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Final Curtain (Roderick Alleyn, #14)

Ngaio Marsh

Start date: February 1, 2019

Finish date: February 28, 2019

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: The next in our Ngaio Marsh challenge.
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* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
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What Members Thought

Feb 15, 2019 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bought-2017, british-mystery, marsh-challenge, mount-tbr-2019, vintage-mystery, mystery

Final Curtain (1947) by Ngaio Marsh finds Agatha Troy waiting for her husband's return from several years of war work in New Zealand and Australia. Inspector Alleyn is due back any time and Troy worries that the long separation may have spoiled their young relationship. When a request (a near-royal summons) comes from the celebrated actor Sir Henry Ancred for her to paint his portrait--in full actor's regalia as Macbeth--she is, at first, annoyed at the distraction. But when Sir Henry's son Thom Final Curtain (1947) by Ngaio Marsh finds Agatha Troy waiting for her husband's return from several years of war work in New Zealand and Australia. Inspector Alleyn is due back any time and Troy worries that the long separation may have spoiled their young relationship. When a request (a near-royal summons) comes from the celebrated actor Sir Henry Ancred for her to paint his portrait--in full actor's regalia as Macbeth--she is, at first, annoyed at the distraction. But when Sir Henry's son Thomas comes in person to plead the case, she is intrigued by his description of the family and decides that the distraction may be just what she needs. After all, Sir Henry's head fairly begs to be painted.

The family lives up to both Thomas's description and the run-down she received from Nigel Bathgate as she was leaving on the train for Ancreton Manor. She witnesses the bitter family dynamics and the jockeying for position as Sir Henry is fairly fickle in his favorites. The current front-runners are Patrica "Panty," his granddaughter, and Cedric, his grandson. But a spanner has been thrown into the works. The old gentleman has taken up with a young chorus girl and it looks like he may be out to prove that the "old man still has some life left in him." The family's fears are realized when Sir Henry announces that he plans to marry Sonia Orrincourt.

Troy finishes the portrait just in time for a grand unveiling on Sir Henry's birthday. But things go awry when the picture is found to have been vandalized--with a flying green cow dropping bombs on Sir Henry's head. There have been several "practical jokes" in the days leading up to the birthday and nearly everyone (including Sir Henry) assumes that Panty is the culprit. After all, she does have a history of such things. But both her mother and Troy believe that she's telling the truth when she says she hasn't done any of the tricks played on her grandfather. Someone is up to mischief...but who wants the blame to fall on Panty?

Then Sir Henry dies--apparently from natural causes following his most ill-advised over-indulgence during the birthday meal. He's safely buried and the family is weathering the shock of discovering that he had changed his will one final time--leaving Cedric Ancreton Manor, but nearly all his money to Sonia. That's when things get interesting.

Alleyn finally arrives back home and during their reunion, Troy tells him about her odd experiences at Ancreton Manor. Then anonymous notes start arriving that imply that Sir Henry's death wasn't natural after all. So Alleyn, Fox, and company start investigating.

Like Colour Scheme and a few of the other novels, this is one where Alleyn shows up rather late in the proceedings. However, unlike Colour Scheme, I don't actually mind it so much this time because get to spend quite a lot of time with Troy and we learn a great deal about her in the process. In some ways she acts as Alleyn's stand-in...observing the family's behavior and being able to give him a trusted, first-hand account of the goings on leading up to the murder. She brings an artist's eye for detail and gives Alleyn (and us) valuable insights on the characters and incidents. It provides a very unique build-up to the investigation.

I think in some ways Marsh has tried to give us another eccentric family like the Lampreys. But here the dark undertones overshadow the pleasant oddities. There is really something a bit distasteful about most of the Ancreds. One thing that struck me about the story was the emphasis on how all the Ancreds were the same--overly-theatrical; they all made that "tuh" noise; etc--all, that is except Thomas. Having made such a point of how Thomas was an exception to the Ancred rule, I almost expected there to be a revelation that Thomas wasn't really an Ancred after all...and that maybe that would figure into the motives somehow. Ah, well--I guess it was a case of the author protesting too much.

This was another enjoyable entry in the Alleyn chronicles--particularly since we see so much of Troy. Marsh did fool me on the killer...I had latched onto someone else and couldn't quite shake my belief in their guilt.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks. ...more

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Dec 08, 2015 Teri-K rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, mystery-golden-age, historical-mystery

The first half of this book it totally from Troy's perspective, and if you've been reading them in order you're ready to spend more time with her. That's because Roderick has been in New Zealand investigating WWII crime for 3.5 years and she's disappeared from the reader's radar. But don't despair - he's coming home soon and this book get both of them in the act.

Her husband's imminent return makes Troy reluctant to take a commission for a huge portrait of a dying Shakespearean actor, but of cour ...more

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Feb 05, 2019 Susan in NC rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

4.5 stars - very entertaining classic country house murder, it was good to have Inspector Alleyn back with Fox and Troy in England after wartime duty of three-plus years.

As the novel opens, Troy has been asked to paint the portrait of legendary actor Sir Henry Ancred; Alleyn is due home anytime, but Troy is deeply tempted to take on the commission. She heads to the great actor’s country house and is soon pleasantly immersed in her work, despite being surrounded by the dysfunctional, overly drama ...more

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May 02, 2019 Carol Evans rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

The Final Curtain has a lot of similarities to many of Marsh’s other mysteries. We’ve got a country house party. Inspector Alleyn doesn’t show up until about halfway through. We’ve got a young couple who are meant to be together but have difficulties in the way. We’ve got a tie to both art and the theater. But Marsh winds these bits together with a pretty terrible family and comes up with an enjoyable mystery that had me stumped.

WW 2 is over and Agatha Troy is waiting for her husband, Inspector The Final Curtain has a lot of similarities to many of Marsh’s other mysteries. We’ve got a country house party. Inspector Alleyn doesn’t show up until about halfway through. We’ve got a young couple who are meant to be together but have difficulties in the way. We’ve got a tie to both art and the theater. But Marsh winds these bits together with a pretty terrible family and comes up with an enjoyable mystery that had me stumped.

WW 2 is over and Agatha Troy is waiting for her husband, Inspector Alleyn to return from New Zealand. To pass the last couple of weeks, she accepts a commission that takes her to Ancreton Manor to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, a famous Shakespearean actor in his Macbeth costume. The first half-ish of the book shows us the Ancred family from Troy’s point of view and they are overall a melodramatic, argumentative bunch, not people to enjoy spending time with. Then Sir Henry dies. The assumption at first is that it was from natural causes, but the whole thing just doesn’t feel right. And then the anonymous letters accusing the gold-digger fiancee show up and Alleyn, who is finally home, is put on the case.

As always, I enjoy Alleyn and his assistant, Fox. They are a perfect pair. Alleyn is a member of the upper class, and even though he doesn’t seem snobbish, those who are well-to-do consider him one of their own and confide in him differently than they would Fox for example. Fox is amazing at interviewing the servants, who accept him and give him tea and tell all their secrets with him barely asking any questions. They both make contributions, although Alleyn is always the one who manages to put it all together, with Fox usually a step or two behind.

We also see a lot of Troy in this one and her worries about how the relationship between herself and her husband may have changed during the three years he was away were well-done. Romantic relationships are not generally one of Marsh’s strong, but here I thought it added some nice background to the story and the era without dragging the book down.

While not entirely original, Final Curtain is a good read and Troy’s parts make it stand out from many in the series. ...more

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May 07, 2011 Abbey rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: myst-cosies, myst-set-andor-auth-uk, favorites, to-re-read, vintage, myst-police, own, reviewed, myst-fems-project, series

One of my favorite Alleyn stories, mostly because it's mostly Troy, and I enjoy her rather more than Rory. Filled with wild characters and strange goings-on at the peculiar estate (with a castle) of a quite mad acting family (they're all 'way beyond "peculiar"...), this is a classic "big house" mystery but has darker psychological overtones. Very funny, though, with a snappy sort of wit. ...more

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