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There's Trouble Brewing (Nigel Strangeways, #3)

Nicholas Blake

Start date: September 15, 2017

Finish date: October 8, 2017

Discussion: Buddy reads

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What Members Thought

Aug 31, 2017 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the third Nigel Strangeways mystery, written by Nicholas Blake (pseudonym of Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis), and following on from, “A Question of Proof,” and, “Thou Shell of Death”. Although Nigel met his wife, Georgia, in the previous book, she does not figure in this particular story apart from a short appearance at the beginning.

Nigel has been invited to address the Maiden Astbury Literary Society, a Dorset town home to Bunnett's Brewery, run by the objectionable Eustace Bunnett. Nig ...more

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Sep 09, 2017 Susan rated it really liked it

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Jun 08, 2021 Nancy Oakes rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: septimo-circulo, crime-fiction, crime-fiction-uk, 2021, 1930s, ipso-books

full post is here
http://www.crimesegments.com/2021/06/...

The back-cover blurb of this novel is short but succinct, and reveals that a local brewery owner loses his dog in one of the brewery's vats. It will also go on to reveal that said brewery owner will later be found in the same vat (more on that later). I'm not kidding when I say that my mind immediately flashed to particular episodes of Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, New Tricks and even Brokenwood in a variation on the theme (a ferment
full post is here
http://www.crimesegments.com/2021/06/...

The back-cover blurb of this novel is short but succinct, and reveals that a local brewery owner loses his dog in one of the brewery's vats. It will also go on to reveal that said brewery owner will later be found in the same vat (more on that later). I'm not kidding when I say that my mind immediately flashed to particular episodes of Midsomer Murders, Inspector Morse, New Tricks and even Brokenwood in a variation on the theme (a fermentation vat for wine instead of beer). I'm sure there are more that I've missed, but it seems that death in a vat is quite a popular way to go.

Of course, all of the above came long after There's Trouble Brewing, which made its appearance in 1937. This is the second novel I've read by Nicholas Blake after The Beast Must Die , both read out of series order. This book is number three in the series featuring Blake's Nigel Strangeways, and I'll confess to enjoying the other book much, much more, as this one was a bit on the sloggy side for me.

I very much enjoyed the writing otherwise, and only after two books now I have become a fan of Nigel Strangeways. I like his wife Georgia who sadly makes only a brief appearance here -- they are perfect for each other. And who doesn't love a story in which a character is so particularly loathsome that no one's going to be shedding a tear when he or she is dead? With the number of possible suspects and possible motivations that Strangeways uncovers here, it should have been a great read. The thing is though that Blake gives away the show much too early here with a particular remark that I took notice of that colored my thinking, so that by the time Strangeways cottons on to the solution, I'd already been there and was just waiting for our erstwhile detective to catch up. At chapter thirteen where Strangeways is going over the timetable of the case and makes an important discovery, I was just about ready to skip and get to the ending I knew was coming. It's a shame when that happens, really, because this could have been a most intriguing mystery novel otherwise.
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Oct 15, 2017 Gillian Kevern rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, vintage, 1930s, detective, chchlibrary, reading-the-detectives

Nicholas Blake and his detective, Nigel Strangeways, were both new to me! I discovered them via a buddy read in the Reading the Detectives Goodread group. I didn't realise it was a buddy read so went and read the entire thing myself. Whoops! I will be looking out for more books by Nicholas Blake.

The highlight was the following exchange which is eerily like a conversation my Latin class had once:

"I don't mean that," said Sophie, a little annoyed by the implication that she was one of those rabid ...more

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Jun 07, 2017 Shauna rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: golden-age-crime, 2017

Most definitely not one of the best of the Nigel Strangeways series. The characterisation was not good and the plot was weak, so much so that I knew the identity of the murderer from fairly early on in the book.

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Oct 31, 2014 Leslie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, mysteries, british

Maybe even 3½ stars. This is perhaps my very favorite type of mystery (British mystery of the 1930s) but I found Nigel Strangeways (the main character) a little more annoying than I had in other Blake mysteries. The mystery itself, set in a beer brewery, was fine.

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Nov 01, 2016 ShanDizzy rated it liked it

Ghastly, cold blooded murder but these are my favorite lines near the beginning of the narrative - "Sophie Cammison, Nigel reflected as he studied her letter again, would be one of those kittens that keeps a very useful set of claws concealed behind her playful pattings: she was the sort of woman who had to be bossing something; if it wasn’t a literary society, it would be flag-day committees, the Women’s Conservative League, Rescue and Prevention, the Society for the Preservation of Home Crafts ...more

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Jun 30, 2018 Stephanie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: mystery-suspense

I totally loved this story. The author introduces a lot of characters and each one has an interesting history, even if it is only 2 sentences. After reading it, I looked up the author and apparently he was a Poet Laureate and started this series early in his writing career. Makes sense then that he can do a brief descriptions that give you such an insight into the person. Looking forward to reading/listening to the remainder of the series (there are 16 books total). I listened to the audiobook a ...more

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