is a holiday camp, an all inclusive resort where budget minded travelers can relax in comfort and enjoy group games and activities.  The novel initially focuses on the experiences of Paul, an observational scientist who is a bit of a prig, and the Thistlethwaite family particularly Mr Thistlethwaite (who much resembles the walrus in Alice in Wonderland) and his daughter Sally.  A prankster calling himself the Mad Hatter is at work in Wonderland, creating disturbances via irritating and sometimes dangerous practical jokes.  The longer they continue, the more they disturb Wonderland’s holiday atmosphere and endanger the business’s continued existence.  In order to avoid a scandal, the head of Wonderland calls in Nigel Strangeways, a detective whose name matches his techniques.

Malice in Wonderland is entertaining, but there is little in the way of danger or suspense.  Reading it is a bit like taking a holiday - you can relax, enjoy the festivities and not worry too much about the characters or situation. Nicholas Blake keeps the reader’s interest, but doesn't push an emotional commitment.  Readers are observers, like Paul believes himself to be.  Malice in Wonderland is well written, so I'm rounding up a 3.5 to a 4.

4 / 5

I received a copy of Malice in Wonderland from the publisher and Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.

--Crittermom

I generally enjoy reading Nicholas Blake novels as they are always intriguing and fast moving, this one I did not enjoy much. I found it rather repetitive, and when the ending was finally revealed, it held no surprise but relief that someone finally worked it out.
Having said that I am thrilled that these classic writer are again visiting our book stores shelves and allowing new readers to discover these wonderful book, and for people like myself, to have the opportunity to again connect with old friends is really a gift.

Very entertaining Golden Age mystery set in a British summer camp in 1940. The unusual setting and comic characters make the book a very fun read.

I really enjoyed Malice in Wonderland by Nicholas Blake*. It’s a Golden Age mystery first published in the UK in 1940; in the US as The Summer Camp Mystery, later in 1971 as Malice with Murder; and in 1987, as Murder with Malice.

There are several allusions to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The train to Wonderland plunges into a tunnel, just as Alice enters Wonderland through a rabbit hole. But in this case Wonderland is a holiday camp, set on a cliff top overlooking the sea. And all is not well in Wonderland as there is a prankster in the camp , the self-styled ‘Mad Hatter’, who is playing nasty and cruel practical jokes on the holiday makers. Swimmers are ducked in the sea and held down, tennis balls are coated in treacle, left with a note that refers to a part of dormouse’s story in Alice in Wonderland. Then the jokes get more dangerous. The camp’s owners are concerned not just for the guests but also for their business as they fear a rival firm with a grudge against the company is trying to ruin them.

There are hundreds of visitors at Wonderland, but the action revolves around a few characters including Paul Perry, a young man who calls himself a scientist, but who is there taking notes for the Mass Observation project, Mr and Mrs Thistlethwaite and their teenage daughter, Sally, Albert Morley, a timid little man, brothers Mortimer and Teddy Wise, the camp’s managers, their secretary Esmeralda Jones and Nigel Strangeways, a private detective.

Like other Golden Age mysteries, Malice in Wonderland presents a puzzle, plenty of suspects, clues planted along the way and a detective who solves the puzzle. It also presents a picture of life just before the Second World War, the social attitudes and in particular the beginnings of the holiday camps. By the 1930s there were several camps, including Warners and Butlins, at seaside locations. Wonderland has dining-halls presenting food cooked by London chefs, a ballroom, bars, an indoor swimming-bath, a concert hall, a gymnasium and numerous playrooms, plus a programme of entertainment with professional hosts and hostesses. It’s described as ‘the biggest, brightest and most ambitious of all the holiday camps that had sprung up over England during the last year or two.’

I loved the setting, the interesting characters, and the fiendishly difficult mystery to solve (I only solved it just before the denouement). And it’s well written with humour and style.

*Nicholas Blake was the pseudonym of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis (1904 – 1972), one of the leading British poets of the 1930s. He published his first Nigel Strangeways detective novel, A Question of Proof in 1935. Malice in Wonderland is the 6th in the series.

My thanks to the publisher for a digital ARC via NetGalley.

Very enjoyable to read, it’s not quite what I would usually pick but a great mystery and it was very well written.