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It was a clever idea--It was. You'd never have guessed. Never! Nor if it hadn't been for this interfering jackanapes, this pompous Scotch fool. I'd thought out every detail--every detail! I can't help what went wrong. How was I to know Royde knew the truth about Audery and Adrian? Audery and Adrian... Curse Audery--she shall hang--you've got to hang her--I want her to die afraid--to die--to die... I hate her. I tell you I want her to die... [...] I want her to be hanged. I do want her to be hanged...
~ Nevile's Villainous Breakdown, revealing his unhinged true nature.

Nevile Strange (whose real name is unknown) is the main antagonist of Agatha Christie's 1944 novel, Towards Zero, which is the last novel of which featured Superintendent Battle, and the only novel with Battle as the sole main protagonist. He is a sociopathic killer underneath a civilized man's disguise, attempting to kill whoever had wronged him.

Nevile also appeared as a culprit in the third season of ITV's Agatha Christie's Marple, where the novel was adapted into one of its episode, with Miss Jane Marple as the protagonist instead.

He was portrayed by Greg Wise in Agatha Christie's Marple, and voiced by Hugh Bonneville in Joy Wilkinson's 2010 radio play adaptation of the book, the latter of whom also played Hector Blake in I Came By.

Biography[]

Early life[]

According to Mr. Arthur Treves, a lawyer, he was involved in the case of a mentally abnormal child who killed another child with an arrow, which was ruled an accident. The child was given a new name and a fresh start, despite a local man having seen the child practising assiduously with a bow and arrow.

Mr. Treves remembered the case and the fact that the child had a distinctive physical feature which he does not reveal (later revealed to be Nevile's distinctive little fingers with visible differences to each other).

Crimes[]

The boy was later revealed to be Nevile Strange, who later became a successful tennis player and athlete, and married a woman named Audrey. After their marriage, Audrey soon grew terrified of her husband and decided to divorce him.

Nevile later married another woman named Kay, but he remained resentful of Audrey and decided to take her down for revenge.

After her divorce, Audrey was supposed to be married to Adrian Royde, the brother her cousin Thomas Royde, until he died in a car accident. It was revealed that Nevile murdered Adrian by running him over with his motorcar.

After the talk with Mr. Treves, Nevile decided to kill the lawyer before he could identify him. To kill his first victim, Nevile hung a sign of "Out of Order" on the door of the lift, faking its impaired state, and forced Mr. Treves to climb upstairs. Because of his age and bad health, Mr. Treves soon died of heart attack while climbing the stairway.

Later that night, Lady Tressilian was troubled by Mr. Treves' death and quarrelled with Nevile with the problems over Kay and Audrey. Nevile left and made sure the maid saw him leave to give himself an alibi. He then swam back to the scene, climbed into the house through the roof and beat Lady Tressilian to death with a modified tennis racket.

Before leaving, he planted one of Audrey's gloves at the scene in order to frame her, also leaving behind one of his golf clubs so it would appear that someone was trying to frame him.

As Nevile had hoped, Lady Tressilian's maid told police that her mistress was still alive after Nevile left and suspicion shifted to Audrey, the other beneficiary of Lady Tressilian's will. The glove was found and she soon confessed due to overwhelming pressure.

Downfall[]

Later, when Audrey was arrested, Superintendent Battle suspected that Audrey was framed since her attitude reminded him of his daughter, who was pressured into confessing to a theft she did not commit just a couple of days ago. As a result, he believed that Audrey was in the same situation and decided to help her.

With the help of Angus MacWhirter, who witnessed someone swimming from the shore and climbing into the house through the roof, Battle soon discovered that Nevile, who was the only suspect that was a skilled swimmer, was truly responsible for the case. His plan was leading all the way towards zero - the juncture at which Audrey was to be tried and hanged for Lady Tresilian's murder.

Eventually, Nevile broke down mentally and confessed everything in front of the astonished guests, ranting that his plan was a great plan and screaming out his desire to see his wife hanged. Battle also recognized Nevile as the same murderous child whom Mr. Treves mentioned, and he arrested him for the murder of Lady Tressilian.

While there was suspicion that Nevile killed Mr. Treves and Adrian Royde, there was not sufficient evidence to prove it. Still, Audrey's name was cleared and she was released, while Nevile was charged, now a mentally broken man who might not even withstand the trial.

Convinced by Battle's words and deciding to move on from Nevile, Audrey now entered into a new romantic relationship with Angus MacWhirter, whom she met a year ago by saving him a suicidal attempt, above the very same cliff where MacWhirter witnessed Nevile swimming back to the crime scene.

Victims[]

Body Count: 4+

  • Another child
  • Adrian Royde (implied)
  • Mr. Treves
  • Lady Tressilian
  • Audrey Strange (attempted; saved by Battle)

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • It is implied that the name "Nevile Strange" is actually an alias. Mr. Treves had revealed that the child murderer, later revealed to be Nevile in his pre-teens, had changed his name and had a new life.
  • He is considered as one of the most evil murderers from Agatha Christie's novels.
  • In a loose 1995 film adaptation, Innocent Lies, the character of Nevile Strange is rewritten in a dual role as siblings Cecilia and Jeremy Graves, played respectively as adults by Gabrielle Anwar and Stephen Dorff, and as children by Keira Knightley and Tobias and Robin Saunders.
  • He shares similarities with Honoria Waynflete from Murder Is Easy as he kills people to frame someone whom he formerly loved.

External Links[]

Navigation[]

     
Agatha Christie's signature Villains
(Non-Poirot & Non-Marple)

Tommy and Tuppence Beresford
Conspiracy (Mr. Brown, Mr. Brown's decoy & Mr. Whittington) | Elise | Miss Bligh | Mrs. Lancaster | N & M | Russian spies (Captain Harker, Charles Bauer, Duke of Blairgowrie, Dymchurch & Number 16) | Sir Arthur Merivale | Sir Phillip Stark

And Then There Were None
Anthony James Marston | Mrs. Ethel Rogers | General John Gordon Macarthur | Mr. Thomas Rogers | Emily Caroline Brent | Justice Lawrence John Wargrave | Dr. Edward George Armstrong | William Henry Blore | Philip Lombard | Vera Elizabeth Claythorne | Isaac Morris | Edward Seton

Other Mystery Stories
The Wife of the Kenite (1923): Conrad Schaefer
The Red Signal (1924): Jack Trent
The Mystery of the Blue Jar (1924): Ambrose Lavington | Felise Marchaud
The Man in the Brown Suit (1924): Sir Eustace Pedler
The Witness for the Prosecution (1925): Leonard Vole | Romaine Heilger
The Fourth Man (1925): Annette Ravel
S.O.S. (1926): Mr. Dinsmead
Wireless (1926): Charles Ridgeway
The Last Séance (1927): Madame Exe
The Sittaford Mystery (1931): Major Burnaby
The Hound of Death (1933): Dr. Rose
The Strange Case of Arthur Carmichael (1933): Lady Carmichael
Philomel Cottage (1934): Charles Lemaitre
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? (1934): Roger Bassington-ffrench | Moira Nicholson
Murder is Easy (1939): Honoria Waynflete
Death Comes as the End (1944): Yahmose | Nofret | Satipy | Sobek | Ipy | Henet
Towards Zero (1944): Nevile Strange
Sparkling Cyanide (1945): Ruth Lessing
Crooked House (1949): Josephine Leonides
The Mousetrap (1952): TOP SECRET | Maureen Lyon | Mrs. Boyle
Destination Unknown (1954): Thomas Betterton
Ordeal by Innocence (1958): Jacko Argyle | Kirsten Lindholm | Rachel Argyle
The Pale Horse (1961): Zachariah Osborne
Endless Night (1967): Michael Rogers | Greta Andersen

Adaptational, Homage & Non-Canonical
Ordeal by Innocence (2018): Bellamy Gould | Leo Argyll
Other Adaptations: Leonard Waynflete

            
MarpleLogo Villains

Murderers
Dr. James Kennedy | Dr. Quimper | Elliot Haydon | Elvira Blake | Josie Turner | Lance Fortescue | Lawrence Redding | Lucky Dyson | Mark Gaskell | Nurse Copling | Tim Kendall

Villainous Victims
Colonel Protheroe | Ella Zielinsky | Giuseppe | Heather Badcock | Lucky Dyson | Rex Fortescue | Victoria

Others
Jane Helier | Lady Sedgwick

ITV Series Exclusive
Original Characters & Adaptational Culprits
Brigit Milford | Tilly Rice
Originated from non-Marple stories
Adelaide Jefferson | Charles Burnaby | Helen Kennedy Halliday | Greta Andersen | Honoria Waynflete | Jacko Argyle | Kirsten Lindholm | Leonard Waynflete | Rachel Argyle | Michael Rogers | Miss Bligh | Moira Nicholson | Mrs. Lancaster | Nevile Strange | Paul Osborne | Roger Bassington-ffrench | Sir Phillip Starke

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