From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Singing in the Shrouds (Roderick Alleyn, #20)

Ngaio Marsh

Start date: August 1, 2019

Finish date: August 31, 2019

Discussion: Group Challenges

Why we're reading this: We are now up to the 20th Inspector Alleyn book in our continuing challenge!
[close] We are now up to the 20th Inspector Alleyn book in our continuing challenge!

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Group Challenges

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) by Agatha Christie
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What Members Thought

Aug 03, 2019 Susan rated it liked it · review of another edition

This is the twentieth novel in the Roderick Alleyn series, published in 1959. I have found Ngaio Marsh to be quite inconsistent – some of her mysteries are excellent and others not nearly so good. This is one of the better ones, with a good opening. It begins on the docks, with a group of passengers boarding The Cape Farewell, heading for South Africa. Among those boarding is a young woman whose engagement has recently broken off, the ship’s doctor, a television personality (a new, and rather am ...more

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Jul 25, 2019 Susan in NC rated it liked it · review of another edition

This was okay - I listened to the Audible for part of it, and the narrator affected several really annoying accents for some of the characters, several of whom were rather bizarre and unlikable. I wasn’t sure if it was the narrator’s acting or the way Marsh wrote the characters. I also missed Fox, Alleyn’s long-time sidekick at Scotland Yard.

The book opens in a wonderfully atmospheric scene at the London docks, as a constable patrols the foggy, cold quayside and passengers arrive to board a ship This was okay - I listened to the Audible for part of it, and the narrator affected several really annoying accents for some of the characters, several of whom were rather bizarre and unlikable. I wasn’t sure if it was the narrator’s acting or the way Marsh wrote the characters. I also missed Fox, Alleyn’s long-time sidekick at Scotland Yard.

The book opens in a wonderfully atmospheric scene at the London docks, as a constable patrols the foggy, cold quayside and passengers arrive to board a ship departing at midnight. It was a great start, with a dead woman discovered by the constable- strangled, with flowers tossed on her chest. She’s likely the latest victim of a possible serial killer, and since she’s clutching a torn bit of a boarding document from the ship, Scotland Yard thinks the murderer may be aboard. Inspector Alleyn comes aboard at Portsmouth, undercover, to keep an eye on the passengers and crew and investigate.

Without Fox and the usual investigative machinery usually at his disposal, Alleyn tries to blend in and observe the ship’s inhabitants - several of whom seemed possible as the murderer, seeming unlikable, unbalanced, or just plain odd. Some of their actions and reactions were rather inexplicable to me, especially when the murderer strikes again; I’m not sure if this was Marsh’s elliptical writing style, or a product of the time the novel was written, or what. I’ve run into this before with Marsh’s writing - I’ve been reading a mystery of hers every month with the Reading the Detectives group, and sometimes I’m really not sure what she’s trying to say...also, with this particular narration, my enjoyment was definitely affected by the bizarre accents and acting the narrator chose to use. I may have enjoyed this one more if I had read the whole book.

Anyway, I enjoyed several parts of the mystery, but it wasn’t a favorite. I was surprised at the identity of the killer, and the motive seemed to reek of pop psychology, but at the time of writing (early 50s), perhaps these theories were emerging into mainstream books and movies. ...more

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Jul 30, 2019 ShanDizzy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Father Jourdain & Alleyn are walking on deck after returning from an excursion - 'They walked together down the well-deck on the port side. When they had reached the little verandah aft of the engine house, they stopped while Alleyn lit his pipe. The night was still very warm, but they had run into a stiff breeze and the ship was alive with it. There was a high thrumming sound in the shrouds. "Someone singing," Alleyn said.
"Isn't it the wind in those ropes? Shrouds, don't they call them? I wond ...more

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Aug 17, 2019 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-mystery, marsh-challenge, mount-tbr-2019, vintage-mystery, mystery, murder-at-sea

Singing in the Shrouds (1958) by Ngaio Marsh finds Inspector Roderick Alleyn pursuing a serial killer who follows his deed with a bit of song. Three young women have been found strangled to death--their cheap necklaces broken and their bodies strewn with flowers. Witnesses in the vicinity of the murders report hearing a high-pitched male voice singing at about the time officials believe the deaths to have occurred. The last victim was a girl from a flower shop who had been sent to deliver flower Singing in the Shrouds (1958) by Ngaio Marsh finds Inspector Roderick Alleyn pursuing a serial killer who follows his deed with a bit of song. Three young women have been found strangled to death--their cheap necklaces broken and their bodies strewn with flowers. Witnesses in the vicinity of the murders report hearing a high-pitched male voice singing at about the time officials believe the deaths to have occurred. The last victim was a girl from a flower shop who had been sent to deliver flowers to Mrs. Dillington-Blick, a passenger on the South Africa-bound Cape Farewell. Clutched in the dead woman's hand was an embarkation notice from the ship which leads the police to believe that the murderer is also a passenger on the ship.

Alleyn joins the ship at its next port of call--but incognito. Neither Scotland Yard nor the ship's company (and captain) want to alarm the passengers or give the culprit warning if he really is on board, so he appears C. J. Broderick, cousin of chairman of the shipping company. He mingles with the passengers and crew and finds that his prime suspects include: Mrs. Dillington-Blick, a rubenesque beauty who has men buzzing round her like bees round a honey pot; Mr. and Mrs. Cuddy, a stodgy middle class couple who don't quite get the jokes; Katherine Abbot, a woman of somewhat masculine build who is an expert on church music; Mr. Philip Merryman, an acerbic retired schoolmaster; Father Charles Jourdain, an Anglo-Catholic priest; Brigid Carmichael, a young woman whose engagement has ended badly; Mr. Aubyn Dale, a television personality who is taking a trip to calm his nerves; Mr. Donald McAngus, an elderly bachelor; and Dr. Timothy Makepiece, the newly-boarded ship's doctor who also specializes in psychiatry.

Unfortunately, the captain resents his presence and even actively hobbles a few of his efforts--though he does participate in a little game of "how good is your memory" to elicit a few alibis for the night of one of the Flower Murders. In the wake of this (and after cabling Fox to check up on the details), Alleyn is able to eliminate the good doctor and priest from the suspect list and enlists their aid in keeping watch over the women. There is a final murder before Alleyn can lay the murder by the heels. And even then he has to force a confession through a highly dramatic scene.

There are several things to like about this one--including the opening scene on the foggy London docks. Very atmospheric and full of suspense. I also enjoyed the closed-scene setting of the shipboard murder. It's nice to have Alleyn introduced early on and watch him work throughout though having Jourdain and Makepiece pinch-hit for the missing Fox and company doesn't work quite as well. I like Makepiece best when he is spending his time with Brigid (who gets over her broken engagement fairly rapidly). It's also a shame that Marsh cuts her suspect pool down...it's not nearly as difficult to spot the killer when you have Fox cabling the all-clear on potential suspects.

Still..it's an entertaining mystery and Marsh produces an interesting serial killer plot for Alleyn to unravel. ★★★ and a half.

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

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Jul 24, 2018 Becky rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018goodrule-old, 2018reviews

First sentence: In the Pool of London and farther east all through the dockyards the fog lay heavy. Lights swam like moons in their own halos. Insignificant buildings, being simplified, became dramatic.

Premise/plot: Singing in the Shrouds is the twentieth novel in Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn mystery series. Cape Farewell is about to steam out to sea when a body is discovered near the docks. It is believed that the murderer is a passenger on the ship. Inspector Alleyn joins the ship--in disgui ...more

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Jun 09, 2018 Nanosynergy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers-espionage, fiction-1950s, series, british, fiction, 2018read

A serial killer on a cruise ship travel from Portsmouth to Cape Town. Inspector Alleyn joins the trip when investigations lead them to believe the murderer is on board.

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Jan 24, 2012 Carol Evans rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

The characters are rather two-dimensional, but I enjoy Marsh’s stories as light mysteries. I don’t expect a lot of character development, so I wasn’t disappointed in that. The tension aboard ship is palpable and, though Alleyn implies in his letter to his wife that he’s pretty sure who the killer is, he doesn’t let us in on it until the end. I didn’t guess who the killer was, although I really should have. Looking back it should have been obvious, but Marsh gives us enough potential suspects tha ...more

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