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False Scent (Roderick Alleyn, #21)

Ngaio Marsh

Start date: September 1, 2019

Finish date: September 30, 2019

Discussion: Group Challenges

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

Sep 01, 2019 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

This is the twenty first in the Roderick Alleyn series, first published in 1959. This mystery takes place over one day, which begins with the fiftieth birthday of actress, Mary Bellamy. Mary has been a leading lady at the theatre for years, but she is now fifty and extremely touchy about her age. As her family, and admirers, appear, she has a large party planned. However, all is not destined to go well.

Her adopted son, Richard, who has previously written comedy plays with his mother in mind, ha ...more

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

Shelves: vintage-mystery, mystery, british-mystery, marsh-challenge, mount-tbr-2019, bought-2018

False Scent (1959) by Ngaio Marsh finds Inspector Roderick Alleyn investigating another murder in the theatrical world. This time the murder is completely off-stage--in all senses of the word. Mary Bellamy is a fading stage star...but still a star to be reckoned with. The scene opens on the day her friends and family and a few important personages have been invited to her home to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. But don't mention that dreaded number to our temperamental star.

"What's a cake with False Scent (1959) by Ngaio Marsh finds Inspector Roderick Alleyn investigating another murder in the theatrical world. This time the murder is completely off-stage--in all senses of the word. Mary Bellamy is a fading stage star...but still a star to be reckoned with. The scene opens on the day her friends and family and a few important personages have been invited to her home to celebrate her fiftieth birthday. But don't mention that dreaded number to our temperamental star.

"What's a cake without candles?" said Old Ninn.
"Fifty of them....Oh, wouldn't they look lovely!"
Miss Bellamy took the only possible action. She topped Old Ninn's lines by snatching up the ritual knife and plunging it into the heart of the cake. The gesture, which may have had something of the character of a catharsis, was loudly applauded.

But the mention of the number of her years by her former nanny isn't the only catalyst for a burst of temper. Her husband, Charles Templeton, has the temerity to tell her to tone it down on her favorite scent, Formidable, and to stop using Slaypest--a highly potent and very dangerous pest killer. She doesn't do either. Florence, her personal maid tries once too often to calm her down. Her dress designer and a second-tier actress (known for helping prop the star up to shine more brightly) have deserted ship for another production. And her ward, a young and upcoming playwright who has till now written plays [comedies] only for her, has ventured into new territory [the dramatic] and produced a script that has most obviously not been written with her in mind. He has also taken up with a lovely young actress for whom he has written the play.

Richard Dakers, the ward, can't see that Mary is not going to be pleased as punch to read a play that isn't for her. He can't fathom that she won't love Anelida (his young actress) as much as he does. And he is perfectly blind to the fact that bringing Anelida to Mary's birthday party and introducing her to a producer and director in theater world (and, most particularly, in Mary's theater world) right under Mary's nose just might make her really mad. So mad that she leaves her guests, tells him a few disturbing things about himself, and then...apparently sprays herself with Slaypest. Was it just a dreadful accident while she was in an incoherent rage? Or did one of the people she had told off that day have enough of her tantrums and stop them for good? Alleyn and Fox arrive on the scene and immediately see pointers towards murder--but which of the supporting players pulled down the curtain on the star?

Marsh's writing about theater personalities is some of her best. She portrays them with a depth and reality that comes from her personal experiences in the world of the stage. The set up is very good--she provides plenty of background and establishes the characters and their relationships to one another. We get a very good look at our murder victim--with all her faults and vanities on display. The way in which the murder is done is a bit obvious and it's disconcerting that Alleyn apparently doesn't catch on to it until very late in the book. But that is one of the few drawbacks. Over all, another enjoyable read from Marsh. As I have been rereading her mysteries in order, I have been reminded how much I enjoyed discovering them almost 40 years ago (really? could that be possible?). ★★★ and 3/4.

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

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Dec 08, 2021 Lady Wesley rated it really liked it · review of another edition

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

This is another of Marsh’s mysteries related to the theater. It’s lots of fun, and the whodunnit was quite a surprise.

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Jun 14, 2018 Nanosynergy rated it liked it · review of another edition

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

An aging stage actress facing her 50th birthday, a wealthy husband, a ward who is a successful playwright, a young new actress who is his love interest, a milieu of playwrights and fans, a gift of expensive perfume, and a bottle of deadly poison to kill bugs on plants = a formula for a murder (or two).

Phrase Marsh uses in several of her books: "nod like a mandarin" - it sounds politically insensitive. I only found one mention of what it meant online so far "nod in exaggeration, nod urgently and ...more

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Sep 23, 2015 Ellen rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery-cozy, mystery-sleuth, marsh, mystery-roderick-alleyn

False Scent by Ngaio Marsh.

The theatrics begins at the beginning and it is over the top theatrics. The people involved are all wrapped up in the London stage with this gala celebration for Mary Bellamy's 50th birthday bash. The well wishers are as superficially thrilled with Mary as she is with each one of her so-called admirers.

Then someone substitutes poison for Mary's favorite azalea spray and she ends up murdered... but by who and why? That's for Inspector Roderick Alleyn to deduce.

I loved t ...more

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Jul 14, 2012 Carol Evans rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

I like Marsh when she sticks with small settings, and a limited cast. Here, all the action takes place in one day, and really only occurs in about three rooms in Mary's home and one room in the neighboring bookstore. It's almost claustrophobic, with the people being held in the home while Alleyn does his questioning. I can imagine sitting with all the others, not sure what's going on, suspecting one of them is the murderer. By the end of the evening, Alleyn has his murderer.

We've got suspects a ...more

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