Book Review: Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh (Roderick Alleyn #2)
This year I’ve decided to read the Roderick Alleyn books by Ngaio Marsh for a challenge of ‘catching up on a mystery series’ by reading an installment each month.
I have read book one and six previously, so I was already familiar with the character of Alleyn and I like him immensely. Even though it probably bears little resemblance to what Marsh describes, I have such a clear picture of what I believe him to look like, and his mannerisms, in my mind as I’m reading.
In this mystery, Marsh uses her knowledge of the theatre (she was a producer) to set a murder on the stage. The one problem with these older mysteries is that their plots have been copied so many times, you get a sense of familiarity/deja vu. I felt this with the set up of murderer replacing prop bullets with real ones during a shooting scene of a play. I guessed whodunnit quite quickly and I’ll assume this was due to the many times I’ve seen the plot done since.
Given the theatre setting, Marsh was able to include a plethora of eclectic characters. There was also the constant question of how truthful the witnesses were being. After all, when giving their statements and answering Alleyn’s questions, they could be simply acting.
Marsh also once again included the journalist character, Nigel Bathgate. I quite liked him as the sidekick and will be interested as to how many times he features in the future (I say this as I feel like no one ever seems to refer to him as they would Watson, for example).
For a book written in 1935, I didn’t find the language too difficult to follow. Most of the slang terms I’ve heard with, perhaps, the exception of ‘tight’ meaning drunk.
The only hiccup I found was Alleyn’s sexual tension with the play’s leading lady. It felt forced and seemed to crop up out of nowhere. He also doesn’t seem to be the type who would fall for the cloying damsel in distress, so to speak. I wondered if this plotline was included as some sort of request by Marsh’s publisher. *shrug*
4 out of 5 and I now have to resist picking up book three until February!
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