The Sad Variety is a 1964 thriller novel written by the Anglo-Irish writer Cecil Day-Lewis, written under the pen name of Nicholas Blake.[1] It is the fifteenth and penultimate entry into the series featuring the private detective Nigel Strangeways. It marked a move away from the murder mysteries of the earlier novels into the then-fashionable spy novel genre.

The Sad Variety
First edition
AuthorCecil Day-Lewis
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
SeriesNigel Strangeways
GenreThriller
PublisherCollins Crime Club
Publication date
1964
Media typePrint
Preceded byThe Worm of Death 
Followed byThe Morning after Death 

Synopsis edit

Strangeways is called in by the Security Service to protect a professor, whose recent discovery makes him a target for Soviet intelligence, and his daughter. The action takes place in a country hotel in wintery Dorset.

References edit

  1. ^ Stanford p.284

Bibliography edit

  • Stanford, Peter. C Day-Lewis: A Life. A&C Black, 2007.