Death and the Dancing Footman

By Ngaio Marsh

A winter weekend ends in snowbound disaster in a novel which remains a favourite among Marsh readers.

It begins as an entertainment: eight people, many of them adversaries, gathered for a winter weekend by a host with a love for theatre. It ends in snowbound disaster. Everyone has an alibi – and a motive as well. But Roderick Alleyn soon realizes that it all hangs on Thomas, the dancing footman…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Oct 29, 2009
• ISBN: 9780007344567

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.

Reviews for Death and the Dancing Footman

[katekf_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Death and the Dancing Footman is an enjoyable Alleyn mystery where an eccentric has gathered together a group that all have connections and conflicts with each other and a playwright to see what happens. The set up has the feel of many mysteries of this era with the beautiful country house and the slightly elaborate set up around the actual murder. Marsh though improves upon this formula with her deft hand with the characters and her teasing acknowledgement of her genre. I would recommend this to any reader of Christie and Marsh as its a classic cozy mystery at its best.

[mmyoung_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

While the writing itself seems flatter than in her previous books and the going feels as turgid and difficult as the driving through the snow described in the book this Marsh holds a special place of fascination for me as the author (and the characters) attempt to understand and justify the time and effort spent on one murder when in the background WWII awaits -- still in the false peace stage but with everyone aware that it is about to break out in its full level of destruction.

[delphica · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

(#3 in the 2003 Book Challenge)3. Death and the Dancing Footman by Ngaio MarshI've read a few Marsh mysteries before, and I got a nice supply of them for Christmas. They're pleasant and everything, but (and I should be embarrassed to admit how long it took me to figure this out) I realized that they're all essentially the same book. If I recall, Light Thickens is the one that's considered her masterpiece, I think I better read that one last because I like to always be on the upward trajectory.I do like this type of English mystery though, it's the mystique of the time period -- someone gets murdered, and everyone else still manages to dress for dinner.Oh, I should add that the giver of these books assembled a nice little package of second hand paperbacks, with the ultra cool 1950s and early 1960s murder mystery cover art that make them look vaguely like soft core porn.Grade: BStatus: Recommended for people who like Sayers, Tey, etc, only not quite so good.