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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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last updated Sep 02, 2025 12:08AM

* Sept 25: The Mystery of the Blue Train (1928) - SPOILER Thread
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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

16 likes · Like · see review

Sep 24, 2019 Leslie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries, kindle

Alleyn has to discover which member of a ship's passengers is serial killer, if indeed any of them, while undercover and with a ship's captain who doesn't believe the killer is on board. Marsh does an excellent job of describing the characters and growing tension between them. I suspected the guilty party but only as much as I suspected each of the suspects in turn - the denouement was splendid! ...more

8 likes · Like · see review

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

4 likes · Like · see review

Nov 13, 2021 Lady Wesley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-golden-age-or-similar, listened

Stars: 3.5, rounded up. Roderick Alleyn is in this from almost the beginning -- unlike many of Marsh's books where he shows up rather too late to suit me. I enjoyed the interesting characters, even the unpleasant ones, and I totally did not figure out whodunnit. In fact, there is an interesting twist toward the end that took me completely by surprise.

James Saxon's narration was not his best. I have listened to many of them and found the quality uneven. But Marsh's writing here is lovely, and I ...more

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Jul 20, 2019 Jill rated it really liked it

Shelves: ngaio-marsh

In my opinion, this was one of Marsh's better books. They do seem to vary quite a lot , some not being up to the standard of this. The setting of the docks at the beginning,I thought was well done, and gave a sense of place. The limited number of suspects aboard a ship also helped. There were a lot of misdirections included, so was pretty hard trying to guess who was a murderer. It seemed obvious that the serial murderer was a male, but Marsh had thrown in a manly type woman and an effeminate me ...more

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Aug 06, 2019 Sandy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: rread-2019, mystery-detective-grp, mystery-classic, zngaio-challenge-2019

An excellent entry in the Alleyn series. This takes place on a cargo ship with a few passengers, thus few suspects, and all are well drawn and interesting. The atmosphere is tangible, from the fog in London to the oppressive heat of the tropics, with the addition of an impeding murder. I didn't guess either the murderer nor his victim. ...more

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