Money in the Morgue
by Ngaio Marsh & Stella Duffy (Collins Crime Club, 2018)
The murder mystery is astutely handled. Inspector Alleyn appears earlier than usual and the entire affair takes place over the course of one night, adding a sense of urgency. The espionage angle is less convincing—perhaps explaining why Marsh abandoned the work-in-progress?
Death at the Bar
by Ngaio Marsh (Collins, 1940); audiobook read by Nadia May (Blackstone Audio, 1976)
Marsh withholds her protagonist from the early pages in favour of a lengthy set-up, which is reiterated at the inquest and then rehashed a second time when Alleyn, whose personality remains by far the novel’s chief appeal, is finally permitted to investigate.
Final Curtain
by Ngaio Marsh (Collins, 1947); audiobook read by James Saxon (BBC, 1995)
Setting the scene is one thing, but Marsh goes so far as to leave Inspector Alleyn entirely absent for almost half the book. This, combined with a ho-hum denouement and repellent characters (laboriously portrayed), renders Final Curtain something of a damp squib.
The Nursing Home Murder
by Ngaio Marsh (Geoffrey Bles, 1935); audiobook read by James Saxon (AudioGO, 2010)
The nursing home (to the modern reader, operating theatre) murder is quite diverting once it gathers steam. Unfortunately, the first fifth of the book is groundwork. Inspector Alleyn—himself unimpeachable—is a late arrival and has to recover ground already laboriously trodden.
Enter a Murderer
by Ngaio Marsh (Geoffrey Bles, 1935); audiobook read by James Saxon (BBC, 1995)
Inspector Alleyn presents as an intriguing juxtaposition of acerbic professional and chummy old boy. His offsider, the journalist Nigel Bathgate, is an adequate Watson, but the mystery—an actor’s on-stage murder—loses something in being told from a blend of third-person viewpoints.