A review of The Dreadful Hollow by Nicholas Blake – 240311

Drawing its title from the opening line of Tennyson’s Maud: A Monodrama, the tenth book in Nicholas Blake’s Nigel Strangeways series, originally published in 1953, starts off as a relatively simple case of poison-pen letters, but takes a grimmer and more disturbing turn midway through the book. One of the characters, Stanford Blick, refers to the poem and this gives Strangeways an inkling of what he has become involved in.

For the first time Nicholas Blake’s series sleuth seems to be a detective for hire as he is commissioned by the industrialist, Sir Archibald Blick, to see who is behind a series of anonymous missives that have upset the calm of the Dorset village of Prior’s Umborne, leading to one suicide and one attempted suicide. There are relatively few suspects and using his insight Strangeways quickly identifies the author.

His enquiries, though, do allow him to meet and get acquainted with some of the people around whom the rest of the book will centre. There are Blick’s two sons, the eldest, Stanford, who is eccentric with a touch of the mad scientist about him, and  Charles the hard working but unimaginative son who is a disappointment to his father and runs the factory in the village. Twenty years earlier Charles had been engaged to Celandine Chantmerle, a woman with piercing blue eyes, who suffered from post-traumatic stress after finding her father at the bottom of the eponymous hollow and was paralysed thereafter. Her sister, Rosebay, has fiery red hair and while devoted to her sister is having a fling with Charles. And then there is the best character in the book, the religiously obsessed Daniel Durdle who stalks around the village and seems to hold an unnatural sway over many of its inhabitants.

At Celandine’s birthday lunch, one of the presents she is given is a pair of binoculars which have been modified so that when the focussing screw is turned, two needles appear which were intended to pierce her eyes. Disaster is averted thanks to the timely intervention of her sister, but what intrigues Strangeways is why the screw was so stiff. Sir Archibald then visits Prior’s Umborne and the Dreadful Hollow Claims its next victim. There are many nocturnal comings and goings on the night in question and Strangeways, ably assisted by Inspector Blount of the Yard, has his work cut out establishing a timetable of events and testing alibis.

One thing he establishes is that Blick was responsible for Chantmerle’s financial ruin and, by extension, his suicide. Moreover, Durdle has a closer connection to the Chantmerles than the sisters realise. To clarify matters, Strangeways sets a trap into which the culprit falls and he is able to see the wood from the trees.          

The final chapter is superbly constructed as Blake, the pseudonym of Cecil Day Lewis, interweaves Nigel’s explanation of whodunit and why with the dramatic events that are unfolding in the village. Durdle, in his role of rabble rouser, gathers a lynching party to seek revenge on the author of the anonymous letters, but his plans go awry as he becomes the next victim to fall prey to the murderer. Despite Strangeways and Blount’s best efforts to apprehend the culprit, the Dreadful Hollow claims another victim. It makes for a thrilling finale.

As I have come to expect with Blake’s books, it is beautifully written, erudite and yet a page turner. There are some finely drawn characters and the book has more than its fair share of unpleasant individuals, Celandine having more than a touch of Miss Haversham about her. The mystery itself takes some time to get going and there are times when the plot seems to go round and round in circles. Fortunately, Strangeways’ knowledge of Tennyson’s Maud is better than mine and he manages to straighten matters out in the end.