Artists in Crime (The Ngaio Marsh Collection)
By Ngaio Marsh
4/5
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Ngaio Marsh
Dame Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand in 1895 and died in February 1982. She wrote over 30 detective novels and many of her stories have theatrical settings, for Ngaio Marsh’s real passion was the theatre. She was both an actress and producer and almost single-handedly revived the New Zealand public’s interest in the theatre. It was for this work that the received what she called her ‘damery’ in 1966.
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Reviews for Artists in Crime (The Ngaio Marsh Collection)
183 ratings15 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A breezy story set in an artists' studio school in 1930's England, this entry by Marsh has been compared by many to Sayers' work. Well, superficially this would be a true comparison. However, Marsh has, I think, a much more down-to-earth Style, and Alleyn, while a bit too perfectly polite, is never the buffoonish (or alternatively the too-perfect, well-versed in every possible literate subject) sort that Wimsey often proves to be. The mystery itself is engaging enough, the murderer is finely drawn, there are very clear clues, and the setting is different enough to hold one's attention. A very nice book for the fan of mysteries or a reader who needs something old-fashioned, amusing, and soothing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A period piece, very mannered, almost totally dialogue.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In Dorothy Sayer's "Gaudy Night" Harriet Vane, a detective novelist, is struggling with the plot of her latest book "Death twixt wind and water". She discusses it with Peter Wimsey who suggests she leaves off writing a purely puzzle book and gives her characters real human emotions and motivations. I suspect that "Artists in Crime" may be Ngaio Marsh's equivalent. Although the murder itself is bizarre, in allowing Alleyn to fall properly in love she finally shows him as a fully rounded human being with real emotions behind the facetious facade and the book is all the better for it. I also love the introduction of Troy, and Marsh's real feel for the art milieu in which the book is set. Beautiful descriptions too. Her first fully realised book.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Listened to the audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch. Very well read (love how he does different, consistent voices for each character) and greatly enjoyed the story. Lovely old fashioned "who done it" that doesn't make the killer obvious, yet does give you clues in context as you go along.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5October 2017 reread via Hoopla audio:Nadia May does a marvelous narration of this entry in the Alleyn series. I have a fondness for this one, in which Alleyn first meets Agatha Troy.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Aside from the excessive who was where when I enjoyed this mystery because It is in this story that Insp. Alleyn mets his romantic interest Troy.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Abridged on three CDs, and narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. Sixth in the inspector Alleyn series, and the one which he meets his future wife Agatha Troy. The first meeting is on board a cruise ship, and does not go entirely well. Which makes life all the more difficult for Alleyn on a second meeting, when he is called to a murder investigation at an artists' summer school run by Troy. The method of the murder is signalled to the reader well in advance, which only makes it all the more flinch inducing when it finally occurs. But while the method is clear, there is an abundance of motives. Alleyn has to carry out the usual invasion of people's privacy while dealing with is growing feelings for Troy.It's an enjoyable period police procedural which has been competently abridged for audio. Of course, the real attraction for many listeners nowadays will be the narration by Benedict Cumberbatch, who does an excellent job.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5My first Ngaio Marsh experience overall went well. It's they 6th of the Roderick Alleyn series and I liked the Scotland Yard inspector quite well. He meets artist Agatha Troy (called Troy), makes what seems like a knowledgeable comment on the painting she got underway, and becomes quite taken by her. Unfortunately for the would-be couple, not very long after, he's called in for a murder that's taken place at her home, which she runs as an artist colony. The studio model has died following a stabbing that occurred when she was taking the awkward pose that was required of her. It seems the knife was inserted through the base of the podium at precisely the right spot to enter her heart. All the artists present are suspects, especially since, artists being artist, there is plenty of drama and strife in the air, and more than a little sexual tension too. I did find certain parts dragged on a little, which was too bad, especially since I had mistakenly gotten the abridged version of this novel on audio. Still, I enjoyed Marsh's approach, which seemed to me a little bit darker and more gritty than Agatha Christie's. I'll be revisiting her and Alleyn in future.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Classic Ngaio Marsh. Good mystery with a decent twist. I love the main characters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5So here is another fine example of the quintessential classic mystery. This one describes the initial meeting of Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn of New Scotland Yard and artist Agatha Troy, followed by their second meeting when he is assigned to investigate a murder in her home/studio. I love this book! I love the way we watch Alleyn try and maintain his professional decorum and solve the murder while falling head over heels for Troy. And we get treated to Alleyn's usual cohorts: the indefatigable Inspector Fox, fingerprint expert Detective-Sergeant Bailey, photographer Detective-Sergeant Thompson, and, of course, reporter Nigel Bathgate. Plus we get to meet Alleyn's mother! Ahh, such sweet bliss!!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A breezy story set in an artists' studio school in 1930's England, this entry by Marsh has been compared by many to Sayers' work. Well, superficially this would be a true comparison. However, Marsh has, I think, a much more down-to-earth Style, and Alleyn, while a bit too perfectly polite, is never the buffoonish (or alternatively the too-perfect, well-versed in every possible literate subject) sort that Wimsey often proves to be. The mystery itself is engaging enough, the murderer is finely drawn, there are very clear clues, and the setting is different enough to hold one's attention. A very nice book for the fan of mysteries or a reader who needs something old-fashioned, amusing, and soothing.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5One of the Marsh's where I figured out "whodunit" long before the end. I also felt that the relationship between Alleyn and Troy was a dim shadow of the great Harriet/Peter relationship in Sayers.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This is the book where Alleyn meets Agatha Troy. Marsh is most often compared to Agatha Christie when talking of women mystery authors of the 1930’s to about the 1980’s. The biggest similarity between them is the number of books each wrote and how long each career lasted. I have another author that I think Marsh should be compared with—and I’m sure there are others who would agree wit me. Consider her set up and style: All of her mysteries feature the same detective, Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn, who is the bachelor younger son of an aristocratic family with an older brother who has the title and seems a little stuffy and a charming mother who rather dotes on him without smothering him. He is attractive to the opposite sex (Alleyn is actually handsome—but there have to be some differences!). He has a boon companion who helps him with the practical details of the case and acts as a sounding board for Alleyn’s creative ideas, but does not valet for him since he is also a Detective Inspector. In this novel he encounters by chance a talented artist to whom he is attracted but who seems gruff because he accidentally interrupted her work. He is unsure of how she reacts to him. Later he meets her again when he must investigate a murder that takes place in her studio during a class she is teaching. There is even loyal journalist who tags along. This book was published in 1935, by which time Dorothy Sayers had already published all but 2 of her Lord Peter Wimsey series, including the first 2 Harriet Vane novels.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nice little mystery. I'm not sure whether this author is more fair than others, but I always seem able to spot the murderers in her books. I should be glad about that, but somehow it's dissatisfying. However, the characters are likeable enough that it doesn't matter. Especially like the artist and the detective.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5very light touch, clever, and the characters are sturdy and attractive. Some dated references to "negroes", though, as if the author felt blacks were some sort of alien species.