End of Chapter

 End of Chapter (1957) by Nicholas Blake (Cecil Day-Lewis)

It's odd, the way people will commit murder to achieve security. As though one could ever buy peace of mind with someone else's blood.

Nigel Strangeways is called upon by an old publishing firm to help them in a time of crisis. One retired military officer is publishing his memoirs and was firmly told to remove some libelous passages about another military officer. After much wrangling, he was convinced to do so and the legally perilous bits were marked out. But...somebody marked them "stet" (which in publishing parlance means "oops, we didn't really mean that--go ahead and keep that in") and the book is published. There's nothing to be done about the legal case coming at Wenham & Geraldine, but the administrators do want to know who is responsible, so they give Strangeways the task of finding out, if he can.

But before he can make much progress another author who is working on her autobiography is found dead in her work room within the publishing house. Her throat has been cut and somebody has replaced a page of her autobiography. Is there a connection to the libel case? Did she know who the culprit was and did she try to blackmail him/her? Or is the answer to both mysteries to be found somewhere in the past?

My second go-round with Nigel Strangeways (I read all of his mysteries long ago and far away) just doesn't seem to be as compelling as the first. The mystery here is okay, although the culprit is pretty obvious from the beginning and the efforts to provide red herring suspects seems pretty half-hearted. I never got the feeling that Strangeways was seriously considering anybody as suspect number one. The plot (thought I do like books set in the publishing world) didn't really hold me--I repeatedly put the thing down even when I didn't have other things to do. It certainly wasn't a page turner.

And...just as an aside...am I really supposed to believe that a man (Strangeways) who has been invited to a black tie dinner party would actually drape himself across his host's sofa and apply nose drops? In a social situation in front of the other guests? A British man--applying nose drops in public??? Really?  It seems to me that the only point of his bringing the drops out in front of the suspects (on several occasions--not just at the dinner party) was to provide a way for one of them to later try and injure, if not kill him. 

Not a lot of plot twists. Pretty straightforward and it seems to me that Strangeways takes a a long time to get round to the solution. I gave this ★★★ on my first read and I guess I'll let that stand, though I'm not absolutely convinced.

First line: Nigel Strangeways turned into Adelphi, and soon arrived at the distinguished backwater of Angel Street, the Strand traffic roaring softly behind him like a weir.

...he sounds a bit mad, from your description. Anyone would be, reading books all day for twenty-five years. (Clare Massinger; p. 62)

Last line: Basil Ryle offered Nigel his hand, then, with a glance at Clare and a glint of his old perkiness, added, "You're a lucky chap."

*****************

Deaths = 4 (one stabbed; one natural; one shot in war; one hit by train)