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Tied Up In Tinsel (Roderick Alleyn, #27)

Ngaio Marsh

Start date: March 13, 2020

Finish date: April 8, 2020

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: We're carrying on with the Inspector Alleyn mysteries as buddy reads.…more
[close] We're carrying on with the Inspector Alleyn mysteries as buddy reads.

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Buddy reads

* Starting/joining in with buddy reads
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* White Nights by Ann Cleeves (Shetland #2) (August/Sept 25)
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What Members Thought

Jan 10, 2023 Julie Durnell rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, england-uk, christmas

My second Roderick Alleyn mystery and unusual for me to skip around and not start with the first book in a series. I found this English manor home Christmas murder story delightful, with a most eclectic cast of characters, an intriguing home renovation, and beautiful setting. I thought the list of characters in the beginning a nice touch but would have appreciated a blueprint of the house more.

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Dec 22, 2014 Louise Culmer rated it really liked it

Entertaining Christmas mystery. Troy Alleyn is spending. Christmas painting the portrait of a rich eccentric, while Inspector Alleyn is abroad (their son is never mentioned, and I did wonder what he was doing for Christmas). The rich eccentric, Hilary Bill-Tasman, having difficulty finding domestic staff, has employed several murderers who have been released from prison. So when a murderer occurs in the house, they are naturally suspected. But things may not be that simple. There are several gue ...more

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Dec 01, 2023 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tbr-retro, tbr-with-gr-groups, audiobook

4.5 stars for this new-to-me very enjoyable GA mystery by Ngaio Marsh. I’ve read many of her books in the last several years with one of my GR groups, and found her usually entertaining with her aristocratic series detective, Inspector Alleyn (“Rory” to friends) of Scotland Yard and his artist wife, Agatha Troy (“Troy”).

Here, Troy is spending Christmas at the country estate of a wealthy businessman with a quirky household - his staff are all former inmates who’ve committed murder. “One-timers” a 4.5 stars for this new-to-me very enjoyable GA mystery by Ngaio Marsh. I’ve read many of her books in the last several years with one of my GR groups, and found her usually entertaining with her aristocratic series detective, Inspector Alleyn (“Rory” to friends) of Scotland Yard and his artist wife, Agatha Troy (“Troy”).

Here, Troy is spending Christmas at the country estate of a wealthy businessman with a quirky household - his staff are all former inmates who’ve committed murder. “One-timers” as Hilary explains his reform “experiment” to Troy - reasoning these men had been goaded beyond endurance by circumstances at the time of their crimes, but are now harmless. It doesn’t hurt that it’s 1972 and very expensive to staff a vast estate, even for the rich!

Anyway, Troy is there to paint Hilary’s portrait, and stays through Christmas as Alleyn is on duty in Australia. Also in the house party are Hilary’s uncle and aunt (Col. Forrester and wife, referred to as “B”), and their general factotum, Moult (a former soldier who served under the uncle), and Clarissa, their beautiful former ward and now Hilary’s fiancée. She was quite funny, clearly a spoiled, rather frivolous beauty, but no dummy. The aunt and uncle are the typical upright, elderly retired characters one would expect, but more comic relief is provided by the elderly Cockney honorary uncle (Mr. Smith) who was in business with Hilary’s father. Hilary explains at the beginning that the uncle took care of him after his father died, then the aunt and uncle came in and took him off to live with them, assuming “his rightful place” among the English upper crust. (Again, 1972, when such things apparently still mattered). But everyone stayed chummy, hence the Christmas house party.

Hilary likes being Lord Bountiful, and has a Christmas party of sorts laid on with elderly Col. F. appearing bearded and robed as a Christmas Druid figure to wave to the area kiddies and hand out presents. Everyone is drilled in their roles and it seems to go off well, until it is discovered that Moult, who took old Col. F’s place because he felt unwell, has disappeared. He was very contemptuous toward the former inmate staff, and they disliked him in return; a series of malicious practical jokes seem to point to the staff, or was it Moult trying to get them in trouble? Luckily, Alleyn makes it home in time to get assigned the case.

This was very enjoyable, but I’m sometimes at a loss with Marsh’s humor or characters - I feel like there is an inside joke I’m missing, like with the bizarre affectations she gives her characters. But this was an interesting, entertaining Christmas-themed mystery, and I enjoyed it. The ending made sense and was believable - I suspected the killer, but not for the reason Alleyn explained at the end, just vague suspicion! But his summation made sense. ...more

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Oct 28, 2015 Teri-K rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Very good entry in this series. It starts with Troy visiting a rich man's isolated mansion to do a portrait of him. The cast assembled includes a number of convicted murderers, whom the man uses for servants. People start dying, and the reader waits for Alleyn to return from New Zealand to unravel the clues. Of course he does. In the mean time the reader is treated to a Druidic Christmas celebration and plenty of interesting suspects to study. Lots of fun with good reread value. ...more

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Sep 03, 2021 Peggy rated it really liked it

Liked every aspect—setting, plot, characters, solution. I have to say that although who-dun-it was obvious with retrospection, I didn’t guess it. But then I was enjoying the setup and characters so much, I was kind of disappointed when Alleyn solved the case.

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Dec 11, 2020 Lillian rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-vintage-golden-age, holiday-reads, read-in-2020

This was a great Christmas time listen. I enjoy the Alleyn and Troy series. The narrator also did a good job. It is an entertaining mystery involving a country house, a murder, a mystery and a Christmas theme. There were quite a few characters to get straight and the story did bog down a little at times. But it featured Agatha Alleyn quite a bit and I do enjoy her character. The characters were very much on the quirky/eccentric side which is also a plus for me. The murder mystery aspect wasn't p ...more

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Dec 13, 2020 Connie Anne Kikta rated it it was ok

Shelves: listened-to-audio-book, dec-2020-group-reads

I just couldn't get into this book. I pushed my way thru just to see who the killer was. I was surprised. The last chapter was the only good one in my opinion. ...more

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