Head Of A Traveller
A review of Head of a Traveller by Nicholas Blake – 240207
At the end of The Head of a Traveller, the ninth in Nicholas Blake’s Nigel Strangeways series, originally published in 1949, the sleuth is on the horn of a dilemma. He has in his possession a written confession from someone he admires greatly but has now committed suicide that if handed to the police would tarnish their reputation. Suspecting there are significant flaws in the confession sufficient to make it unsound but convincing enough to pass muster with the police desperate to wrap up a tricky and gruesome crime, releasing the confession would spare others who are culpable and thus respect the writer’s last wishes.
The book ends with Strangeways uncertain as to what to do and leaves the reader to ponder what they would do in the circumstances. Some might argue that this is a bit of a cop out, but it is a very realistic dilemma for someone who has the greatest respect for a person with whom he has broken bread. In the circumstances, I would probably let things be.
The book begins with Strangeways paying a visit to Plash Meadows, the home of the poet, Robert Seaton, who lives there with his wife, Janet, son, Lionel, who is still unsettled following his war experiences, and lodgers, Rennell Torrance and his wild child daughter, Mara, and Finny Black, a servant. Robert came into possession of the estate when his elder brother, Oswald, was assumed to have committed and married Janet, a member of the Lacey family who for centuries had owned Plash Meadows and had been engaged to Oswald.
Some months later a headless torso is found in the river nearby and Superintendent Blount, with whom Nigel has worked before, suggests he lends a hand in the investigations. Strangeways agrees and stays with the Seatons, the better to observe the dynamics of the family. There are two mysteries to solve; identify who the headless corpse is and then to understand who committed the murder and why.
The former is solved relatively easily if somewhat gruesomely when a head is found in a string bag up a tree. The second conundrum is more complex but has a surprisingly simple answer and with such a relatively small field of suspects the reader has a shrews suspicion of what went on, even if the mix is complicated by the suspicion that some might be working in tandem. Curiously, Blount disappears out of sight before the denouement.
As befits a poet, Nicholas Blake was the nom de plume of Cecil Day Lewis, a theme running through the book is the power of poetry. Robert Seaton had lost his poetic muse ever since he inherited Plash Meadows and the death of Oswald, for obviously his is the headless torso, has a cathartic, liberating effect which inspires him to produce, in Strangeways’ opinion, his finest work. To create poetry requires an alignment between one’s creativity and ease of mind. The other ever present leitmotif is the atmospheric house and its ability to evoke different moods and passions.
For the modern reader one of the controversial aspects of the book is the treatment of Finny Black who was a dwarf and was probably mute, although this was not conclusively established. The attitude of the other characters towards him and the language used to describe him might well upset those of a sensitive disposition, but, sadly, is reflective of the attitudes prevailing at the time.
At its heart, it is a story of rape and revenge, what happens when a family conspires against a black sheep, which is beautifully written, witty at times, erudite at others – the title, wonderfully chosen as Oswald had spent his time travelling comes from the opening of an A E Housman poem – and enthralling. It might not be his best but the open question at the end was a stroke of genius.
