La vida de Frank Cairnes cambió en apenas unos segundos cuando un día, su hijo de seis años fue arrollado por un coche que, inmediatamente, se dio a la fuga. Nadie vio nada y el pequeño murió al instante. Ahora, Frank Cairnes tiene un único objetivo que cumplir en este mundo: averiguar quién conducía el automóvil, encontrarlo y asesinarlo para vengar la muerte de su hijo.
Para conseguirlo. se valdrá de las ventajas que le proporciona ser un escritor de novelas policíacas de éxito, cuya identidad real nadie conoce, ya que firma sus obras con el pseudónimo de Felix Lane. Poco a poco, su investigación avanza y su plan empieza a tomar forma, pero una cosa es proyectar una venganza y otra muy diferente llevarla a cabo.

"Voy a matar a un hombre. No sé como se llama, no sé dónde vive, no tengo idea de su aspecto. Pero voy a encontrarlo y lo mataré..." Con esta contundencia habla Frank Cairnes, un escritor de novelas policiacas, después de que un conductor se dé a la fuga nada más atropellar y matar a su hijo pequeño. Desde ese mismo instante, no tiene otra meta que encontrar al criminal y acabar con él. El laureado poeta irlándes Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972) publicó varias colecciones de poemas, si bien conquistó la fama gracias a la creación del detective Nigel Strangeways y a las cerca de 20 novelas policiacas, escritas bajo el seudónimo de Nicholas Blake. Durante la II Guerra Mundial trabajó como editor de publicaciones en el Ministerio de Información. Se casó dos veces y de su segundo matrimonio nació Daniel Day-Lewis, el oscarizado actor.

Qué buena novela policial ( )

Basis for the BritBox Series (2021-?)
Review of the Ipso Books paperback edition (2017) of the Collins hardcover original (1938)

For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. - Ecclesiastes 3:19 (King James Version)

I saw the first 2 episodes of the new Cush Jumbo/Billy Howie/Jared Harris TV series The Beast Must Die which had the screen credit saying that it was based on a novel by Nicholas Blake, a penname of Cecil Day-Lewis (1904-1972). I saw that the book was listed on the Guardian/Observer's 1000 Novels Everyone Must Read and that Day-Lewis had based his detective Nigel Strangeways on the poet W.H. Auden (1907-1973). Day-Lewis himself was a poet and was also the father of the actor Daniel Day-Lewis. All of this background made me curious to read it.

The TV-series gender-swaps the character of Frank Cairns into the Frances Cairns role for Cush Jumbo but does start with the same vengeance premise of the book. Otherwise most of it is totally different and it is yet to be seen how many of the novel's twists are incorporated into the screen adaptation. Nigel Strangeways is a private detective in the books, but it is on the police force in the TV version. The book takes place in Gloucestershire whereas the TV series is on the Isle of Wight.

The Beast Must Die is actually the 4th in the Nigel Strangeways novels. It is probably listed in the 1,000 Novels List due to its various clever twists so there is not much one can say about it without spoilers. I enjoyed the book quite a lot and it will be interesting to follow how the screen adaptation differs from it. ( )

I read an out-of-print edition of this book and was amazed at how good it was. It's a genre mystery set (and written) in 1938 England. Part of the Nigel Strangeways mystery series, this was written by Cecil Day-Lewis under the pen name Nicholas Blake. Day-Lewis was a poet laureate of England and the father of Daniel Day-Lewis. The Beast Must Die (which, as a title, makes sense when you get to the end--it's from a bible passage--but otherwise makes you think the book is something else) concerns a distraught father whose young son is killed in a hit-and-run accident. The father (a writer of mysteries under a pseudonym) is obsessed with trying to discover the identity of the hit-and-run and driver and exact revenge. The first half of the book is his diary, and the second half is written in the third person and unravels the mystery of what really happened in the diary. Great book, but sadly out of print in the U.S. I'm going to look for the other Nigel Strangeways mysteries. ( )