From the Bookshelf of Reading the Detectives…

Money in the Morgue (Roderick Alleyn, #33)

Ngaio Marsh,

Stella Duffy

Start date: September 12, 2020

Finish date: October 9, 2020

Discussion: Archive: Ngaio Marsh Buddy Reads

Why we're reading this: After completing Marsh's Inspector Alleyn series, we are reading this unfinished story completed by Stell…more
[close] After completing Marsh's Inspector Alleyn series, we are reading this unfinished story completed by Stella Duffy.

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Archive: Ngaio Marsh Buddy Reads

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Feb 18, 2018 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Recently there have been several Golden Age mystery writers, whose characters have been ‘continued’ by modern authors. These have been a mixed bag – while Lord Peter Wimsey was treated respectfully by Jill Paton Walsh (even if some of her sequels were more successful than others), poor Poirot was treated somewhat shabbily; receiving an unsympathetic, and out of character, portrayal by Sophie Hannah.

I am less familiar with the Inspector Alleyn series; having only read the first few books, althoug Recently there have been several Golden Age mystery writers, whose characters have been ‘continued’ by modern authors. These have been a mixed bag – while Lord Peter Wimsey was treated respectfully by Jill Paton Walsh (even if some of her sequels were more successful than others), poor Poirot was treated somewhat shabbily; receiving an unsympathetic, and out of character, portrayal by Sophie Hannah.

I am less familiar with the Inspector Alleyn series; having only read the first few books, although I am planning to read the entire series and have loved the ones that I have read already. However, I appreciate that there will be long term fans of the series, who will know every nuance of the characters and who may feel that this has faults. To them, I apologise if you see things in Alleyn that seem incorrect and which I may have missed, not having read the later books.

This is a continuation of a novel that Ngaio Marsh had already started and it is set in her native New Zealand during WWII, where Roderick Alleyn is staying in the Mount Seager Hospital, which has both civilian and military wards. It is near Christmas and a storm is brewing, when hapless Mr Glossop, a payroll delivery clerk, finds that his van breaks down. Stranded for the night, he has a large amount of cash, which Matron suggests she lock in the safe. However, before the night is over, there will be a theft and a murder; meaning that Alleyn has to step in and solve the mystery.

The novel is full of literary illusions and, although Alleyn is the only character who appears from previous books, others are alluded to. In true Golden Age style, there are a number of sub plots going on – almost every character has a secret and, along with the crimes that Alleyn is investigating, there is also a possibly spy lose in the locality and a series of underground tunnels running beneath the hospital. I enjoyed the various cast of characters – from the efficient Matron, to the disapproving Sister Comfort, transport driver Sarah Warne, damaged Dr Luke Hughes, flighty Rosamund Farquharson and others, including a young man visiting his dying grandfather, the ponderous, complaining Mr Glossop, a vicar and some soldiers who dislike being confined to bed…

With the novel taking place over one night, and Alleyn in a new situation, I think this book works well, even if you haven’t read any Ngaio Marsh novels before. I am unsure about allowing other authors to continue well loved characters, but I feel that Stella Duffy has, at least, done her research and that she has treated Roderick Alleyn, and his fans, with respect. It is, obviously, a daunting task to take another author’s character – especially such a beloved one – and write them into a new novel, even if some of the plot came from Marsh herself. However, this is certainly much more in character than the Poirot sequel and was an enjoyable and readable mystery. I love Golden Age detective fiction and this is really a new Golden Age for the genre, with so many books being re-published and so much interest and success in the books. I hope Ngaio Marsh fans enjoy this as much as I did and I hope it will lead new readers back to the original books and to others they may discover.

Incidentally, for those on Goodreads, should you enjoy Golden Age detective fiction, I help moderate a group – Reading the Detectives – which currently has a Ngaio Marsh reading challenge and any fans of the genre are welcome to join in. We are dedicated to exploring all of the great Golden Age authors, such as Christie, Allingham, Sayers and more, so please drop by and take a look! ...more

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Mar 30, 2018 Maine Colonial rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, audiobook

Duffy took on the challenge of completing a novel that Golden Age great Marsh had written through only three chapters. The challenge was made more daunting by the fact that it’s essentially a locked-room mystery, and Marsh’s notes said it was to be solved in one summer night.

I’d say Duffy’s plot construction was decent, though I found one element of it a stretch. (view spoiler) There was plenty in the investigation that kept me enga ...more

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Mar 29, 2021 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: virtual-mount-tbr-2021, mcpl-book, mystery, historical-mystery, set-in-new-zealand

New Zealand. December 1942. Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn is undercover at Mount Seager Hospital, working on a top secret mission to uncover the meaning behind coded radio messages that have been intercepted. His cover as writer in need of rest and quiet for his nerves allows him to remain anonymous while waiting for sight or sound that will help him with his mission. One everning as a storm breaks over the hospital grounds, he finds that it never rains, but pours. A floodgate of mys New Zealand. December 1942. Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn is undercover at Mount Seager Hospital, working on a top secret mission to uncover the meaning behind coded radio messages that have been intercepted. His cover as writer in need of rest and quiet for his nerves allows him to remain anonymous while waiting for sight or sound that will help him with his mission. One everning as a storm breaks over the hospital grounds, he finds that it never rains, but pours. A floodgate of mysterious events is about to be opened.

Mr. Glossop is the courier for the pay packets of various government establishments in the area. His elderly van busts a tire (as he has warned the powers-that-be it will for months) and he is stranded at the hospital for the night. Not that it matters much. The raging storm washes away bits of the bridge on the only available road--making the trip a dangerous prospect at best. Matron Ashdown insists that he deposit the remaining wages in the hospital's safe to spend the night safely tucked away with the hundred pounds winnings of hospital clerk Rosamund Farquharson (whose horse has proven lucky).

That same night, Sydney Brown, the grandson of an elderly man who has been on the edge of expiration for quite some time, has finally come to his grandfather's deathbed--just in time for the man's last moments. There is some confusion over getting word to Matron and the hospital porter, in what seems to be a drunken fit, pushes the trolley with the man in a body bag back and forth between the morgue and the office.

Meanwhile, a restless Mr. Glossop, cooped up in a hot, airless room decides he'd rather sleep with his cot lodged in front of the safe and moves to the matron's office. The entire establishment soon echoes with the courier's cries of "Thief! Robbers! Safe. Thief. Help! Thief. No!" after he finds the safe open and most horribly empty. Alleyn is forced to break cover and begin an investigation and the first thing he notices is that the body bag doesn't seem to be quite as full as it ought to be. Expecting to find the missing money bag, he (and all gathered round) are astonished to find that Mr. Brown's body is indeed gone, but it has been replaced not with stolen loot but with another corpse. Alleyn must get to the bottom of the theft, missing corspe, and murder, all while keeping an eye out for clues that will help him with his true mission at the hospital. He has one long night ahead of him and he deputizes Sergeant Bix, commander of the servicemen who are recuperating at the hospital, to act in the stead of his trusted friend Inspector Fox.

Continuation novels and brand new stories featuring beloved characters are almost always an iffy prospect. There have, of course, been a fairly good number of excellent Sherlock Homes novels written by others. But there has also been numerous really bad ones. I was thrilled when I heard that Jill Paton Walsh was going to used Sayers' source materials and give Lord Peter fans Thrones, Dominations and another chance to read about their favorite sleuth. That story was okay, but nothing like what Sayers would have given us herself. I've read all the others because I love Lord Peter and I kept hoping she'd get it more absolutely right (she never made it as far as I'm concerned). After reading reviews by bloggers I respected, I have completely ignored all of the Sophie Hannah novels about Poirot--I wasn't up to seeing Poirot through Hannah's eyes. The word on the blogging street about Money in the Morgue was generally positive, so when I found it would help me with one the reading challenges I'm doing I decided to give Duffy's rendering of Inspector Alleyn a try.

Overall, I found it to be an enjoyable book. The plot has a number of twists and turns and I can say that I did not see the finale coming at all. The new characters are interesting as are their interactions. I'm not quite sure that she got Alleyn right--particularly when he was interviewing suspects. I liked him best when he was interacting with Sergeant Bix. It definitely reminded me of Alleyn and Brer Fox. A random thought I had was on the naming of the sergeant. I'd be interested to know how complete the chapters Marsh left were and if all the primary characters were named as they appear in the final product. Whether Marsh left a complete roster or Duffy provided/changed any names, I also wonder if Bix was a deliberate attempt to parallel Inspector Fox as the military man steps in as Alleyn's right-hand man for the investigation. Somehow, I think if the sergeant had held the moniker Bassington or some such polysyllabic or hyphenated surname then it wouldn't have been the same.

A major conceit of the book is a connection with A Midsummer Night's Dream. On the one hand, this rings true as the entire night's events have a very dream-like (though I think the participants may opt for nightmarish) quality. Everything happens in the dark and certain events seem to happen in slow-motion. There is also an almost fairy-like glow in the hidden cave that Alleyn investigates at one point. And Alleyn, of course, is known for quoting Shakespeare. However, I don't see a correlation between our characters and those in the play. Alleyn refers to himself as Puck--but that only works for me if you view Puck as the closest thing to a protagonist in the play. Alleyn certainly is not mischievous and the only "tricks" he plays on anyone is "playing" them (as he calls it) to try and get them to tell the truth about the night's events.

This mystery should work really well for those who like their detective fiction in the Golden Age style but may not yet know Marsh's detective. It definitely has the right flavor. It also works for those of us who aren't quite as picky about Inspector Alleyn as we are about other classic detectives (Lord Peter and Poirot--for me) and don't mind if everything rings absolutely true or not. It has a good plot with surprises and provides a lovely view of the New Zealand countryside during the WWII years. ★★★ and 3/4...not quite a full four.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting portions of review.

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Apr 25, 2019 Annarella rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, ngchallenge2019, netgalley

I was very excited to read a new Ngaio Marsh novel as I loved her books
I found the book a bit slow with some exciting moments and some parts a bit slow.
I think it's hard to continue a book started by one of the Queens of Golden Age and, as a reader, I had high expectations.
The unusual setting and the claustrophobic atmosphere do not help but I can say I found the book entertaining and enjoyable.
The plot is full of twists and turns, with a great and unexpected solution.
I think it must be read wit ...more

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Nov 14, 2021 Cricket Muse rated it really liked it

Having been introduced to Inspector Alleyn by way of the series starring Patrick Malahide, I didn’t know what to expect when meeting his literary self. Fortunately, being unfamiliar with Marsh’s previous Alleyn books I had no expectations and found Murder in the Morgue an engaging read. A bit slow and muddled in places, but I do enjoy Alleyn’s manner of detective work: classy, cerebral, yet often compassionate. He is a bit of a father confessor in how suspects divulge their secrets and that well ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Diane rated it liked it

Shelves: mystery, setting_20th-century-historical, posthumously-completed, _requested-from-library

Probably about a GR 2.7. I tend to find my reaction to these "completed from a very far from complete manuscript" releases to be merely "not bad", despite hoping for better, and that holds true in this case. Once again, it's been too long since I actually read any of "the real thing" for me to feel that I can truly do a good job analyzing the imitation, but there are several comments I can make.

First of all, Alleyn is quite on his own in a foreign locale, without Fox, much less his accustomed ex Probably about a GR 2.7. I tend to find my reaction to these "completed from a very far from complete manuscript" releases to be merely "not bad", despite hoping for better, and that holds true in this case. Once again, it's been too long since I actually read any of "the real thing" for me to feel that I can truly do a good job analyzing the imitation, but there are several comments I can make.

First of all, Alleyn is quite on his own in a foreign locale, without Fox, much less his accustomed experts on fingerprints, CoDs, etc., though he does have the assistance of a likable military sergeant. I realize the premise was established already by Ms. Marsh herself, but it is a handicap to the story's appeal to be missing so much of the familiar cast. Alleyn doesn't even write that letter to Troy mentioned on the back cover. I happen to like character-revealing epistolary passages, but there's just a bit to Fox, and given the secrecy of his primary mission, there's much he can't say, anyway.

Secondly, this story has a lot of "moving parts": it seems everyone has secrets foolish, greedy, or dangerous; romantic tangles and other betrayals abound; money and bodies disappear; and someone is apparently planning to pass information to the Japanese in just a few hours. It's my personal taste to prefer plots that don't look like knitting after a litter of kittens have gotten in the basket. Additionally, more than one of those threads ends on a downbeat note.

The proofreader overlooked a number of comma splices and missing commas before the name/title of the person being addressed. As for content editing, there were a couple bits from Alleyn's perspective where I felt that the New-Zealand-born co-author forgot, in her generally successful effort to build a strong sense of place (there are some lovely lines of scenic imagery and Maori culture), that Alleyn wouldn't likely be as accustomed to certain terms and assumptions as were used.

It certainly wasn't a horrible read, so if you're curious, do what I did: pick it up from the library and give it a try. You may find the vivid assortment of suspects/witnesses, and their variety of reactions to wartime hardships, just to your taste. ...more

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Sep 13, 2020 Jill rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: ngaio-marsh

Although this is listed as a Ngaio Marsh book, it was only the first few chapters that were left by Marsh, and then Stella Duffy took over. If this had been a Duffy book, I would have thought that it was not a bad plot and story, but I'm afraid I just didn't find that it read like a genuine Marsh. The tone of the book gives this away. Duffy has just not captured the personality of Alleyn. ...more

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