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A high-society homicide is the talk of the London season . . ."Marsh's writing is a pleasure." -The Seattle Times It's debutante season in London, and that means giggles and tea-dances, white dresses and inappropriate romances . . ..and much too much champagne. And, apparently, a blackmailer, which is where Inspector Roderick Alleyn comes in. The social whirl is decidedly not Alleyn's environment, so he brings in an assistant in the form of Lord "Bunchy" Gospell, everybody's favorite uncle. Bunchy is more than lovable; he's also got some serious sleuthing skills. But before he can unmask the blackmailer, a murder is announced. And everyone suddenly stops giggling . . . "It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." -New York Magazine "[Her] writing style and vivid characters and settings made her a mystery novelist of world renown." -The New York Times… (more)
User reviews
Looking back, I recognise now that I was a wholly undiscerning reader. I read those Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh books solely for the plots, and took everything at face value. Of course, now I recognise that there was a vast ferment of tacit social comment lying hidden in Agatha Christie’s stories, and when I have revisited some of them recently I have enjoyed her gentle satire of social conventions particularly in the largely rural settings that so many of them enjoy.
In my teenage dalliance with Ngaio Marsh I was similarly oblivious to the settings, and the slightly wry commentary on the socially elevated circles in which so many of her stories were set. Coming back to them now, I feel that they have not aged as well as those of Agatha Christie. I struggled with this book, set against a context of debutantes’ balls and the coming out process. I don’t think that this was a judgement on that now archaic world itself, but more a difficulty accommodating the slightly smirking condescension with which Dame Ngaio portrayed it all. In Death in a White Tie, the plot develops very slowly. This, of course, is not necessarily a bad thing and initially came as a welcome relief to the tendency among today’s thrillers to pitch the reader headlong into an already developed situation. In this case, however, it seemed to move with glacial slowness, establishing in intricate detail a social circle in which a blackmailer was taking his toll on various targets among the debutantes’ mothers and guardians. I am by no means reluctant ti have a scene set carefully, but this was like watching a normally slow 3D printer on a work to rule protest.
Inspector Alleyn was as decorous and discreet as ever, and the actual construction of the crime, and the manner in which he found the solution, seemed as sound and entertaining as it had forty-odd years ago. Unfortunately, I am not sure that the enjoyment afforded by the kernel of the plot was sufficient to outweigh the annoyance I found in the tone of the writing.
This is the first time that we've seen Alleyn investigate the death of a friend, and we are privy to his guilt, anger, pain, and uncertainty. That, combined with his love life, makes this the novel that has revealed the most, so far, of Alleyn's personal life. The story still has the usual complement of suspects, all with their secrets, some related to the crime, and some not. Also, the mystery is interesting. I enjoyed the blackmailing angle as a change of pace from murder (as much as I love my murder mysteries), and I really wanted to know who did it, a sign of a good mystery.
A couple of things didn't work for me, though. First off, the size. I enjoy my big clunker books, but with Marsh, and most mysteries, for that matter, I like them short and swift. Notice how Agatha Christie's books are all in bite-size pieces? I like that. Helps me get to the end, and therefore the answer, quicker. Marsh's books started out that way, but they have gradually been gaining weight, presumably because we are getting more into Alleyn's personal life, not just his professional. I like learning all that information, but maybe spread out in smaller doses across more books? The other aspect that I didn't like was she made it a little too easy this time: I figured out the culprit in the side mystery quickly, and I determined the killer before all was revealed. I like it when my mystery authors make me surprised at the end. Thus the three and a half stars, rather than four. A solid read, but not as good as earlier entries in the series.
I realized soon upon reading this that I had indeed read it before & so I was quick to notice all the clues that pointed to the correct murderer. What I hadn't remembered was that the personal business between Alleyn and Troy that happens in this book - I do
Review of the Felony & Mayhem paperback edition (2012) of the 1938 original
Death in a White Tie is a fairly early work (No. 7 of 33) in the Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard series by New Zealand writer Ngaio Marsh. Alleyn and his sidekick Fox are set on the trail
I found Death in a White Tie to be a delightful golden age mystery with its social commentary on the old customs of debutantes coming out during the season. There are plenty of likely suspects and red herrings to keep you entertained and guessing. The book also has a subplot that continues Alleyn's courtship of painter Agatha Troy who will continue to play a prominent role in later books in the series.