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Roderick Alleyn #1
A Man Lay Dead
At Sir Hubert Handesley's country house party, five guests have gathered for the uproarious parlor game of "Murder." Yet no one is laughing when the lights come up on an actual corpse, the good-looking and mysterious Charles Rankin. Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives to find a complete collection of alibis, a missing butler, and an intricate puzzle of betrayal and sedition in the search for the key player in this deadly game.
176 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
1,258 people are currently reading
14.8k people want to read
About the author
Ngaio Marsh
189books779followersDame Ngaio Marsh, born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900, but she was born in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.
Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.
All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.
Series:
*
Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.
Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.
All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.
Series:
*
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,170 reviews
February 8, 2025
This being the first Roderick Alleyn murder mystery... out of 33, of Ngaio Marsh, wonderful appellation, ( beats the first name of Edith... her middle one tops that, no contest) the author is getting her sea legs the plot nothing new even in 1934 when written. Sir Hubert Handesley invites a small number of guests for the weekend, a party of British frivolities, eating, drinking, walks in the woods and even a mock killing in his huge country estate , Frantock Hall; silly fun and games, companionship in the fresh air away from tumultuous London. However things become dark soon as the pretend murder isn't but horrid reality... a dead man on the floor refuses to rise, the fun ends immediately. Nigel Bathgate a reporter arrives by train with his older cousin Charles Rankin a man who likes the ladies and they reciprocate. Mr. and Mrs. Wilde, Arthur, Marjorie, he an archaeologist with a shaky marriage, a mysterious Russian art expert Foma Tokareff nobody trusts and last but as we say not the least, beautiful Angela North a friend of Rosamund Grant the niece of Sir Hubert .Where would a murderer be without a police detective? Free, not in this genre . ..Enter the gentleman Roderick Alleyn from London's Scotland Yard where else... still he looks befuddled and ordinary is this an inspector the suspects since everyone inside the mansion and outside is one, the guests , servants, the maids , butlers , cooks and gardeners aren't immune to the investigation either, tiresome, meticulous though it seems to them... afraid of...certainly... However a budding romance between Angela and Nigel sparks the rather glum atmosphere otherwise and gives relief to the harsh proceedings .The inspector sends the two brave or naive a better word, into a dangerous assignment against foreign criminals, a gang hesitant they're not to break the law for profit or benefit, connected to the murder. This mystery gives a lot of false clues about the identity of the real murderer and too many scenes outside the main place of interest you can say convoluted, still a good entertainment and having read another of the writer's books Alleyn #16 in the series , "Night of the Vulcan", become better as they go along... published during the height of the classic mystery era...my own opinion I could be wrong and often am, who doesn't like a mystery except the deceased...victim.
October 3, 2024
A man lay Dead was a decent mystery from the Golden Age but nothing special. I thought the plot was a bit silly. A classic locked room mystery. I am not sure I plan to read more from the author. I like Sayers a lot more.
July 3, 2018
I Was Amused.
Marsh borrows from Wodehouse: Countryside House Parties! Parlour Games! Conjoining Rooms! Emancipated Young Women Driving Extremely Fast! Russians! Dashing Debonair Detectives!
"He climbed in [the car] beside her, And almost immediately had his breath snatched away by Miss North’s extremely progressive ideas on acceleration.
I read Marsh decades ago, and remembered enjoying many of the books, others not so much. so I thought I might start the series from the beginning and see what an older carol. thought. I chuckled more than once, so that's a win. I couldn't tell if Marsh was intending a farce or not, but by the time happened, I decided it much be. I mean, that was too ridiculous, particularly how the murder was done. Christie tried some of the same political silliness, but it was later in her career. Those writers!
"‘You have been very industrious,� said Nigel.
‘My memory’s so bad,� Alleyn apologized.
‘Don’t be affected,� said Nigel.
‘Shut up. I hate your bedroom slippers and I know you use corn plaster.�"
Two and a half stars, rounding up for Miss North's progressive ideas on acceleration.
Marsh borrows from Wodehouse: Countryside House Parties! Parlour Games! Conjoining Rooms! Emancipated Young Women Driving Extremely Fast! Russians! Dashing Debonair Detectives!
"He climbed in [the car] beside her, And almost immediately had his breath snatched away by Miss North’s extremely progressive ideas on acceleration.
I read Marsh decades ago, and remembered enjoying many of the books, others not so much. so I thought I might start the series from the beginning and see what an older carol. thought. I chuckled more than once, so that's a win. I couldn't tell if Marsh was intending a farce or not, but by the time happened, I decided it much be. I mean, that was too ridiculous, particularly how the murder was done. Christie tried some of the same political silliness, but it was later in her career. Those writers!
"‘You have been very industrious,� said Nigel.
‘My memory’s so bad,� Alleyn apologized.
‘Don’t be affected,� said Nigel.
‘Shut up. I hate your bedroom slippers and I know you use corn plaster.�"
Two and a half stars, rounding up for Miss North's progressive ideas on acceleration.
March 15, 2018
Reason for reading
1. I needed a book by a New Zealand author for a challenge.
2. A feeling of nostalgia when I saw the name . My mother read her books when I was a child. I may have tried one or two myself but they would have not been very interesting to me then.
Times change and I found very interesting indeed. It is a typical mystery of the time, country house party, upper class guests, unexpected murder and the arrival of a very clever policeman to discover the evil perpetrator. In this case the policeman is Inspector Roderick Alleyn from Scotland Yard.
is the first of 32 books in the Inspector Alleyn series and according to many of the reviews I have read it was a rather tentative beginning and the rest are much better. Great! I now have 31 more books to look forward to:)
1. I needed a book by a New Zealand author for a challenge.
2. A feeling of nostalgia when I saw the name . My mother read her books when I was a child. I may have tried one or two myself but they would have not been very interesting to me then.
Times change and I found very interesting indeed. It is a typical mystery of the time, country house party, upper class guests, unexpected murder and the arrival of a very clever policeman to discover the evil perpetrator. In this case the policeman is Inspector Roderick Alleyn from Scotland Yard.
is the first of 32 books in the Inspector Alleyn series and according to many of the reviews I have read it was a rather tentative beginning and the rest are much better. Great! I now have 31 more books to look forward to:)
June 1, 2022
Interesante lectura para quién quiera conocer una alternativa diferente a Agatha Christie. No desvelaré nada acerca de la trama. Ameno y ligero. Sin más complicaciones.
October 26, 2011
Marsh introduced her famous detective in this mystery, and you can tell that she wasn't entirely sure what personality to go with. At times he reads like Wimsey playing a silly ass, at other times he is crude or clever in the manner of a Bright Young Thing; he takes the official police hard-line one moment only to suddenly behave in unprofessional and even inappropriate ways. I suspect she was trying to write realistically complex character, but the overall effect is one of schizophrenia and implausibility.
Luckily, we spend most of the story from the point of view of Nigel Bathgate, a somewhat two-dimensional Nice Young Man of the sort that one would let date one's sister (but probably find too boring to have a relationship with). There's no pomo unreliability here; it is clear that he is innocent, and his requisite wholesome love interest is dismissed from suspicion, apparently out of convenience to the romance subplot. Otherwise, the victim and suspects are sufficiently unpleasant that there is no sense of urgency about the solution.
Most interesting to me, partly because it is so dated, is the side mystery with the Bolshevik conspirators. Did you know that in addition to being dirty communists they practiced weird, vaguely Satanic rituals that sometimes culminate in self-immolation? No? Neither did Marsh. The only thing the police really seem to be after them for is publishing seditious literature, which I guess every contemporary reader was assumed to consider a serious and despicable crime. Bolshies! Don't let anyone give you one of their sacred ritual daggers or they will track you down* and murder you!
*It won't be difficult; you'll happen to be at the weekend house-party of a mutual friend. I don't know why anyone still goes to house-parties in England, it is just asking for trouble.
Luckily, we spend most of the story from the point of view of Nigel Bathgate, a somewhat two-dimensional Nice Young Man of the sort that one would let date one's sister (but probably find too boring to have a relationship with). There's no pomo unreliability here; it is clear that he is innocent, and his requisite wholesome love interest is dismissed from suspicion, apparently out of convenience to the romance subplot. Otherwise, the victim and suspects are sufficiently unpleasant that there is no sense of urgency about the solution.
Most interesting to me, partly because it is so dated, is the side mystery with the Bolshevik conspirators. Did you know that in addition to being dirty communists they practiced weird, vaguely Satanic rituals that sometimes culminate in self-immolation? No? Neither did Marsh. The only thing the police really seem to be after them for is publishing seditious literature, which I guess every contemporary reader was assumed to consider a serious and despicable crime. Bolshies! Don't let anyone give you one of their sacred ritual daggers or they will track you down* and murder you!
*It won't be difficult; you'll happen to be at the weekend house-party of a mutual friend. I don't know why anyone still goes to house-parties in England, it is just asking for trouble.
May 19, 2019
2.5 �
& that high only because this was Marsh's first book. Makes you realise what a remarkable achievement Christie's first , was.
Other reviewers have criticised Marsh for inconsistencies in Alleyn's characterisation. I actually don't mind this. I prefer it to having Alleyn & various aristocrats angsting over being involved in something as low bred as a murder! This is very tedious in Marsh's other novels. And I did enjoy the start- although for some strange reason, the frenetic pace had me imagining everyone saying their lines while dancing 30s style.
Marsh's theatrical background always makes me see her characters as actors playing a part, rather than as three dimensional humans.
Like many of Mary Stewart's books, there was another character in this one.
Alleyn even smokes while searching a suspect's dressing room!
But I was enjoying this until around the 80% mark when I became impatient with a silly sub plot. & then a very long explanation.
It was my idea to read this in the Reading the Detectives group. I hope, in time, they will forgive me!
& that high only because this was Marsh's first book. Makes you realise what a remarkable achievement Christie's first , was.
Other reviewers have criticised Marsh for inconsistencies in Alleyn's characterisation. I actually don't mind this. I prefer it to having Alleyn & various aristocrats angsting over being involved in something as low bred as a murder! This is very tedious in Marsh's other novels. And I did enjoy the start- although for some strange reason, the frenetic pace had me imagining everyone saying their lines while dancing 30s style.
Marsh's theatrical background always makes me see her characters as actors playing a part, rather than as three dimensional humans.
Like many of Mary Stewart's books, there was another character in this one.
Alleyn even smokes while searching a suspect's dressing room!
But I was enjoying this until around the 80% mark when I became impatient with a silly sub plot. & then a very long explanation.
It was my idea to read this in the Reading the Detectives group. I hope, in time, they will forgive me!
April 14, 2018
Now I am way behind with my Ngaio Marsh challenge , not because I was delaying reading these books, but for other book reasons. So when I started reading this book I was hoping I would enjoy it, and I did. I have seen a few TV episodes with Patrick Malahide, but had no pre-conceived ideas of Chief Inspector Alleyn, that said, I must admit he did come across very Patrick Malahide -ish.
My previous book was another detective story and it was to me a fantastic, albeit short detective story; If that is the epitome of a detective story (and I did give it 5 stars, as I have some Holmes stories) then this is a definite 4 stars. Given that I have signed up to read 12 Ngaio Marsh novels this year (so yes I am way behind) a 4 star enjoyable read is a good start and I look forward to the next 11 books in the series, bring it on.
My previous book was another detective story and it was to me a fantastic, albeit short detective story; If that is the epitome of a detective story (and I did give it 5 stars, as I have some Holmes stories) then this is a definite 4 stars. Given that I have signed up to read 12 Ngaio Marsh novels this year (so yes I am way behind) a 4 star enjoyable read is a good start and I look forward to the next 11 books in the series, bring it on.
January 24, 2024
A puzzle driven mystery with plot second and characters a distant third. The denouement is just silly. The method used by the murderer is really beyond belief, relying on everything being just right. As a movie, it would only work in a comedy.
While in high school I dismissed Nagio Marsh as not worth the time. This Kindle Unlimited book did not change my mind.
While in high school I dismissed Nagio Marsh as not worth the time. This Kindle Unlimited book did not change my mind.
August 17, 2016
This is the first of Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries and it contains everything that a great Golden Age mystery should. First, the house party, complete with varying guests - an adulterous wife, jealous girlfriend, mysterious Russian, etc. In this case, the country house in question is Frantock and Nigel Bathgate (a journalist) is accompanying his cousin Charles on one of the much coveted entertaining weekends, for which invitations are hard to obtain. The host, avid collector, Sir Hubert Handesley intends to hold a 'murder' game, which naturally goes completely wrong, when there is a real victim.
Alleyn is a great character, who involves Nigel Bathgate and Sir Hubert’s niece, Angela North, in his investigation. What follows is lots of implausible plot twists (via the Russians) and an even more implausible conclusion, but the whole thing is great fun. Ngaio Marsh does not cheat and you could, if you are extremely clever and keep notes, work it out. Personally, I was happy to relax in her highly competent hands and enjoy.
Alleyn is a great character, who involves Nigel Bathgate and Sir Hubert’s niece, Angela North, in his investigation. What follows is lots of implausible plot twists (via the Russians) and an even more implausible conclusion, but the whole thing is great fun. Ngaio Marsh does not cheat and you could, if you are extremely clever and keep notes, work it out. Personally, I was happy to relax in her highly competent hands and enjoy.
December 1, 2020
I have never read any of Ngaio Marsh's books. She is one of those Golden Age of Mystery/Detective writers who made the genre popular, and so I have decided to read a few of her works. I enjoyed this book a lot, but much of the plot reminded me of The Billiard Room Mystery by Brian Flynn that was written a few years prior to this book. Here we have a festive weekend gathering in which the guests will play the parlor game "Murder" in which one person is designated the killer (in secret), and in a period of time that person must tap someone on the back and tell that person they are dead. The first part of the game ends and the guests must have a trial to determine who is the killer. Sounds like fun, but before the designated killer can act, one of the guests turns up dead with a dagger in his back. Lots to enjoy in this book, but I had a hard time keeping up and remembering who was who since there is not a lot of character development in the book. Also there is a lot of 1930's corny language in the book which does not help the modern reader. Nonetheless, and despite being able to figure out the real killer early in the book, I like the writing and have a few more of her books to read. I am confident that things will pick up in this series - and for me I always prefer to begin with the first in a series and see how the writer and characters progress.
May 30, 2013
A young reporter is enjoying an upper-class British house party when abruptly, someone is found dead!
I can't say I enjoyed this. There's an entire subplot concerning a Bolshevic satanic cult (?!) This is the first Inspector Alleyn book, and it's clear that Marsh isn't sure how to write him yet. His personality is all over the place: one moment he's burbling Bright Young Things slang, the next he's cold and remote, the next he's romantically morose. It doesn't read like a complex character so much as one without any fixed characterization. The mystery itself is very frustrating, because there's no way it should have worked. Ridiculous!
I'll try one more Marsh book, by virtue of her reputation, and then I think I'll call it quits.
I can't say I enjoyed this. There's an entire subplot concerning a Bolshevic satanic cult (?!) This is the first Inspector Alleyn book, and it's clear that Marsh isn't sure how to write him yet. His personality is all over the place: one moment he's burbling Bright Young Things slang, the next he's cold and remote, the next he's romantically morose. It doesn't read like a complex character so much as one without any fixed characterization. The mystery itself is very frustrating, because there's no way it should have worked. Ridiculous!
I'll try one more Marsh book, by virtue of her reputation, and then I think I'll call it quits.
July 2, 2022
This is Ngaio’s first Roderick Alleyn novel and it is a good introduction to the series I am slowly working through in no particular order. The story is set at Sir Hubert Handsley is well-known country house, Frantock where he is having a murder mystery party. He has invited his friend invited Charles Rankin a bachelor who likes the ladies and is a bit of a scoundrel and managed to annoy everyone he meets.
The other guests include: Charle’s cousin Nigel Bathgate a journalist; Rosemund Grant who is in love with Charles; Angela North the fast driving niece of Sir Hubert, and Arthur and his wife Marjorie Wilde, Arthur is a writer and archeologist who Charle’s bullied at Elton and and his attractive wife. There is also Dr. Tokareff a Russian involved in a secret brotherhood, a few maids and an elderly and Russian butler called Vassily.
Everyone is gathered for the murder mystery weekend and then someone is actually killed with a dagger with links to Russia. There are quite a few motive including money from inheritance, an angry lover, an angry husband and breaking the rules of the brotherhood. The Russian sub plot is a good twist.
In this first novel Alleyn is not fleshed out with no real details of his background. It’s a good mystery if a bit far fetched in how the murder is actually done. It made me laugh although I am sure that was not the intention. Overall a good read set in 1934.
The other guests include: Charle’s cousin Nigel Bathgate a journalist; Rosemund Grant who is in love with Charles; Angela North the fast driving niece of Sir Hubert, and Arthur and his wife Marjorie Wilde, Arthur is a writer and archeologist who Charle’s bullied at Elton and and his attractive wife. There is also Dr. Tokareff a Russian involved in a secret brotherhood, a few maids and an elderly and Russian butler called Vassily.
Everyone is gathered for the murder mystery weekend and then someone is actually killed with a dagger with links to Russia. There are quite a few motive including money from inheritance, an angry lover, an angry husband and breaking the rules of the brotherhood. The Russian sub plot is a good twist.
In this first novel Alleyn is not fleshed out with no real details of his background. It’s a good mystery if a bit far fetched in how the murder is actually done. It made me laugh although I am sure that was not the intention. Overall a good read set in 1934.
December 17, 2016
Delicioso! En serio, que delicia leer esta historia, que conserva el toque inocente de la Era Dorada (1920/1930). Esta es la primera novela que leo de Ngaio Marsh, y con seguridad, seguiré los pasos del inspector Roderick Alleyn.
January 1, 2018
This is the first of Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn mysteries and it contains everything that you expect from a Golden Age mystery. First, the house party, complete with varying guests - an adulterous wife, jealous girlfriend, mysterious Russian, and more. In this case, the country house in question is Frantock and Nigel Bathgate (a journalist) is accompanying his cousin Charles on one of the much coveted entertaining weekends, for which invitations are hard to obtain. The host intends to hold a 'murder' game, which naturally goes completely wrong, when there is a real victim.
There are lots of implausible plot twists (via the Russians) and an even more implausible conclusion, but the whole thing is great fun. Apparently, Marsh herself was embarrassed by this, her first, mystery, but she need not have been so. Although this was published in 1934, meaning that Christie, Sayers and Allingham all had books published before her (in the 1920’s), she quickly became a huge success and has remained one of the four major Queens of Crime. I have read very few of her books, but I intend to remedy that this year, and have certainly enjoyed this first in the series.
May 16, 2020
Alleyn looked at him with a curious air of compassion.
‘Not even yet?� he said.
‘Whose were the prints?�
‘That I am not going to tell you. Oh, believe me, Bathgate, not out of any desire to figure as the mysterious omnipotent detective. That would be impossibly vulgar. No. I am not telling you because there is still that bit of my brains that cannot quite accept the QED of the theorem.
Well, that was one of the silliest GA detective stories I have read. Not bad or horrible or totally off-putting, but entirely implausible. So, implausible that I even want to call it "cute".
So, when Alleyn stated (see quote above) that the QED had not been established, yet, I may have laughed out loud. I may also have laughed again at the end of the book.
I am glad I have read A Man Lay Dead after having already another of Marsh's books, because I already know that Marsh can write a splendid mystery. It's just that A Man Lay Dead is not it.
Now that this first book is out of the way, I look forward to the rest of the series, tho.
‘Not even yet?� he said.
‘Whose were the prints?�
‘That I am not going to tell you. Oh, believe me, Bathgate, not out of any desire to figure as the mysterious omnipotent detective. That would be impossibly vulgar. No. I am not telling you because there is still that bit of my brains that cannot quite accept the QED of the theorem.
Well, that was one of the silliest GA detective stories I have read. Not bad or horrible or totally off-putting, but entirely implausible. So, implausible that I even want to call it "cute".
So, when Alleyn stated (see quote above) that the QED had not been established, yet, I may have laughed out loud. I may also have laughed again at the end of the book.
I am glad I have read A Man Lay Dead after having already another of Marsh's books, because I already know that Marsh can write a splendid mystery. It's just that A Man Lay Dead is not it.
Now that this first book is out of the way, I look forward to the rest of the series, tho.
April 9, 2021
Nice start to a classic detective series. Looking forward to moving forward in the series.
July 31, 2016
¡Lo sabía! Bueno, vale, no sabía cómo, pero sabía que tenía que ser esa persona. Por pura intuición. O porque ya me he leído muchas novelas de misterio "quién lo hizo" y me huelo el percal.
Porque esta novela es exactamente eso: una muestra del "whodunit" británico más clásico. Todo mecánica y juegos de espejos. Tiene todo lo esperable en el género: pistas falsas del tamaño de China, personajes funcionales que como máximo te van a caer simpáticos, un detective que se guarda información clave porque sí y además te lo dice a la cara, que todo esté enfocado al puzle... Y sin embargo, a mí no me ha importado, porque este tipo de novelas me encantan. Todo lo que podría ser un problema para otros, a mí me da igual. Incluso me alegran esos tópicos, pues son típicos de los títulos clásicos del género y para mí son como volver a casa.
¿Es alta Literatura? Por supuesto que no, los misterios clásicos de encontrar al asesino no suelen serlo. Es un divertimento, un rompecabezas ingenioso para pasar el rato. Y como tal, a mí me ha resultado delicioso y me lo he leído en un santiamén.
Porque esta novela es exactamente eso: una muestra del "whodunit" británico más clásico. Todo mecánica y juegos de espejos. Tiene todo lo esperable en el género: pistas falsas del tamaño de China, personajes funcionales que como máximo te van a caer simpáticos, un detective que se guarda información clave porque sí y además te lo dice a la cara, que todo esté enfocado al puzle... Y sin embargo, a mí no me ha importado, porque este tipo de novelas me encantan. Todo lo que podría ser un problema para otros, a mí me da igual. Incluso me alegran esos tópicos, pues son típicos de los títulos clásicos del género y para mí son como volver a casa.
¿Es alta Literatura? Por supuesto que no, los misterios clásicos de encontrar al asesino no suelen serlo. Es un divertimento, un rompecabezas ingenioso para pasar el rato. Y como tal, a mí me ha resultado delicioso y me lo he leído en un santiamén.
November 8, 2015
It is New Zealand November and I am trying to read more books from and about New Zealand as part of my year-long Oceania reading spree in 2015.
Ngaio Marsh is a well-loved crime writer from New Zealand, but most of her books are set in and around London. Her Inspector Roderick Alleyn series seem (from this first one) to be the light whodunits along the lines of Agatha Christie. Over-the-top characters, some big words I had to look up (some just being regional words we don't use in the USA), silly tied up ending. A fun read but nothing to do with New Zealand!
Ngaio Marsh is a well-loved crime writer from New Zealand, but most of her books are set in and around London. Her Inspector Roderick Alleyn series seem (from this first one) to be the light whodunits along the lines of Agatha Christie. Over-the-top characters, some big words I had to look up (some just being regional words we don't use in the USA), silly tied up ending. A fun read but nothing to do with New Zealand!
May 19, 2017
BOTTOM LINE: Thoroughly old-fashioned "good read!", with an aristo-detective, all the suspects gathered in A Great House for a weekend house party, a peculiar murder method, wild Bolsheviks complicating everything, family intrigues galore, an affable-but-dim Watson - what's not to like? First mystery novel (1934) from a now-classic author isn't challenging, brilliant, or particularly special, but is still entertaining, giving a hint of her good books yet to come and, as is usual with Marsh, there are nicely pointed sly digs here'n'there.
Nigel Bathgate's cousin Charles is a bit of a dog - loving the pursuit of ladies rather too much, he enjoys playing with fire, and gets burned, in many ways. He loses a girlfriend/possible wife (who truly loves him) while in pursuit of an already-married woman, whose current husband isn't much pleased. And while remaining rather likable (at least in callow Nigel's eyes) his superscilliousness and air of "I know better/all!" gets on not a few raw nerves during an extended house party. And not many are surprised when, in the course of A Murder Game, he winds up truly dead - and in a spectacular (how like Charles!!) fashion.
Enter Inspector Alleyn - obviously refined, very well-educated, extremely likable, his smooth demeanor hides a mildly tormented psyche, as he finds he must expose Nice People to the machinations of the police force and its subsequent events, some not at all well-mannered. With these attributes Alleyn, in Marsh's first novel, is quite ordinary, an oft-used character in popular novels of the time, and although in future novels he becomes a rather interesting personality with a fascinating backstory, in this his first recorded case he is quite traditional, and rather stodgy. And while in subsequent novels Marsh builds up the cast of regulars around Alleyn (especially the wonderful Mr. Fox), here he's pretty much the entire show, except for a funny local policeman named Bunce - yet another character that often shows up in mysteries from the 1920s and early 1930s.
The plotting, while good, is also quite ordinary for the period - a stilted setting, a twisted murder mystery with overlapping elements of several crimes, a bit of spy-thriller nonsense, some slight omnipotence from the police, and a thoroughly ludicrous bit of play-acting-cum-reconstruction of the crime at the end. But it's all very smoothly written, and while now a curiosity, at the time "this sort of thing" was quite popular.
Now considered one of the Queens of Crime of the period (along with Christie and Allingham), Marsh's first mystery is still enjoyable, if not special or especially thrilling.
Nigel Bathgate's cousin Charles is a bit of a dog - loving the pursuit of ladies rather too much, he enjoys playing with fire, and gets burned, in many ways. He loses a girlfriend/possible wife (who truly loves him) while in pursuit of an already-married woman, whose current husband isn't much pleased. And while remaining rather likable (at least in callow Nigel's eyes) his superscilliousness and air of "I know better/all!" gets on not a few raw nerves during an extended house party. And not many are surprised when, in the course of A Murder Game, he winds up truly dead - and in a spectacular (how like Charles!!) fashion.
Enter Inspector Alleyn - obviously refined, very well-educated, extremely likable, his smooth demeanor hides a mildly tormented psyche, as he finds he must expose Nice People to the machinations of the police force and its subsequent events, some not at all well-mannered. With these attributes Alleyn, in Marsh's first novel, is quite ordinary, an oft-used character in popular novels of the time, and although in future novels he becomes a rather interesting personality with a fascinating backstory, in this his first recorded case he is quite traditional, and rather stodgy. And while in subsequent novels Marsh builds up the cast of regulars around Alleyn (especially the wonderful Mr. Fox), here he's pretty much the entire show, except for a funny local policeman named Bunce - yet another character that often shows up in mysteries from the 1920s and early 1930s.
The plotting, while good, is also quite ordinary for the period - a stilted setting, a twisted murder mystery with overlapping elements of several crimes, a bit of spy-thriller nonsense, some slight omnipotence from the police, and a thoroughly ludicrous bit of play-acting-cum-reconstruction of the crime at the end. But it's all very smoothly written, and while now a curiosity, at the time "this sort of thing" was quite popular.
Now considered one of the Queens of Crime of the period (along with Christie and Allingham), Marsh's first mystery is still enjoyable, if not special or especially thrilling.
August 10, 2021
Scribd English text and translation in Portuguese + audio in English from Google Translate.
Synopsys: "Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime’s first book, the first volume of the 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.
Sir Hubert Handesley's extravagant weekend house-parties are deservedly famous for his exciting Murder Game. But when the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse with a real dagger in the back. All seven suspects have skilful alibis - so Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn has to figure out the whodunit�"
Synopsys: "Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime’s first book, the first volume of the 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.
Sir Hubert Handesley's extravagant weekend house-parties are deservedly famous for his exciting Murder Game. But when the lights go up this time, there is a real corpse with a real dagger in the back. All seven suspects have skilful alibis - so Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn has to figure out the whodunit�"
March 30, 2020
This book is a classic whodunnit mystery in a wealthy English manor. My first read of Ms. Marsh stories. I like how there are little humour parts in the story, make the story not so serious.
Maybe you could guess the culprit or guess the murder technique. I think the story is fair enough for giving clues.
Maybe you could guess the culprit or guess the murder technique. I think the story is fair enough for giving clues.
August 19, 2021
“What with daggers, deaths, and eavesdroppings,� he pondered, “there’s an undercurrent of sensation in this house-party.
A Man Lay Dead is a 1934 golden age British mystery that takes place at the county estate of Sir Hubert Handesley, who hosted “unique and delightfully original house- parties�. This weekend, the seven guests plan to play a murder game where one of them will be selected to act as the murder who will then choose someone to be the corpse. The identities are secret, and the players will know the “murder� has occurred when the lights are momentarily turned off and a gong sounded. Once the corpse has been located, guests will hold a mock trial to weigh the evidence.
The game goes as planned until it was discovered that “a man lay dead.� And Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard was called to the scene.
Incidentally, this was the first novel Marsh wrote and the first book I’ve read of the author. I liked this book way more than anticipated. The languid pace at which the characters were established, and connections revealed was a highlight of the book for me.
Here is a spoiler-free character list:
In some murder mysteries it is clear from the start whom the victim will be, so it just a matter of identifying the “whodunit.� Here, the guests are together for a day before anything major happens. I didn’t have a guess who the victim would be, so it kept me anticipating the next move. Even, the characters felt an air of anticipation too, as no one wanted to be alone else they may hear someone whisper to them, "you're the corpse".
As with mysteries of this period, there was the occasional, “by Jove!� exclaimed, and others like, “crikey!� and “hell’s boots!� Everyone dresses for dinner and males link arms and go about. To me, there’s something fun and relaxing in reading these classic books.
With all the talk of ancient weapons and of the “secret brotherhood� and a couple of murders, Inspector Alleyn’s quite busy investigating this crime and the Russian subplot. Two guests are conscripted to do work for the inspector (which seemed a bit implausible though entertaining). Undeterred, Alleyn builds the case with little physical evidence. As tension builds, the big reveal unfolds near the end in dramatic fashion.
A Man Lay Dead features all the elements of an early cozy detective mystery. And as engaged as I was in the writing and the plot, this remains just a basic mystery. Readers who relish an old-fashioned read will likely enjoy this one.
A Man Lay Dead is a 1934 golden age British mystery that takes place at the county estate of Sir Hubert Handesley, who hosted “unique and delightfully original house- parties�. This weekend, the seven guests plan to play a murder game where one of them will be selected to act as the murder who will then choose someone to be the corpse. The identities are secret, and the players will know the “murder� has occurred when the lights are momentarily turned off and a gong sounded. Once the corpse has been located, guests will hold a mock trial to weigh the evidence.
The game goes as planned until it was discovered that “a man lay dead.� And Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard was called to the scene.
Incidentally, this was the first novel Marsh wrote and the first book I’ve read of the author. I liked this book way more than anticipated. The languid pace at which the characters were established, and connections revealed was a highlight of the book for me.
Here is a spoiler-free character list:
In some murder mysteries it is clear from the start whom the victim will be, so it just a matter of identifying the “whodunit.� Here, the guests are together for a day before anything major happens. I didn’t have a guess who the victim would be, so it kept me anticipating the next move. Even, the characters felt an air of anticipation too, as no one wanted to be alone else they may hear someone whisper to them, "you're the corpse".
As with mysteries of this period, there was the occasional, “by Jove!� exclaimed, and others like, “crikey!� and “hell’s boots!� Everyone dresses for dinner and males link arms and go about. To me, there’s something fun and relaxing in reading these classic books.
With all the talk of ancient weapons and of the “secret brotherhood� and a couple of murders, Inspector Alleyn’s quite busy investigating this crime and the Russian subplot. Two guests are conscripted to do work for the inspector (which seemed a bit implausible though entertaining). Undeterred, Alleyn builds the case with little physical evidence. As tension builds, the big reveal unfolds near the end in dramatic fashion.
A Man Lay Dead features all the elements of an early cozy detective mystery. And as engaged as I was in the writing and the plot, this remains just a basic mystery. Readers who relish an old-fashioned read will likely enjoy this one.
February 3, 2019
I’m a soft touch for pre-war murder mysteries set amongst the English upper classes, so I guess this novel � published in 1934 � was always going to offer some vicarious appeal.
As kids, before heading off to school, my pals and I used to rendezvous on our bikes outside the village bookshop (imagine � a village bookshop!). I recall displayed in the window paperbacks by the exotically named ‘Ngaio Marsh�. I don’t know what I thought they were about, but I can’t believe it has taken me so many decades to discover they are of my favourite genre.
A Man Lay Dead is the author’s first of her gentleman detective series, featuring the educated and erudite Roderick Alleyn. My main assessment � and I can fully empathise with the predicament � is that at this stage in her writing career she had little idea of how to construct a murder mystery.
The setting and the characters � the country house party, the well heeled and even better connected circle of associates � spot on. But the plot � ouch! � she certainly loses it at times, and there is one flapping great red herring of a diversion in the middle of the story.
Notwithstanding, the first two pillars carry the day, and � since (I read on Wikipedia) there are 32 books in the Roderick Alleyn series � I am looking forward to the shoring up of the third.
As kids, before heading off to school, my pals and I used to rendezvous on our bikes outside the village bookshop (imagine � a village bookshop!). I recall displayed in the window paperbacks by the exotically named ‘Ngaio Marsh�. I don’t know what I thought they were about, but I can’t believe it has taken me so many decades to discover they are of my favourite genre.
A Man Lay Dead is the author’s first of her gentleman detective series, featuring the educated and erudite Roderick Alleyn. My main assessment � and I can fully empathise with the predicament � is that at this stage in her writing career she had little idea of how to construct a murder mystery.
The setting and the characters � the country house party, the well heeled and even better connected circle of associates � spot on. But the plot � ouch! � she certainly loses it at times, and there is one flapping great red herring of a diversion in the middle of the story.
Notwithstanding, the first two pillars carry the day, and � since (I read on Wikipedia) there are 32 books in the Roderick Alleyn series � I am looking forward to the shoring up of the third.
September 10, 2019
3.5 stars - While this didn't turn out to be an isolated closed circle mystery, it is a very nice little country house mystery that I enjoyed more than I thought I might. The first 25% is a little uneven, but once Alleyn comes on the scene, things pick up, and I enjoyed the murder puzzle component quite a bit and the pay off was fun.
October 16, 2023
Light and enjoyable.
I'm surprised they haven't made a series of it yet--or have they?
I'm surprised they haven't made a series of it yet--or have they?
February 10, 2016
I'm disappointed. It never hooked me. Characters and setting were blah. Then I started noticing the overabundance of adverbs and how much the dialog tags bugged me.
February 5, 2024
A Pallor Game
A group of people, among others Mr. Nigel Bathgate, a journalist who writes for a gossip column, is invited to spend a couple of days with Sir Hubert Handesley in his country house, where they enjoy themselves by playing a parlour game called “Murder� � you know, that kind of thing where one player “kills� another player, and then you all have to find out who may have committed the crime. However, the game, all of a sudden, becomes dead earnest, when one of the guests, Nigel’s cousin Charles, is found lying dead with a dagger between his shoulder blades, and three blades is one too many. Enter Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn from Scotland Yard and do his stuff.
A Man Lay Dead is the first of a row of thirty-three novels centring on the cases of the aforesaid police officer, whom Ngaio Marsh conceived as an investigator without the typical quirks or mannerisms that up to then had been connected with characters like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Lord Peter Wimsey, and the result is that Alleyn comes over as a rather unpredictable, or maybe even fickle, person: One moment, he is playfully silly, the next moment he is formal and aloof, or even intimidating. Of course, such a range of moods makes him stand out well against Nigel Bathgate, who is the typical nice young man any typical nice reader can feel close to.
The more I think of Marsh’s first novel, and the more I compare it to Agatha Christie, the less favourable I become towards the book: The writing is vivid and engaging, although it lacks the clarity and the aphoristic humour of Christie, but there is one thing that Marsh messes up here, and which is quite unpardonable for a mystery writer to do: The solution to her mystery is absolutely threadbare, ridiculous and far-fetched. The Queen of Crime may have stretched the credulity of her readers now and then, but what Marsh is doing in A Man Lay Dead dwarves Christie’s most exuberant concoctions � to Marsh’s detriment. Apart from that, she also uses an altogether ridiculous subplot, in which, to top it all, her detective finally .
This is a yarn no mystery writer could hope to get away with � but since it is written in a pleasant way, I will stick with Marsh and Alleyn for a while.
A group of people, among others Mr. Nigel Bathgate, a journalist who writes for a gossip column, is invited to spend a couple of days with Sir Hubert Handesley in his country house, where they enjoy themselves by playing a parlour game called “Murder� � you know, that kind of thing where one player “kills� another player, and then you all have to find out who may have committed the crime. However, the game, all of a sudden, becomes dead earnest, when one of the guests, Nigel’s cousin Charles, is found lying dead with a dagger between his shoulder blades, and three blades is one too many. Enter Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn from Scotland Yard and do his stuff.
A Man Lay Dead is the first of a row of thirty-three novels centring on the cases of the aforesaid police officer, whom Ngaio Marsh conceived as an investigator without the typical quirks or mannerisms that up to then had been connected with characters like Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Lord Peter Wimsey, and the result is that Alleyn comes over as a rather unpredictable, or maybe even fickle, person: One moment, he is playfully silly, the next moment he is formal and aloof, or even intimidating. Of course, such a range of moods makes him stand out well against Nigel Bathgate, who is the typical nice young man any typical nice reader can feel close to.
The more I think of Marsh’s first novel, and the more I compare it to Agatha Christie, the less favourable I become towards the book: The writing is vivid and engaging, although it lacks the clarity and the aphoristic humour of Christie, but there is one thing that Marsh messes up here, and which is quite unpardonable for a mystery writer to do: The solution to her mystery is absolutely threadbare, ridiculous and far-fetched. The Queen of Crime may have stretched the credulity of her readers now and then, but what Marsh is doing in A Man Lay Dead dwarves Christie’s most exuberant concoctions � to Marsh’s detriment. Apart from that, she also uses an altogether ridiculous subplot, in which, to top it all, her detective finally .
This is a yarn no mystery writer could hope to get away with � but since it is written in a pleasant way, I will stick with Marsh and Alleyn for a while.
March 7, 2011
A reread of an old favorite. Ngaio Marsh's first novel, this story takes place in an English country house where a parlor game of "Murder" results in a real murder committed with a real dagger. Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn comes to the rescue and eventually figures out whodunit. In this cast of well-drawn characters, my favorite was the naive young journalist Nigel Bathgate, who, at 25, "had outgrown that horror of enthusiasm which is so characteristic of youth-grown-up." I love rereading Golden Age mysteries, and fortunately I have all of Marsh's books in paperback, so I can revisit them whenever I like!
December 23, 2019
Less than I hoped, but it’s the first in a substantial series and I will continue. There is plenty of potential to be realized.
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