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Artists In Crime
by Ngaio Marsh
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Jove (1980-01-01)
ISBN: 0515054143
EAN: 9780515054149
Paperback
SKU: 11121
Condition: Good
Comments: Binding: Softcover. Condition: Good. Slightly creased spine.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
One of Ngaio Marsh's most famous murder mysteries, which introduces Inspector Alleyn to his future wife, the irrepressible Agatha Troy. It started as a student exercise, the knife under the drape, the model's pose chalked in place. But before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class, the pose has been re-enacted in earnest: the model is dead, fixed for ever in one of the most dramatic poses Troy has ever seen. It's a difficult case for Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn. How can he believe that the woman he loves is a murderess? And yet no one can be above suspicion...
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Customer Reviews
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3.5 stars - A classic Golden-age mystery
Rating  (3)
Date: 2008-01-09
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
First Sentence: Alleyn leant over the deck-rail, looking at the wet brown wharf and the upturned faces of the people.
Inspector Roderick Alleyn, while traveling aboard ship from Australia meets well-known artist Agatha Troy. Back in England and visiting his mother, he is called back to duty early to investigate the murder of an artist. It's an investigation about which he has mixed feelings as the murder happened at the art school of Ms. Troy, a short distance from his mother's home.
I enjoy reading books set in the Golden Age between the Wars. To me, it's always interesting to see the difference in relationships, society, and vocabulary. Rather than viewing a book as being "dated," I view it as a look at a not-so-distant past time. I also enjoyed this particular book as it is the beginning of the relationship between Alleyn and Troy, but enjoyed the relationships of all the characters and loved Alleyn's mother. The mystery is classic; a large cast of suspects, many with quite good motives for having committed the murder and then watching the police sort out the clues. Although the clues are there for the reader to solve the crime, I missed one for the solution to the twist. The characters are well developed and much of the action is dialogue driven, which I enjoyed. I find Ngaio Marsh always a pleasure to read.
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Warning! For the elderly english upperclass only
Rating  (1)
Date: 2005-08-27
4 out of 19 customers found this reveiw helpful
I bought two Alleyn books, for the very first time, because they were being compared favorably to Christie. Scales of justice and this book. I was very dissapointed. These books are very difficult to read because of a) use of old and pretenious language; who of you know what a tarradiddle is or doggo? Who is comfortable when a man of forty and his mother call each other darlings and the son grips the arm of his co-worker and calls him a courtier because he praises the mother for being a good host? The talk between the co-worker and Alleyn is almost as uncomfortable as the talk between Alleyn and his mother, why does he call a man whose name is Fox, Foxkin or Brer Foxkin? I looked this up in the dictionary and all I could find is that Foxkin might relate to lamkin (yugh) It is like calling a lover or a little boy a pet name. Finally there are sentences which are all but unforgiveable, such as: "when he looked at her tear stained little face he could hardly refrain from kissing her" or some such crap. No Ngaio is not an exciting read, language is stilted, affected and incomprehensible to anyone outside of Britain I would imagine. b) The second and more important reason for not reading Marsh is that the characters are so boring, stand-offish and childish that you hurry through the end, not to know "who done it" but to get away from their presence. And c) finally it becomes painfully obvious that Marsh would rather spoil the end than have the criminal be one of the gents. A "do not buy", unless you are British and remember when you had a governess. Marsh's time has come and gone, gone a long time ago. Christie is a thousand times better author, there is no comparison.
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1930s Style at Its Best
Rating  (5)
Date: 2003-10-13
13 out of 13 customers found this reveiw helpful
This novel, which relates the first meeting between Scotland Yard Inspector Roderick Alleyn and the artist Agatha Troy, is both a good mystery and a good picture of what kind of book was popular in the 1930s. After Alleyn and Troy meet on a ship sailing back to England from the South Pacific (and they do not meet well, although he is interested in her), Alleyn is called to investigate a murder at Troy's home conveniently down the road from his mother's. An artist's model has been murdered, and there is literally a cast of suspects who had the motivation to `do her in', including Troy herself. The plot is pretty procedural, although the identity of the murderer is kept hidden for quite awhile. The great thing is the language and style of the novel: slang terms, endearments, and descriptions of people are wonderfully appropriate to the time in which the novel first appeared. The relationship between Alleyn and his mother could not be written `straight' today: the `darlings' and `mammas' would be a joke in the 21st century, especially since Alleyn is not a young man at this point. Troy and Alleyn's misunderstandings, and the rather melodramatic `Epilogue in a Garden' is fun to read and would have played well to the original readers; it's full of dramatic tension and yet a little silly at the same time. Better than most modern mysteries.
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Not good enough
Rating (3)
Date: 2001-09-21
3 out of 9 customers found this reveiw helpful
Having never read any of Ngaio Marsh's books before I thought I'd try the chronological approach. Apparently this wasn't such a good idea as according to other reviewers her better work was later. The book was well plotted and intelligent but ultimately I found the social scenery a bit dated and finally got on my nerves. It did keep me interested and I was surprised at the end. All in all not great but worth pursuing further
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A bit disappointed
Rating (3)
Date: 2000-07-19
5 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
I guess that on my quest to read as many Marsh novels as possible, my expectations have grown. While it was fun watching Alleyn falling head over heels in love, neither the plot nor the characters particularly grabbed me. I think the artists all came off a bit as stereotypes, at times downright annoying. Not a bad read, but far from Marsh's best.
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