Artists In Crime [Paperback]

Ngaio Marsh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 15, 1982

A difficult police investigation awaits Inspector Roderick Alleyn when the prime suspect in the case of a murdered model turns out to be the woman he loves. This is a new edition of the thriller by popular crime writer Dame Ngaio Marsh, which has not been in print for many years.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A Roderick Alleyn story, in Peter Wimsey vein. First rate yarn, with unusual set-up in murder of artist model in view of whole class, everyone of whom is suspect, and most of whom had the opportunity. Clues point hither and yon, but most of them to one man - who is found murdered also. There's a romance throughout - and good background stuff. A sloppy piece of editing and proof-reading keep it out of the top class. (Kirkus Reviews) --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ngaio Marsh is the author of numerous crime novels. Along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers, she was classed as one of the four original "Queens of Crime" of the 1920s and 1930s. Benedict Cumberbatch is an actor.

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Jove (November 15, 1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 051506341X
• ISBN-13: 978-0515063417
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,058,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 1930s Style at Its Best, October 13, 2003

By 

Tracy Davis (California, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artists in Crime (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

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.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Competent Mystery, July 15, 2000

By 

Mary T. Bowers (Elgin, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Artists in Crime (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

As a long-standing Marsh fan, I don't rate this one as a favorite, but for those interested in the series, this is the book where Alleyn meets Agatha Troy for the first time. (In general, if you want to find the best Marshs, look at the copyright date -- the later the better. This is an early one, 1938; her last was published in 1982.) This is a solidly written, solidly plotted, murder mystery of the Golden Age and won't disappoint, but her best work was yet to come.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A consumate teller of tales, June 16, 2000

By 

Atheen M. Wilson "Atheen" (Mpls, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Artists in Crime (Dead Letter Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I generally don't read much narrative prose, but I do enjoy a good murder mystery, especially of the old "who dunnit" genre. This is certainly one of those. Marsh is a superb teller of tales, creating colorful characters with a greater sense of depth and motivation than does Christie, with whom she was contemporary. She shares with Christie that unfailable ability to devise an unusual end for the victim and a strict adherence to the "rules" of genre--they don't cheat by some manipulation of their plot to make it virtually impossible to find the solution--something about which the writers of the Ellery Queen series, for instance, were not always scrupulous. I find myself satisfied at the end that I was truely fooled, not simply bamboozled, when I read Marsh, and this book was no exception. I also find that I learn something from Marsh: information about social attitudes--some of those expressed in the 30's sounded very familiar--about the theater, about the world in general. This one was especially satisfying in that I had a small bit of arcane knowledge at my disposal that helped me solve the mystery. Instead of feeling the solution was too easy, I could congratulate myself on being aware of oddities and of having a broad background of experiences and knowledge. For the reader who enjoys a "vacation" and a "trip abroad" and into the past, this is certainly the book for you. I enjoyed my trip; "book" yours!