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Available
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Publication
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd (2001), Edition: New Ed, Paperback, 176 pages
Description
Fiction. Mystery. HTML:A policeman in the audience sees an all-too-real death scene on a London stage: "Good enough to satisfy the most critical reader of detective stories." �??The New York Times Inspector Roderick Alleyn has been invited to an opening night, a new play in which two characters quarrel and then struggle for a gun, with predictably sad results. Even sadder, the gun was not, in fact, loaded with blanks. And when it comes to interviewing witnesses, actors can be a deceptive lot . . . "It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." �??New York Magazin
User reviews
LibraryThing member BrokenTune
The second outing for Roderick Alleyn and it still feels like an early book. This story was not as improbable as the first book in the series but it still has a sense of "author finding her characters" to it.
I really liked the story and loved the theatrical setting. I did have a hard time with
There were a few elements in the plot that struck me as gaffes in the author's research, although I have no doubt that these would have excited the mystery-loving reader in 1935, when the book was published.
Still, I very much enjoyed the suspense of the story and the "let me tell you why I have gathered you all together here" ending. I'm a sucker for a Poirot-style solution. Especially, when it reminds me of one of my favourite Poirot novels, which happened to be published a year before Enter a Murderer.
I really liked the story and loved the theatrical setting. I did have a hard time with
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Alleyn in this. He seemed rather pompous. There were even scenes of his subordinates admiring him in this story that badly reminded me of Alexander Wilson's thriller series, in which the police's hero worship was one of the many factors to that led me to DNF both books I tried in the series. There were a few elements in the plot that struck me as gaffes in the author's research, although I have no doubt that these would have excited the mystery-loving reader in 1935, when the book was published.
Still, I very much enjoyed the suspense of the story and the "let me tell you why I have gathered you all together here" ending. I'm a sucker for a Poirot-style solution. Especially, when it reminds me of one of my favourite Poirot novels, which happened to be published a year before Enter a Murderer.
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LibraryThing member mmyoung
An improvement on the first Marsh -- she clearly flexes herself more freely in the world of theatre than that of upper class house parties. She exchanges drug fiends for Russian subversives -- which makes the plot slightly less silly. Unfortunately we still have to put up with Nigel Bathgate.
LibraryThing member bremmd
Gadzooks, another one I forgot to review when I first read it. Oh well, it was a good period piece mystery. The period being (if I remember right) WWII/post war England.
Roderick Alleyn is charming entertaining detective and has enjoyable sidekicks as well.
The mystery centers around a murder that
It was a fun read and I look forward to more Inspector Alleyn in the future
Roderick Alleyn is charming entertaining detective and has enjoyable sidekicks as well.
The mystery centers around a murder that
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takes place on stage in front of an audience include our Inspector Alleyn and though the murder seems to be an accident all is not what it appears. It was a fun read and I look forward to more Inspector Alleyn in the future
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LibraryThing member mrtall
Ngaio Marsh’s Enter a Murderer is good fun.
Inspector Roderick Alleyn is off for a night out to the theatre. Appropriately enough, it’s a murder mystery. But artifice becomes bloody reality as the murder victim in the play becomes a real casualty.
Although this is a perfectly competent mystery
Recommended.
Inspector Roderick Alleyn is off for a night out to the theatre. Appropriately enough, it’s a murder mystery. But artifice becomes bloody reality as the murder victim in the play becomes a real casualty.
Although this is a perfectly competent mystery
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in terms of structure and plot, the real joys here are the theatre setting and the actors who comprise the suspects. Who would be better at faking innocence than a group of accomplished thespians? Marsh brings this theme out beautifully through vivid characterizations and dialog.Recommended.
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LibraryThing member BookConcierge
Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn accepts his journalist friend’s, Nigel Bathgate, invitation for a night of theatre to see a hit mystery play. But the actors and audience are all surprised when the play’s villain is shot not with blanks but with a live cartridge which someone has
Marsh is one of the queens of mystery writing, alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. She crafts a complicated story with many plot twists and red herrings to keep the reader interested and engaged. There is little descriptive prose; most of the action is done in the form of dialogue. So it’s really what the characters say or don’t say, and by inference how they behave, that form the important “clues.”
I found it hard to get into this particular mystery. I didn’t really care about any of the characters, including Inspector Alleyn and Nigel Bathgate. I think my problem was the heavy use of dialogue. Normally I would like this kind of writing; perhaps I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. In any case, my reaction was decidedly “blah.”
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slipped into the prop gun. Alleyn has, of course, witnessed the event, and he’s immediately on hand to begin the investigation and ensure no one leaves the theater without being questioned, but there are no easy answers. The fact that the deceased was a nasty piece of work, involved in blackmail and drugs, and that he was one of two men who both professed to love the same woman just further complicates the scenario. It seems that everyone from the sleepy doorman to the theater owner/producer is a suspect. Marsh is one of the queens of mystery writing, alongside Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. She crafts a complicated story with many plot twists and red herrings to keep the reader interested and engaged. There is little descriptive prose; most of the action is done in the form of dialogue. So it’s really what the characters say or don’t say, and by inference how they behave, that form the important “clues.”
I found it hard to get into this particular mystery. I didn’t really care about any of the characters, including Inspector Alleyn and Nigel Bathgate. I think my problem was the heavy use of dialogue. Normally I would like this kind of writing; perhaps I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind. In any case, my reaction was decidedly “blah.”
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LibraryThing member wdwilson3
Better, but not great. The second installment of the long-running Roderick Alleyn saga retains sidekick Nigel Bathgate, dispenses with absurd secondary plot lines that burdened the first episode, but rather falls flat in the complexity of the murder plot. Alleyn's character seems odd, showing
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distaste in dealing with major aspects of his job. Bringing a "civilian" like Bathgate into the investigation seems wrong in so many ways. Show Less
LibraryThing member jeffome
Good book, but not great....not even sure why. Lots of friendly banter between Alleyn and others that just seemed a bit weird that i do not remember from previous Marsh books. And that could be British cultural lingo that i am missing. Decent story with what turned out to be a surprise ending for
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me, which is always good. Interesting concept where we all, including Alleyn, witness the murder onstage during a theater performance early in the book, but then have to determine who was really at fault.....and why.... I guess it just did not click with me like others, but i would not steer anyone away. Show Less
LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq
A theater company run by a dubious sort, powerful & brash. A leading lady who is always "on stage". A leading man who is more than that to the leading lady. A disgruntled 2nd man, nephew to the theater owner, trying a spot of blackmail & still in love w/ the leading lady. Chief Detective-Inspector
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Alleyn on the scene and a witness to the murder. Nigel Bathgate, newspaper reporter & friend of CDI Alleyn, he too was at the scene.During a performance of the West End hit, The Rat and the Beaver, CDI Alleyn & Nigel are witness to the murder of the 2nd man on stage.... Prior to the murder scene, someone has substituted real bullets for blanks and the 2nd man falls dead. Many people have a motive as the 2nd man was a scoundrel, causing problems amongst the cast & theater crew and not a few were happy to have him no longer causing problems.
Very interestingly written as Nigel is like a puppy following CDI Alleyn along most everywhere during the investigation and at times causing consternation with his over enthusiasm & jumping to conclusions (I did not like Nigel, he was too emotional over petty things). CDI Alleyn, definitely had a sense of humor, which is a pleasant move over from the traditional CDI's in most other British crime fiction.
Ngaio Marsh is considered to be one of the top British female mystery authors of her time, along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy Sayers. Her career spanned half a century during which time she wrote 32 mystery novels. Her novels have been turned into a BBC series.
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LibraryThing member MusicMom41
This is one of Marsh’s famous “theater” mysteries and a very good one that I had never read. This book was published before Artists in Crime because in this one the journalist Nigel Bathgate refers to “Angela North”—the woman to whom he is married in Artists but not yet in this book. (I
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looked up the copyright dates and this one is actually published 3 years before Artists in Crime.) These two books have similar plot twists in which the murder is accomplished by means of a trap set so that the actual death occurs in front of many people—this one on stage when the victim is shot during a play because someone had substituted real bullets for the blanks and in Artists a trap is set so that the model dies when she is place in her pose which has a knife jammed into the frame of the platform where she poses. Show Less
LibraryThing member Figgles
The second of Ngaio Marsh's Alleyn series. Still bedding down the characters, Alleyn hasn't quite found his form (the hint of romance with the leading lady is excruciating) and Nigel Bathgate is still the focus. However it's a more than passably enjoyable detective story set in the theatrical
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milieu that Marsh knew so well and returned to many times. Notable for being the first outing of Inspector Fox. Perhaps not one for the Marsh novice to start with but very enjoyable. Show Less
LibraryThing member murderbydeath
I've had Ngaio Marsh on my TBR pile for a few years now, and kept putting her off because the titles I have are all related to acting (Marsh herself being a former actress), and the stage and it's behind-the-scenes drama doesn't interest me much. Still, she's a Golden Age writer of note, and I was
I got off to a rough start; Golden Age writers generally have a very different writing style from most of today's fiction. More staccato, more concise, and it takes me a period of adjustment to find the rhythm. Enter a Murderer felt like that adjustment period took longer than usual, but once I found the groove, it was easy reading.
Alleyn has pale shades of Holmes about him; he's a thinking man's detective, and he likes to hold the clues close. This was not a fair play mystery, though it was written smack in the middle of the era of Fair Play. Still, I liked Alleyn well enough and I quite liked his sidekick, Nigel Bathgate.
The plot was, perhaps, trying too hard to be clever. By the end (after the reveal) it's obvious what Marsh was aiming for, and it was an admirable goal, but achieving it required a fair amount of convoluted plotting. I don't know if it didn't work for me because it was overdone, or because it required too much time with the secondary characters, all stereotypical stage actors of one sort or another, and hence, unreliable in the extreme. Either way, I was unable to buy the motive, although I did enjoy the ride for the most part.
I have a few other Marsh books on the TBR pile, and I'll happily read them; there's enough here to peak my interest, if not quite enough to spark my devotion.
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determined to give the books a try.I got off to a rough start; Golden Age writers generally have a very different writing style from most of today's fiction. More staccato, more concise, and it takes me a period of adjustment to find the rhythm. Enter a Murderer felt like that adjustment period took longer than usual, but once I found the groove, it was easy reading.
Alleyn has pale shades of Holmes about him; he's a thinking man's detective, and he likes to hold the clues close. This was not a fair play mystery, though it was written smack in the middle of the era of Fair Play. Still, I liked Alleyn well enough and I quite liked his sidekick, Nigel Bathgate.
The plot was, perhaps, trying too hard to be clever. By the end (after the reveal) it's obvious what Marsh was aiming for, and it was an admirable goal, but achieving it required a fair amount of convoluted plotting. I don't know if it didn't work for me because it was overdone, or because it required too much time with the secondary characters, all stereotypical stage actors of one sort or another, and hence, unreliable in the extreme. Either way, I was unable to buy the motive, although I did enjoy the ride for the most part.
I have a few other Marsh books on the TBR pile, and I'll happily read them; there's enough here to peak my interest, if not quite enough to spark my devotion.
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LibraryThing member Ruskoley
I usually dislike theatre-centric novels/storylines. This one shows the author has an excellent understanding of the theatre - both on stage and off. Her mystery moves a little slowly, and there were points wherein it felt both Nigel and Alleyn were annoying each other and themselves. However,
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there are some great quotes, witty moments, and overall its a lot better read than many, many novels. Show Less
LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Originally published in 1935, Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh is the second of her mysteries to feature Inspector Roderick Alleyn. This particular mystery is set in and about a theatre, a world in which the author knew well as she has spent time touring as an actress and had experience as a
This book delves into the theatre world and the personalities of the cast and crew. The murder took place on the stage and was viewed by many including Inspector Alleyn and his friend, Nigel Bathgate. The victim is an actor that no one liked and so there was no limit to the number of suspects. Inspector Alleyn needed to work his way through all the suspects and also look into past scandal and a drug connection. I did feel that during the course of the story, the author used too many red herrings so when the actual murderer was finally revealed at the end of the book, I felt a little blah about the whole thing.
This second book helps to develop the character of Inspector Alleyn and he holds his own against so many larger-than-life theatre personalities. The writing was lively with plenty of wit and charm and I will definitely be reading more from this series.
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director.This book delves into the theatre world and the personalities of the cast and crew. The murder took place on the stage and was viewed by many including Inspector Alleyn and his friend, Nigel Bathgate. The victim is an actor that no one liked and so there was no limit to the number of suspects. Inspector Alleyn needed to work his way through all the suspects and also look into past scandal and a drug connection. I did feel that during the course of the story, the author used too many red herrings so when the actual murderer was finally revealed at the end of the book, I felt a little blah about the whole thing.
This second book helps to develop the character of Inspector Alleyn and he holds his own against so many larger-than-life theatre personalities. The writing was lively with plenty of wit and charm and I will definitely be reading more from this series.
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Subjects
Language
Original publication date
1935
Physical description
176 p.; 7.5 inches
ISBN
0006512526 / 9780006512523
Local notes
The script of the Unicorn Theatre's new play uncannily echoes a quarrel in the star's dressing room. And the stage drama gets all too real when charming Felix Gardener shoots his blustering rival, Arthur Surbonardier, dead-with a gun Arthur himself loaded with blanks. or did he? How the live bullets got there, and why, make for a convoluted case that pits Inspector Roderick Alleyn against someone who rates an Oscar for a murderously clever performance.