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Roderick Alleyn #30
Роковая ошибка
Сибил Фостер, владелица одного из самых элегантных поместий в Верхнем Квинтерне, отправляется в роскошный отель «Ренклод» отдохнуть и поправить здоровье под наблюдением врача, где… умирает при невыясненных обстоятельствах. Эксперты единодушны: смерть наступила от передозировки лекарств. Неужели эксцентричная дамочка специально уехала от друзей и родственников за город, чтобы покончить с собой? Тем более, как выясняется, мотивов для самоубийства у нее было предостаточно – ее мучила изнурительная болезнь, а дочь отказалась выходить замуж за подходящую партию. Однако старший суперинтендант Родерик Аллейн сомневается, что в этом деле все так однозначно, и чувствует, что нужно копать глубже.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
321 people are currently reading
861 people want to read
About the author
Ngaio Marsh
223 books804 followersDame Ngaio Marsh, born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900, but she was born in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.
Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.
All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.
Series:
* Roderick Alleyn
Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.
Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.
All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.
Series:
* Roderick Alleyn
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 139 reviews
December 14, 2018
Dame Ngaio Marsh is one of that handful of British (in this case New Zealand) female mystery writers whose tales of murder and mayhem never grow old. They are so reminiscent of the golden age of mystery in the 1920s-30s but yet, this book was written in 1978. It is the manner of speech and the impeccable manners of all concerned in her stories that remind one of how the world of detective stories has changed. Would you ever find this sentence in a modern tome?....."In the pause that followed, a blackbird near the garden made a brief statement and traffic on the London motorway four miles distant established itself as a vague rumour." See what I mean?
In this late entry of the Chief Superintendent Alleyn/Detective Inspector Fox series, a fatuous spoiled woman with too much money and too much time on her hands is found dead at a society spa while taking "the cure" for some imagined illness. It soon turns out to be murder and there is a fortune at stake, as well as a priceless postage stamp which may or may not exist. Several in the cast of characters will profit from her death but who, and how, did they commit this almost perfect crime. Alleyn and Fox are on the trail in their very low key style and that means that justice will prevail.
Marsh's books may not appeal to all mystery readers due to their formal and highly structured style but oh, how I do enjoy them. And this one is no exception.
In this late entry of the Chief Superintendent Alleyn/Detective Inspector Fox series, a fatuous spoiled woman with too much money and too much time on her hands is found dead at a society spa while taking "the cure" for some imagined illness. It soon turns out to be murder and there is a fortune at stake, as well as a priceless postage stamp which may or may not exist. Several in the cast of characters will profit from her death but who, and how, did they commit this almost perfect crime. Alleyn and Fox are on the trail in their very low key style and that means that justice will prevail.
Marsh's books may not appeal to all mystery readers due to their formal and highly structured style but oh, how I do enjoy them. And this one is no exception.
October 4, 2022
This was a late Marsh set in a cosy Kentish village in the 1970s. Alleyn and Fox are called in to investigate a suspicious death at a spa. Was it suicide or murder? The familiar class distinctions are made with the faded aristocracy, nouveau rich, the servants and a doctor and vicar thrown in as well as the black sheep of the family Claude.
The victims reluctant friend Verity is drawn into the machinations of everyone. I enjoyed this familiar read of manners and snobbery.
SPOILERS AHEAD
We all hope it is the fake doctor Basil who surprisingly is in the victims will. I did find it odd Alleyn never prosecuted or charged him with fraud when they discovered he was a fake doctor. Claude the next obvious suspect is a blackmailer and petty criminal. Alas poor Claude blackmails the murderer Bruce the gardener who was also in the Will. The motive a rare stamp and £25000. The digging up of Lady Foster’s grave in the rain is a particular macabre touch.
An enjoyable read.
The victims reluctant friend Verity is drawn into the machinations of everyone. I enjoyed this familiar read of manners and snobbery.
SPOILERS AHEAD
We all hope it is the fake doctor Basil who surprisingly is in the victims will. I did find it odd Alleyn never prosecuted or charged him with fraud when they discovered he was a fake doctor. Claude the next obvious suspect is a blackmailer and petty criminal. Alas poor Claude blackmails the murderer Bruce the gardener who was also in the Will. The motive a rare stamp and £25000. The digging up of Lady Foster’s grave in the rain is a particular macabre touch.
An enjoyable read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 6, 2018
A couple of days ago I was reading a critique of Marsh's novel Last Ditch (1977) that pulled the book apart on a whole bunch of grounds, with most of which I agreed: it's indeed pretty dire. But when the reviewer then said that all of Marsh's last few books were "atrocious" I had to demur. Grave Mistake, which I'd finished reading literally hours before coincidentally stumbling across the review in question, kept me thoroughly entertained from first page to last and yet was published the year after Last Ditch. In terms of pure puzzle, it doesn't rank especially highly, but in every other respect it's a very fine detective novel.
Verity Preston, a respectable spinster with a past that was wilder than people might now think, is our primary viewpoint character here; I've no idea if Verity is intended as a sort of Ngaio Marsh surrogate, but it certainly feels that way. She's not entirely a passive character, but she's settled in her existence as an observer rather than a mover and shaker. What she observes are the goings on in the village of Upper Quintern and its environs.
And what has just gone on is that Verity's oldest -- if not closest -- friend Sophie Foster has died while staying at a rest-cure hotel to recover from her latest bout of hypochondria. All the signs are that Sophie committed suicide, but everyone who knew her doubts this: not only was she not the type, she had every reason to live. Moreover, she recently made a bizarre will leaving most of her fortune to the doctor who'd been treating her at the hotel -- whom she'd known for only a matter of weeks but who happens to be the man with whom Verity, decades ago, committed most of her wildness.
Soon Roderick Alleyn, Marsh's series detective, is called in to investigate alongside his long-time sidekick Fox.
Mostly because Sophie was so heavingly rich, there are lots of people with motives for offing her. Her stepson by her first marriage, Claude, wants her money. The local millionaire, Nikolas Markos, wants her architectural treasure of a house rather than his own ugly pile and, now that she's dead, will be able to live in it after his son Gideon marries Sophie's daughter Prunella. Prunella and Gideon gain from Sophie's shuffling off of the mortal coil because now there's less impediment to their marriage plans, which Sophie had seemed intent on thwarting. The doctor, as noted, is scheduled to inherit the bulk of Sophie's money, and there are lesser, but non-negligible, bequests to others.
Just to add an extra motive for all concerned, Sophie's first husband, killed long ago in the war, took with him to the grave the secret of the whereabouts of the Black Alexander, a fabulously valuable one-of-a-kind postage stamp.
As I say, motives everywhere. It's through dazzling us with motives that Marsh most effectively deceives us.
Although we tend to think of Marsh as one of the four Queens of Golden Age Crime -- the others being Sayers, Allingham and Christie -- it's easy to forget that she was the funniest of them. Allingham could be very funny too and Christie had her moments pretty frequently, but for sheer sustained mirth in a detective novel Marsh took some beating.
As I was reading Grave Mistake (retitled, I think unfortunately, A Grave Mistake in many editions) it occurred to me that her comedic secret lay not so much in the jokes and bits of situational humor -- although there are plenty of those -- as in her detail writing, especially her use of unorthodox adjectives.
To take just a single example, at one point we're told that an important pick-me-up at any police station is a cup of strong tea and a couple of recalcitrant biscuits (cookies).
What a lovely term: "recalcitrant biscuits." I can see them now, sitting all woebegone on their chipped white china plate.
As I was reading Grave Mistake a lot of it felt a tad familiar. I assumed I must have read the book decades ago, during the period when I romped through great swathes of GAD, including many of Marsh's novels. Yet I had no idea about who the killer was nor the location of the Black Alexander, both of which are quite striking aspects of the book. Furthermore, every now and then I was remembering something visually; a particular example concerns the village idiot's habit of camping inside the graveyard hedge and, from the nest he's made himself in there, scaring unwary passers-by. Yet, as shown by a quick rummage in IMDB, Grave Mistake wasn't the basis for any of the episodes in the short-lived Roderick Alleyn TV series way back when and doesn't seem to have been adapted for the screen otherwise. I'm wondering if the novel might have been cannibalized at some point for some completely unrelated series -- Midsomer Murder, summat like that. But who knows?
Verity Preston, a respectable spinster with a past that was wilder than people might now think, is our primary viewpoint character here; I've no idea if Verity is intended as a sort of Ngaio Marsh surrogate, but it certainly feels that way. She's not entirely a passive character, but she's settled in her existence as an observer rather than a mover and shaker. What she observes are the goings on in the village of Upper Quintern and its environs.
And what has just gone on is that Verity's oldest -- if not closest -- friend Sophie Foster has died while staying at a rest-cure hotel to recover from her latest bout of hypochondria. All the signs are that Sophie committed suicide, but everyone who knew her doubts this: not only was she not the type, she had every reason to live. Moreover, she recently made a bizarre will leaving most of her fortune to the doctor who'd been treating her at the hotel -- whom she'd known for only a matter of weeks but who happens to be the man with whom Verity, decades ago, committed most of her wildness.
Soon Roderick Alleyn, Marsh's series detective, is called in to investigate alongside his long-time sidekick Fox.
Mostly because Sophie was so heavingly rich, there are lots of people with motives for offing her. Her stepson by her first marriage, Claude, wants her money. The local millionaire, Nikolas Markos, wants her architectural treasure of a house rather than his own ugly pile and, now that she's dead, will be able to live in it after his son Gideon marries Sophie's daughter Prunella. Prunella and Gideon gain from Sophie's shuffling off of the mortal coil because now there's less impediment to their marriage plans, which Sophie had seemed intent on thwarting. The doctor, as noted, is scheduled to inherit the bulk of Sophie's money, and there are lesser, but non-negligible, bequests to others.
Just to add an extra motive for all concerned, Sophie's first husband, killed long ago in the war, took with him to the grave the secret of the whereabouts of the Black Alexander, a fabulously valuable one-of-a-kind postage stamp.
As I say, motives everywhere. It's through dazzling us with motives that Marsh most effectively deceives us.
Although we tend to think of Marsh as one of the four Queens of Golden Age Crime -- the others being Sayers, Allingham and Christie -- it's easy to forget that she was the funniest of them. Allingham could be very funny too and Christie had her moments pretty frequently, but for sheer sustained mirth in a detective novel Marsh took some beating.
As I was reading Grave Mistake (retitled, I think unfortunately, A Grave Mistake in many editions) it occurred to me that her comedic secret lay not so much in the jokes and bits of situational humor -- although there are plenty of those -- as in her detail writing, especially her use of unorthodox adjectives.
To take just a single example, at one point we're told that an important pick-me-up at any police station is a cup of strong tea and a couple of recalcitrant biscuits (cookies).
What a lovely term: "recalcitrant biscuits." I can see them now, sitting all woebegone on their chipped white china plate.
As I was reading Grave Mistake a lot of it felt a tad familiar. I assumed I must have read the book decades ago, during the period when I romped through great swathes of GAD, including many of Marsh's novels. Yet I had no idea about who the killer was nor the location of the Black Alexander, both of which are quite striking aspects of the book. Furthermore, every now and then I was remembering something visually; a particular example concerns the village idiot's habit of camping inside the graveyard hedge and, from the nest he's made himself in there, scaring unwary passers-by. Yet, as shown by a quick rummage in IMDB, Grave Mistake wasn't the basis for any of the episodes in the short-lived Roderick Alleyn TV series way back when and doesn't seem to have been adapted for the screen otherwise. I'm wondering if the novel might have been cannibalized at some point for some completely unrelated series -- Midsomer Murder, summat like that. But who knows?
September 28, 2015
Three and a half stars.
A cosy village mystery first published in the late 1970's. The village is Upper Quintern and the residents are mostly wealthy with maids and gardeners shared between houses. A Greek multi-millionaire has recently bought one of the local mansions and village gossip ensues.
A sudden death occurs and Chief Superintendent Alleyn is called to the village with Inspector Fox in support. They investigate a full cast of lively and likely suspects as they try to restore order to the village.
Marsh writes with wit, charm and atmosphere. At times the writing felt dated and the plot was perhaps lacking in complexity, but I accepted that and it did become an engrossing read.
A cosy village mystery first published in the late 1970's. The village is Upper Quintern and the residents are mostly wealthy with maids and gardeners shared between houses. A Greek multi-millionaire has recently bought one of the local mansions and village gossip ensues.
A sudden death occurs and Chief Superintendent Alleyn is called to the village with Inspector Fox in support. They investigate a full cast of lively and likely suspects as they try to restore order to the village.
Marsh writes with wit, charm and atmosphere. At times the writing felt dated and the plot was perhaps lacking in complexity, but I accepted that and it did become an engrossing read.
June 18, 2020
I am saddened as I reach the final books of this series, as Ngaio Marsh had a second wind as she reached her final Roderick Alleyn books. Published in 1978, this mystery has a great cast of characters, a good plot and some great humour between Alleyn and Sergeant ‘Foxkins.’
In the lovely village of Upper Quinton, wealthy Sybil Foster lives in a beautiful house, coveted by millionaire, Nicholas Markos. Sybil confides in her friend, Verity, that Markos junior, the young Gideon Markos, has paying more attention to her daughter, Prunella, than she is happy with. Sybil is something of a complainer and a hypochondriac; she tends to fuss and to want sympathy. She is pleased when she manages to find a new gardener, the aptly names Bruce Gardener, who has returned to live with his widowed sister. However, when she discovers that her step son, the snooping and sponging, Claude Carter, is coming for a visit, she is again thrown into despair.
At a dinner party with Nicholas Markos, Verity comes face to face with Dr Basil Sham, who she had known well many years ago and had hoped not to see again. This novel is full of wonderfully suspicious characters – of which Sham is certainly one. Discovering that the charming and sympathetic Sham is working at Greengages, a health spa, Sybil Foster departs for a cure and is quickly – as is the way with such crime novels – killed off.
The reader is left with a whole host of suspects with wonderful motives, which include an unpopular will, a missing stamp and hidden secrets for Alleyn and Fox to unearth. This definitely was written in the 1970’s, though. At one point, Sham and a nurse have a raging row in front of Alleyn, both the worse for drink. Yet Alleyn, who is a senior member of the police force, wryly watches them both drive off slowly in their cars… This is a good addition to the series and Marsh showed no sign of reaching the end of her writing powers, as she neared the end of a series which started so many years before, in the early 1930’s.
In the lovely village of Upper Quinton, wealthy Sybil Foster lives in a beautiful house, coveted by millionaire, Nicholas Markos. Sybil confides in her friend, Verity, that Markos junior, the young Gideon Markos, has paying more attention to her daughter, Prunella, than she is happy with. Sybil is something of a complainer and a hypochondriac; she tends to fuss and to want sympathy. She is pleased when she manages to find a new gardener, the aptly names Bruce Gardener, who has returned to live with his widowed sister. However, when she discovers that her step son, the snooping and sponging, Claude Carter, is coming for a visit, she is again thrown into despair.
At a dinner party with Nicholas Markos, Verity comes face to face with Dr Basil Sham, who she had known well many years ago and had hoped not to see again. This novel is full of wonderfully suspicious characters – of which Sham is certainly one. Discovering that the charming and sympathetic Sham is working at Greengages, a health spa, Sybil Foster departs for a cure and is quickly – as is the way with such crime novels – killed off.
The reader is left with a whole host of suspects with wonderful motives, which include an unpopular will, a missing stamp and hidden secrets for Alleyn and Fox to unearth. This definitely was written in the 1970’s, though. At one point, Sham and a nurse have a raging row in front of Alleyn, both the worse for drink. Yet Alleyn, who is a senior member of the police force, wryly watches them both drive off slowly in their cars… This is a good addition to the series and Marsh showed no sign of reaching the end of her writing powers, as she neared the end of a series which started so many years before, in the early 1930’s.
October 17, 2023
A good story but not one of her best, as I have to quarrel with a couple of points in it. And since Marsh's books are usually very solid this disappointed me. The problems are - Still it's better than a lot of other mysteries out there so I gave it three stars. Just be prepared to swallow a couple of difficulties as you read.
July 9, 2019
I enjoyed reading this work by Marsh as I had time to savor the careful construction and development of characters that held this English village mystery together beginning to end. The role of gardener is front and center in this tale, as we are introduced to our first dead body by page 7, the gardener head over into the wheelbarrow of apparent heart attack.
Two old friends with large grounds/gardens find themselves in need of a gardener. Sybil, the health-challenged, extravagant, beautiful and much married finds a new man for the job and suggests she share him with Verity, the healthy 50-yr old single woman, a successful playwright. He seems to know his work very well and both ladies are satisfied.
"Verity often wondered how it had come about that she and Sybil seemed to be such close friends. They had known each other all their lives, of course, and when they were small had shared the same governess...Their friendship, in fact, was a sort of hardy perennial, reappearing when it was least expected to do so."
Along comes the Greek millionaire into their midst, having failed to buy the historic home Sybil lived in, and invites all and sundry to a dinner party to show off his remodeled home in their neighborhood. Descriptions of those attending included this delightful capsule: "The Vicar was called Walter Cloudsley, and ministered, a little sadly, to twenty parishioners in a very beautiful old church that had once housed three hundred."
The scene is set for Sybil's daughter Prudence and the Greek's handsome son Gideon to become a couple, much against the plans of Sybil for her daughter to marry a peer.
Even Verity is faced with a shocker at this dinner, being introduced to a lothario "doctor" from her past who is now going by a different name. He is a particularly easy man to dislike.
Sybil is having a struggle with her health and sets off for a health spa where this man from Verity's past is a doctor. This is a visit of no return.
Alleyn and Fox are brought in on the case due to questions surrounding the death, the new will and much more in the way of suspicious behavior. There are certainly quite a few candidates to investigate with regard to motive and opportunity.
Marsh was in her 80's when she wrote this and it seemed to me she enjoyed modeling Verity in her own style. Often I have found her books featuring plays and players to be hard to digest and overly dramatic, but Verity the playwright is upright, reliably self sufficient, intelligent and admirable on many levels. She had never told anyone what had happened to her with regards to the "doctor" character until Alleyn came along, and it made me happy that she could share that burden with him.
It also helped that I was planting a garden while reading this book.
Two old friends with large grounds/gardens find themselves in need of a gardener. Sybil, the health-challenged, extravagant, beautiful and much married finds a new man for the job and suggests she share him with Verity, the healthy 50-yr old single woman, a successful playwright. He seems to know his work very well and both ladies are satisfied.
"Verity often wondered how it had come about that she and Sybil seemed to be such close friends. They had known each other all their lives, of course, and when they were small had shared the same governess...Their friendship, in fact, was a sort of hardy perennial, reappearing when it was least expected to do so."
Along comes the Greek millionaire into their midst, having failed to buy the historic home Sybil lived in, and invites all and sundry to a dinner party to show off his remodeled home in their neighborhood. Descriptions of those attending included this delightful capsule: "The Vicar was called Walter Cloudsley, and ministered, a little sadly, to twenty parishioners in a very beautiful old church that had once housed three hundred."
The scene is set for Sybil's daughter Prudence and the Greek's handsome son Gideon to become a couple, much against the plans of Sybil for her daughter to marry a peer.
Even Verity is faced with a shocker at this dinner, being introduced to a lothario "doctor" from her past who is now going by a different name. He is a particularly easy man to dislike.
Sybil is having a struggle with her health and sets off for a health spa where this man from Verity's past is a doctor. This is a visit of no return.
Alleyn and Fox are brought in on the case due to questions surrounding the death, the new will and much more in the way of suspicious behavior. There are certainly quite a few candidates to investigate with regard to motive and opportunity.
Marsh was in her 80's when she wrote this and it seemed to me she enjoyed modeling Verity in her own style. Often I have found her books featuring plays and players to be hard to digest and overly dramatic, but Verity the playwright is upright, reliably self sufficient, intelligent and admirable on many levels. She had never told anyone what had happened to her with regards to the "doctor" character until Alleyn came along, and it made me happy that she could share that burden with him.
It also helped that I was planting a garden while reading this book.
May 23, 2018
In Grave Mistake by Ngaio Marsh, former woman of the theater Verity Preston has lived in her original hometown of Upper Quintern and now uses the chance to write plays. Her childhood sometimes-friend, Sybil Foster, whose daughter Prunella is Verity’s goddaughter, accompanies Verity to a private party at the estate of their new neighbor, the rich collector Nicolas Markos. There, Verity is alarmed to see a face from her past, now calling himself Dr. Basil Schramm, and Sybil is drawn at once to the highly magnetic man. Verity can’t settle down to her writing before receiving news that Sybil’s stepson from her late husband’s first marriage, the “egregious Claude,” is about to arrive from Australia. Thus, Sybil checks herself into Greengages, a spa rest home, to avoid having to face Claude.
Read the rest of this review and other fun, geeky articles at Fangirl Nation
Read the rest of this review and other fun, geeky articles at Fangirl Nation
July 30, 2020
Its been a long road, having read 30 of Marsh's book up until this point (one a month for 2 1/2 years). Some were not so great, and others I think about periodically, as plot points or characters stick in my mind. I feel like this book will be in the latter category. I connected with it less as a mystery and more for the overall story it was telling. Marsh has done the medicinal spa bit before, but this time with more subtlety and grace than in prior attempts. You also feel as though you know and like the characters, which again is an art that Marsh does not always achieve. With only 2 more books to go in the series, I am happy that it seems it will end on a high note, although there is that bittersweet sadness that a journey is coming to an end.
December 22, 2023
Read in the hardcover omnibus "Ngaio Marsh: 5 Complete Novels"
June 6, 2018
Twists and turns.
As with all her books, it rattles on at a good pace,it’s easy to read and there are plenty of red herrings to delight and intrigue the reader. The book is worth reading but perhaps it is not one of her best but it is still well plotted and maintains interest. Sadly Troy Alleyn does not appear.
As with all her books, it rattles on at a good pace,it’s easy to read and there are plenty of red herrings to delight and intrigue the reader. The book is worth reading but perhaps it is not one of her best but it is still well plotted and maintains interest. Sadly Troy Alleyn does not appear.
November 27, 2021
This is one of Marsh's village mysteries where Alleyn's arrival to solve the mystery almost distracts from the pleasures of the story!
June 21, 2012
Super promising author. I can't conceal my excitement at the prospect of twenty well written mysteries, and I have no doubt I'll read all of Ms. Marsh's works but this one left me a touch bereft in the end. Without spoiling anything I'll say I figured out the who and the how but not the why. And when it came . . . eh? I don't know, I suppose there are worse motives for killing but it didn't feel terribly true to character. Oh well. Everything else - the period Britishness, the pacing, the humorous details - were all top drawer and I'm very excited to devour the rest.
February 17, 2011
A solid page-turner, again revolving like other Marsh novels around an older woman. Although Sybil Foster's faults revolve around vanity and selfishness, she did not seem to be a particularly unkind or cruel woman (the will made in a temperament aside). She is not hated, yet she is signally unloved.
The conclusion of the story is unusual in capturing the murderer, but leaving a deliberately sour tang with other story threads.
The conclusion of the story is unusual in capturing the murderer, but leaving a deliberately sour tang with other story threads.
May 3, 2023
Ngaoi Marsh’s third to last book and no sign of her losing her touch.
There is the usual long-ish set up as Marsh builds the scene and characters as she does so well. It’s full of English village, country houses and a whole lot of gardening. Potential Death intervenes and Alleyn comes to investigate.
It’s well set up, and evocative and is a traditional but gripping closed circle whodunnit. Interesting conclusion too with a touch of Concorde showing it’s 70s credentials!
Two more to go…
There is the usual long-ish set up as Marsh builds the scene and characters as she does so well. It’s full of English village, country houses and a whole lot of gardening. Potential Death intervenes and Alleyn comes to investigate.
It’s well set up, and evocative and is a traditional but gripping closed circle whodunnit. Interesting conclusion too with a touch of Concorde showing it’s 70s credentials!
Two more to go…
November 1, 2020
I may have given this an extra star as it is my last visit with Inspector Alleyn and Ngaio Marsh, but it was a favorite with interesting characters, many distasteful, others I would be happy to spend time with. Good interactions between Alleyn and Fox and while Troy was absent, her paintings weren't.
March 19, 2025
B:
Really close to excellent, actually. Marsh is really consistent and there are so many red herrings deployed that this can't be anything other than fascinating. The motive just doesn't tie into the mystery well enough.
Really close to excellent, actually. Marsh is really consistent and there are so many red herrings deployed that this can't be anything other than fascinating. The motive just doesn't tie into the mystery well enough.
May 20, 2011
1978, Inspector Alleyn, small village and upper crust-y society; cosy police procedural, classic. Story wonderful, narration poor.
When a spoiled and self-indulgent middle-aged woman suddenly dies at a posh “rest hotel”, the initial verdict appears to be suicide. But her many friends swear it was most unlike her, and Alleyn and Fox aren’t comfortable with the case either.
Nifty little time-capsule of a story that although set in early 1970s seemed to fit far better in the early 1950s, with its tightly structured social strata and its attitudes towards women. Yet this is a superbly crafted “village cosy”, complete with a long, leisured set-up, complicated unraveling, and careful denouement.
For this reread I listened to
1986, Chivers Audio Books, read by Jane Asher
Asher’s narration was extremely annoying, progressing to downright aggravating by the end. Her use of European accents was abominable, and a definite problem, as one of the major characters is supposedly Swiss in origin; she couldn’t make up her mind whether he had a French or a German accent, and every now and then threw in what appeared to be some sort of Balkan just for contrast.
And we won’t mention The Greek Millionaire’s accent, which was sometimes Italian, sometimes almost Greek, often also Balkan. And she’d slide accents around, not keeping the lines clear as to which character was speaking at any given time. aggggh. Never going to listen to Asher again if I can help it!! Think she’s been “fair” on some other reads I've listened to, but on this one with its multitude of foreign accents? Terrible.
When a spoiled and self-indulgent middle-aged woman suddenly dies at a posh “rest hotel”, the initial verdict appears to be suicide. But her many friends swear it was most unlike her, and Alleyn and Fox aren’t comfortable with the case either.
Nifty little time-capsule of a story that although set in early 1970s seemed to fit far better in the early 1950s, with its tightly structured social strata and its attitudes towards women. Yet this is a superbly crafted “village cosy”, complete with a long, leisured set-up, complicated unraveling, and careful denouement.
For this reread I listened to
1986, Chivers Audio Books, read by Jane Asher
Asher’s narration was extremely annoying, progressing to downright aggravating by the end. Her use of European accents was abominable, and a definite problem, as one of the major characters is supposedly Swiss in origin; she couldn’t make up her mind whether he had a French or a German accent, and every now and then threw in what appeared to be some sort of Balkan just for contrast.
And we won’t mention The Greek Millionaire’s accent, which was sometimes Italian, sometimes almost Greek, often also Balkan. And she’d slide accents around, not keeping the lines clear as to which character was speaking at any given time. aggggh. Never going to listen to Asher again if I can help it!! Think she’s been “fair” on some other reads I've listened to, but on this one with its multitude of foreign accents? Terrible.
August 21, 2021
Originally published on my blog here in September 1999.
Grave Mistake was one of Marsh's very last novels, published in the late seventies. It forms part of a group of good novels which she wrote at this period, being one of her best village crime stories. Like most of her other novels, its characters are taken mainly from the English upper classes.
When the rich widow Sybil Foster dies in an exclusive nursing home near her home, it at first looks as though she had taken an overdose. But it doesn't take long before medical evidence makes it quite clear that this cannot have been what has happened. Though a foolish woman, she did not have enemies, but there are several people who covet her possessions. These include a stepson from her first marriage, whose father's money she enjoyed for life before it passed to him; her neighbour, Greek oil tycoon Nikolas Markos, who covets the house she will not sell, and whose son is betrothed to Sybil's daughter against her wishes. This mixture is further confused by a mystery over the fate of a rare stamp that belonged to her first husband and disappeared at his death.
Little concession is made to the supposedly seventies setting; other than passing references to motorways and Concorde, this could be pre-war England. That means, at least, that we are spared the embarrassing attempts to be contemporary which mar several earlier novels.
Grave Mistake was one of Marsh's very last novels, published in the late seventies. It forms part of a group of good novels which she wrote at this period, being one of her best village crime stories. Like most of her other novels, its characters are taken mainly from the English upper classes.
When the rich widow Sybil Foster dies in an exclusive nursing home near her home, it at first looks as though she had taken an overdose. But it doesn't take long before medical evidence makes it quite clear that this cannot have been what has happened. Though a foolish woman, she did not have enemies, but there are several people who covet her possessions. These include a stepson from her first marriage, whose father's money she enjoyed for life before it passed to him; her neighbour, Greek oil tycoon Nikolas Markos, who covets the house she will not sell, and whose son is betrothed to Sybil's daughter against her wishes. This mixture is further confused by a mystery over the fate of a rare stamp that belonged to her first husband and disappeared at his death.
Little concession is made to the supposedly seventies setting; other than passing references to motorways and Concorde, this could be pre-war England. That means, at least, that we are spared the embarrassing attempts to be contemporary which mar several earlier novels.
June 25, 2013
Ngaio Marsh is brilliant for when you are too tired or busy to concentrate on anything more high brow, just like Agatha Christie. I personally prefer the earlier ones from the 1930s and during the war, and the ones set in New Zealand rather than in the UK, but they are all good. I am unashamedly in love with the hero of all Marsh's books, Inspector Alleyn, but again I do prefer him when he's younger in the earlier books. Grave Mistake is fine, but it's from the 70s and frankly, all of the characters irritated me somewhat.
June 25, 2009
Very good – stands alone as a novel. It plays fair all the way through. It's a later work. Society has changed since she started writing and she's not really happy about it. Her books serve as a chronicle of Britain's changing society. She makes such vivid characters in such small sketches.
March 6, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 22, 2024
Charming. I particularly liked the ecumenical vicar.
July 14, 2015
If you like Agatha Christie, you'll enjoy Ngaio Marsh. A good village mystery much like an episode of Midsomer's Murder.
February 15, 2022
Summary: A wealthy widow in a small English village dies of an apparent suicide at an exclusive spa, but clues point to murder with a circle of suspects with motives.
The Honorable Sybil Foster of Quintern Place in the village of Upper Quintern is hosting a gathering at her home that serves to introduce a number of characters who will figure in this mystery. Verity Preston, another wealthy resident and playwright, is godmother to Sybil’s daughter Prunella, who we learn is romantically involved with Gideon Markos, an accomplished and well-mannered suitor, the son of nouveaux rich Nikolas Markos, the occupant of Mardling Manor, and an owner of a Troy painting (Troy is Chief Superintendent Alleyn’s wife and accomplished artist), who has his sights set on Quintern Place.
The gathering is broken up when the gardener, McBride, is noticed to have not moved for some time. He has died at his work, which seem to trigger a number of new arrivals. The first, turning up in the village shortly after McBride’s death is Bruce Gardener, who true to his name, is a gardener, who rapidly endears himself to Mrs. Foster, and Verity as well, despite his suspiciously thick Scottish accent. We learn later he was the close companion of Maurice Carter, Sybil’s first husband, who died in a wartime bombing that marked the disappearance of a rare stamp that had been in his possession but was never found.
At a dinner party Nikolas Markos introduces Dr. Basil Schramm, the new house physician at nearby Greengages Hotel. Verity realizes he is Basil Smythe, a student of her father’s, with whom she had an affair until he ditched her. She keeps her own counsels and gives him a wide berth. Completing the ensemble is Claude Carter, Sybil’s son by Maurice, a ne’er do well who seemed to be in perpetual debt and just one step ahead of the law.
All this is enough to send Sybil, who might be characterized as “high strung” to take the cure at Greengages, only to fall under the attentions of Dr. Schramm, provoking the jealousy of Sister Jackson, his assistant. Things come to a head when Prunella asks Verity’s help with her mother. She and Gideon want to get engaged and ask Verity to prepare their way with Sybil. They all go to Greengages, Verity first. To no avail. Sybil wants Prunella to marry John Swingletree, the son of a peer. Gideon exerts his charms but Sybil wants to be escorted to her room, where she remains the rest of the day. That night, about 9 p.m., Dr. Schramm looks in on her when her TV is heard blaring after the hour she usually turns in. She is in her bed, dead from an apparent overdose of barbiturates.
Chief Superintendent Alleyn is assigned to investigate, to ensure there was no foul play. And soon, he finds cause to believe there is–unswallowed pills on the back of her tongue, a pillow beside the bed with a facial impression and tears suggesting it was bitten. Then there is the new will, donating half her fortune to Dr. Schramm, who we learn may not be a doctor at all, if Prunella does not marry Swingletree. Plus there is a tidy bequest to Bruce Gardener.
Needless to say, there is a raft of suspects, chief of whom is Claude Carter, who under the guise of an electrician, took flowers left for Sybil up to her room where he was to “replace” a light bulb that plainly wasn’t replaced. Then Carter disappears. Three locations figure prominently–the room at Greengages where Sybil died, a heart at Quintern Place, and the graveyard behind the village church, where the murderer, and more will be uncovered.
This is one of Marsh’s later works, number 30 in the series, and by this time Alleyn is Chief Superintendent. It was delightful to find that, if anything, her plots were twistier, even in this cozy village. As in other works, it seems that only a few of her characters are fully drawn, the others remaining caricatures. In this case, it is Alleyn and Verity Preston, and oddly enough, Basil Schramm who are the most interesting and complex. The others seem to fill a role.
It seems curious to me that so many of Marsh’s books are set among the upper crust, who rarely come out looking good, aside from a few of the more circumspect, like Verity Preston. Alleyn also is from among the gentry, and one wonders if his presence reflects something of a conscience that offsets those behaving badly, either trivially or immorally or as outright villains. Is there social commentary behind the cozy mystery? Perhaps, but at there is also a well-crafted story that still reads well nearly fifty years later.
The Honorable Sybil Foster of Quintern Place in the village of Upper Quintern is hosting a gathering at her home that serves to introduce a number of characters who will figure in this mystery. Verity Preston, another wealthy resident and playwright, is godmother to Sybil’s daughter Prunella, who we learn is romantically involved with Gideon Markos, an accomplished and well-mannered suitor, the son of nouveaux rich Nikolas Markos, the occupant of Mardling Manor, and an owner of a Troy painting (Troy is Chief Superintendent Alleyn’s wife and accomplished artist), who has his sights set on Quintern Place.
The gathering is broken up when the gardener, McBride, is noticed to have not moved for some time. He has died at his work, which seem to trigger a number of new arrivals. The first, turning up in the village shortly after McBride’s death is Bruce Gardener, who true to his name, is a gardener, who rapidly endears himself to Mrs. Foster, and Verity as well, despite his suspiciously thick Scottish accent. We learn later he was the close companion of Maurice Carter, Sybil’s first husband, who died in a wartime bombing that marked the disappearance of a rare stamp that had been in his possession but was never found.
At a dinner party Nikolas Markos introduces Dr. Basil Schramm, the new house physician at nearby Greengages Hotel. Verity realizes he is Basil Smythe, a student of her father’s, with whom she had an affair until he ditched her. She keeps her own counsels and gives him a wide berth. Completing the ensemble is Claude Carter, Sybil’s son by Maurice, a ne’er do well who seemed to be in perpetual debt and just one step ahead of the law.
All this is enough to send Sybil, who might be characterized as “high strung” to take the cure at Greengages, only to fall under the attentions of Dr. Schramm, provoking the jealousy of Sister Jackson, his assistant. Things come to a head when Prunella asks Verity’s help with her mother. She and Gideon want to get engaged and ask Verity to prepare their way with Sybil. They all go to Greengages, Verity first. To no avail. Sybil wants Prunella to marry John Swingletree, the son of a peer. Gideon exerts his charms but Sybil wants to be escorted to her room, where she remains the rest of the day. That night, about 9 p.m., Dr. Schramm looks in on her when her TV is heard blaring after the hour she usually turns in. She is in her bed, dead from an apparent overdose of barbiturates.
Chief Superintendent Alleyn is assigned to investigate, to ensure there was no foul play. And soon, he finds cause to believe there is–unswallowed pills on the back of her tongue, a pillow beside the bed with a facial impression and tears suggesting it was bitten. Then there is the new will, donating half her fortune to Dr. Schramm, who we learn may not be a doctor at all, if Prunella does not marry Swingletree. Plus there is a tidy bequest to Bruce Gardener.
Needless to say, there is a raft of suspects, chief of whom is Claude Carter, who under the guise of an electrician, took flowers left for Sybil up to her room where he was to “replace” a light bulb that plainly wasn’t replaced. Then Carter disappears. Three locations figure prominently–the room at Greengages where Sybil died, a heart at Quintern Place, and the graveyard behind the village church, where the murderer, and more will be uncovered.
This is one of Marsh’s later works, number 30 in the series, and by this time Alleyn is Chief Superintendent. It was delightful to find that, if anything, her plots were twistier, even in this cozy village. As in other works, it seems that only a few of her characters are fully drawn, the others remaining caricatures. In this case, it is Alleyn and Verity Preston, and oddly enough, Basil Schramm who are the most interesting and complex. The others seem to fill a role.
It seems curious to me that so many of Marsh’s books are set among the upper crust, who rarely come out looking good, aside from a few of the more circumspect, like Verity Preston. Alleyn also is from among the gentry, and one wonders if his presence reflects something of a conscience that offsets those behaving badly, either trivially or immorally or as outright villains. Is there social commentary behind the cozy mystery? Perhaps, but at there is also a well-crafted story that still reads well nearly fifty years later.
December 24, 2021
There are basically two schematics for laying out the plot of a murder mystery of the “police procedural” sub-genre. You can kill off the victim on the first page and have the cops arrive on the second page (assuming the police haven’t discovered the murder themselves). In this case, the reader learns all the details of the case as the detectives develop it, and at the same time they do. Or -- and this was the preferred method in the Golden Age and was was generally followed by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Marsh -- the author can set the wider scene, introduce the players and their relationships to and histories with each other, and let the reader try to guess which of them is going to die. In this case, Roderick Alleyn of the Met doesn’t even appear until more than one-third of the way into the book.
I’ve been jumping around in the series as I come across them, and this is No. 30 out of a total of thirty-three, so Alleyn is now a Chief Superintendent. Even though that’s a very high rank on the force, he still gets out and works murder cases, ably assisted by his right hand, the somewhat acerbic DI Fox. The setting is the tiny village of Upper Quintern in the Weald of Kent and the victim is the twice-widowed and very wealthy Sybil Foster, who apparently committed suicide for unknown reasons. Only the medical examiner has serious doubts, which is why Alleyn is sent for.
Much of the story is told from the perspective of Sybil’s lifelong close friend, the never-married Verity Preston, who is “comfortable” but hardly wealthy. Verity is a very sharp, observant, and perceptive, and Alleyn ends up frequently consulting her on local matters. She’s also the godmother of of Sybil’s daughter, Prunella, and the younger woman is entering a relationship with Gideon, the handsome son of Nikolas Markos, who has far more money even than Sybil and who has recently bought the notably ugly country house across the road. Sybil has a son, too, who is a convicted felon and a waste of space generally. And then there’s Bruce Gardener, the a very talented (and very Scots) gardener newly arrived in the neighborhood (yep, “Gardener the gardener”), who is instantly besieged by all the local ladies because the old jobbing gardener has just died, face-down of a heart attack in his wheelbarrow. And finally there’s Dr. Basil Schramm, also newly arrived, but he and Verity have a history.
The plot is complex, as Marsh’s always are, and you make have to take notes about the red herrings, but it’s a good yarn, neatly told. If you’ve read all of Christie and Sayers but haven’t discovered Marsh, I strongly recommend you give her books a try -- any of them, they’re all good.
I’ve been jumping around in the series as I come across them, and this is No. 30 out of a total of thirty-three, so Alleyn is now a Chief Superintendent. Even though that’s a very high rank on the force, he still gets out and works murder cases, ably assisted by his right hand, the somewhat acerbic DI Fox. The setting is the tiny village of Upper Quintern in the Weald of Kent and the victim is the twice-widowed and very wealthy Sybil Foster, who apparently committed suicide for unknown reasons. Only the medical examiner has serious doubts, which is why Alleyn is sent for.
Much of the story is told from the perspective of Sybil’s lifelong close friend, the never-married Verity Preston, who is “comfortable” but hardly wealthy. Verity is a very sharp, observant, and perceptive, and Alleyn ends up frequently consulting her on local matters. She’s also the godmother of of Sybil’s daughter, Prunella, and the younger woman is entering a relationship with Gideon, the handsome son of Nikolas Markos, who has far more money even than Sybil and who has recently bought the notably ugly country house across the road. Sybil has a son, too, who is a convicted felon and a waste of space generally. And then there’s Bruce Gardener, the a very talented (and very Scots) gardener newly arrived in the neighborhood (yep, “Gardener the gardener”), who is instantly besieged by all the local ladies because the old jobbing gardener has just died, face-down of a heart attack in his wheelbarrow. And finally there’s Dr. Basil Schramm, also newly arrived, but he and Verity have a history.
The plot is complex, as Marsh’s always are, and you make have to take notes about the red herrings, but it’s a good yarn, neatly told. If you’ve read all of Christie and Sayers but haven’t discovered Marsh, I strongly recommend you give her books a try -- any of them, they’re all good.
August 27, 2025
Another Ngaio Marsh mystery down, and only two left before I complete the collection.
I'll admit that I liked this one a little more than some of the recent mysteries I've read by this author. The premise was very reminiscent of classic Agatha Christie mysteries - a wealthy victim-to-be surrounded by a slew of potential suspects who each have their own potential motives and secrets to be uncovered.
I'll admit that this book surprised me when a body was discovered within the first few pages, and I was excited to read something so different from past mysteries, but I was misled, as we soon discovered the first death was circumstantial. The actual victim and mystery didn't occur until later in the book.
The mystery itself was rather intriguing, and I found myself guessing which of the potential suspects had committed the crime and why. As usual, I had to navigate some of the unfamiliar slang and dialogue, but it didn't detract too much from my understand or the story. In addition, the culprit of the crime is identified earlier in the book than necessary due to police activities and investigations. As the audience reads what Alleyn and his colleagues are doing, it becomes clear why they are acting a certain way, even if the book tries to obfuscate or simply remains quiet on the reasons. This means that, rather than analyzing evidence to solve the case, we're indirectly told who the murderer is. I've noticed that this author has done this a number of times in the past, and while it's not my preferred method of who-dun-it, it's certainly not the worst.
I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced of the motive of our culprit (I actually thought up a better motive myself, and was surprised that the author didn't go in that direction). There's also something unsavory about the ending.
Still, despite my criticisms, I found this to be a much more engaging mystery than some of the others I have read by this author recently.
I'll admit that I liked this one a little more than some of the recent mysteries I've read by this author. The premise was very reminiscent of classic Agatha Christie mysteries - a wealthy victim-to-be surrounded by a slew of potential suspects who each have their own potential motives and secrets to be uncovered.
I'll admit that this book surprised me when a body was discovered within the first few pages, and I was excited to read something so different from past mysteries, but I was misled, as we soon discovered the first death was circumstantial. The actual victim and mystery didn't occur until later in the book.
The mystery itself was rather intriguing, and I found myself guessing which of the potential suspects had committed the crime and why. As usual, I had to navigate some of the unfamiliar slang and dialogue, but it didn't detract too much from my understand or the story. In addition, the culprit of the crime is identified earlier in the book than necessary due to police activities and investigations. As the audience reads what Alleyn and his colleagues are doing, it becomes clear why they are acting a certain way, even if the book tries to obfuscate or simply remains quiet on the reasons. This means that, rather than analyzing evidence to solve the case, we're indirectly told who the murderer is. I've noticed that this author has done this a number of times in the past, and while it's not my preferred method of who-dun-it, it's certainly not the worst.
I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced of the motive of our culprit (I actually thought up a better motive myself, and was surprised that the author didn't go in that direction). There's also something unsavory about the ending.
Still, despite my criticisms, I found this to be a much more engaging mystery than some of the others I have read by this author recently.
February 19, 2023
Four stars for the writing, two for Jane Asher's reading of the audiobook. If she had simply read it without trying to "do voices" she would have had better success; her attempts in her limited range had many of the policemen sounding like little boys and girls.
Ngaio Marsh is repeatedly on record as calling herself a snob, and her snobbishness is all over this book. Not just class but race; there's a good bit of unnamed but obvious antisemitism when she speaks of both Markos the millionaire (oh, but where did he make his money?) and sneaky Basil Smythe-Schramm. Basil was born and educated in the UK but Asher for some reason felt the need to give him a cod-French accent, though Marsh never says he spoke so. At least this time we were not subjected to the obligatory NZ character who adds nothing but reminds us where Marsh was born.
The beginning chapters are pure The Archers; it takes a good chunk of the book to get into the actual story, giving the author plenty of time to air her snobbism and create an atmosphere of the Right People wearing the Right Clothes and living the Proper British Village Life. ´The filty-rich Sybil, who in my head was played by Joanna Lumley, transforms her hotel room at Greengages with all the right touches, including her own fine lawn sheets, lace pillows, and expensive pastries from Paris. The breathless romantic heroine Prunella with her "godma V" in tow are the Right Sort, but her stepbrother, in spite of being the son of a Guards offisah most definitely is Not, though we never actually learn exactly why the author dislikes him quite so much, apart from the fact that he is (horrors!) physically unattractive. But then she doesn't think much of the romantic lead, with his long hair and tainted (to Marsh) blood. The vicar and his lady, Verity and her independent means and love of gardening, the charlady who knows all there is to know about them and says nothing, it's all a reinforcement of What Really Matters.
Very much a period piece.
Ngaio Marsh is repeatedly on record as calling herself a snob, and her snobbishness is all over this book. Not just class but race; there's a good bit of unnamed but obvious antisemitism when she speaks of both Markos the millionaire (oh, but where did he make his money?) and sneaky Basil Smythe-Schramm. Basil was born and educated in the UK but Asher for some reason felt the need to give him a cod-French accent, though Marsh never says he spoke so. At least this time we were not subjected to the obligatory NZ character who adds nothing but reminds us where Marsh was born.
The beginning chapters are pure The Archers; it takes a good chunk of the book to get into the actual story, giving the author plenty of time to air her snobbism and create an atmosphere of the Right People wearing the Right Clothes and living the Proper British Village Life. ´The filty-rich Sybil, who in my head was played by Joanna Lumley, transforms her hotel room at Greengages with all the right touches, including her own fine lawn sheets, lace pillows, and expensive pastries from Paris. The breathless romantic heroine Prunella with her "godma V" in tow are the Right Sort, but her stepbrother, in spite of being the son of a Guards offisah most definitely is Not, though we never actually learn exactly why the author dislikes him quite so much, apart from the fact that he is (horrors!) physically unattractive. But then she doesn't think much of the romantic lead, with his long hair and tainted (to Marsh) blood. The vicar and his lady, Verity and her independent means and love of gardening, the charlady who knows all there is to know about them and says nothing, it's all a reinforcement of What Really Matters.
Very much a period piece.
October 6, 2019
Una morte sospetta, un testamento (redatto solo qualche giorno prima) con molte sorprese e, di conseguenza, tanti possibili colpevoli: ci sono tutti gli ingredienti per un giallo classico, ancor più se consideriamo il setting, un piccola comunità nella campagna inglese, ville dall'antico splendore, aristocratiche annoiate, una scrittrice teatrale, e uomini dal passato misterioso. A Roderick Allen il compito di sbrogliare la matassa.
Ho apprezzato la cura dedicata dalla Marsh alla ricostruzione del contesto e dei personaggi, e da questo punto di vista è sicuramente il romanzo che più ho preferito tra quelli letti dell'autrice neozelandese: non ha fretta, si prende il suo tempo, e il ritratto che ne risulta è sicuramente efficace, cosa che rende la lettura estremamente piacevole e non certo noiosa. Peccato, invece, per l'accelerazione nel finale, dove tanti indizi promettenti vengono abbandonati* senza troppi complimenti. La soluzione nel complesso è meno sorprendente di quanto si sarebbe sperato. Si getta molto fumo negli occhi, ma è piuttosto semplice per il lettore scartare i vari sospettati, principalmente perché "altrimenti sarebbe troppo semplice"; alla fine non rimane che il vero colpevole, però arrivare così alla soluzione non esalta più di tanto. L'avidità è uno dei più moventi più tradizionali, ma in questo caso pare poco convincente, proprio in virtù della tanto dettagliata precedente caratterizzazione dei personaggi. È come se ci fosse una qualche nota stonata.
Nonostante qualche riserva sul finale, complessivamente consigliato.
* Spoiler: Perché far di Bruce l'attendente del primo marito di Sybil se questo non ha nulla a che fare con l'assassinio?
Ho apprezzato la cura dedicata dalla Marsh alla ricostruzione del contesto e dei personaggi, e da questo punto di vista è sicuramente il romanzo che più ho preferito tra quelli letti dell'autrice neozelandese: non ha fretta, si prende il suo tempo, e il ritratto che ne risulta è sicuramente efficace, cosa che rende la lettura estremamente piacevole e non certo noiosa. Peccato, invece, per l'accelerazione nel finale, dove tanti indizi promettenti vengono abbandonati* senza troppi complimenti. La soluzione nel complesso è meno sorprendente di quanto si sarebbe sperato. Si getta molto fumo negli occhi, ma è piuttosto semplice per il lettore scartare i vari sospettati, principalmente perché "altrimenti sarebbe troppo semplice"; alla fine non rimane che il vero colpevole, però arrivare così alla soluzione non esalta più di tanto. L'avidità è uno dei più moventi più tradizionali, ma in questo caso pare poco convincente, proprio in virtù della tanto dettagliata precedente caratterizzazione dei personaggi. È come se ci fosse una qualche nota stonata.
Nonostante qualche riserva sul finale, complessivamente consigliato.
* Spoiler: Perché far di Bruce l'attendente del primo marito di Sybil se questo non ha nulla a che fare con l'assassinio?
February 26, 2018
An enjoyable mystery with a fairly dated feel to it but you feel you must try this author if you’ve done Christie and Sayers and others of that ilk. Anyway, I’m a bit dated myself. Though written in 1978 I think it is set earlier. Alleyn, like Peter Wimsey is a gentleman detective.
You get to know some of the residents of the village of Upper Quintern where story takes place. A death occurs but this proves to be a false start.
When the ‘proper’ death happens there is already a surfeit of suspicious characters and you’re not really sure why they deem the death worthy of investigation. However, the more Alleyn and sidekick Fox look into it, the more suspicious things begin to look.
As you get near the end the finger points inexorably at one of the villagers and a neat twist gives Alleyn the necessary proof for an arrest.
I was looking for a more thought provoking reason for murder but it turned out to be a bit ordinary.
There are lots a Alleyn books and though dated, language-wise, are interesting and wittily written. Alleyn makes for a very sympathetic policeman and I liked Verity and wished she could have articulated out loud more of what was in her head as she seemed clever and sensible. I’d happily read more of the Alleyn stories.
You get to know some of the residents of the village of Upper Quintern where story takes place. A death occurs but this proves to be a false start.
When the ‘proper’ death happens there is already a surfeit of suspicious characters and you’re not really sure why they deem the death worthy of investigation. However, the more Alleyn and sidekick Fox look into it, the more suspicious things begin to look.
As you get near the end the finger points inexorably at one of the villagers and a neat twist gives Alleyn the necessary proof for an arrest.
I was looking for a more thought provoking reason for murder but it turned out to be a bit ordinary.
There are lots a Alleyn books and though dated, language-wise, are interesting and wittily written. Alleyn makes for a very sympathetic policeman and I liked Verity and wished she could have articulated out loud more of what was in her head as she seemed clever and sensible. I’d happily read more of the Alleyn stories.
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