 First edition (UK) | |
| Author | Cecil Day-Lewis |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
Publication date | 1958 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | |
A Penknife in My Heart is a 1958crimethriller novel byCecil Day-Lewis, written under the pen name of Nicholas Blake.[1][2] It was one of four stand-alone novels he wrote alongside theNigel Strangeways detective novels.
The plot is reminiscent ofPatricia Highsmith's 1950 novelStrangers on a Train. In his preface to the novel Day-Lewis apologised for the similarity, explaining that he had neither read Highsmith's novel nor seen thesubsequent film adaptation byAlfred Hitchcock. He thanked Highsmith "for being so charmingly sympathetic over the predicament in which the long arm of coincidence" placed him.[3]
Two men meet for the first time and find they both are in the same situation. Both desire someone to be murdered but fear being caught. They agree to swap killings, thereby giving each other perfectalibis.
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