Customer Reviews

Death in a White Tie

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although not in the same league with BLACK AS HE'S PAINTED or DEAD WATER, Ngaio Marsh's DEATH IN A WHITE TIE is a highly satisfying novel that meets the expectations readers have of this particular author: it is literate, witty, peopled with fully rounded characters, and set against an interesting backdrop--in this case the London debutant season.

In this particular novel, Inspector Allen is called upon to investigate rumors of a blackmailer at work in London's high society, and he accordingly recruits Lord "Bunchy," a well known and decidedly fatherly figure. Bunchy is quick to identify the blackmailer--but just as the blackmail plot seems about to unravel murder steps in, and Allen must not only uncover the blackmailer but a killer as well.

As is often the case in a Marsh novel, some readers will spot the killer long before the book's finish--but as typical of Marsh, getting there is most of the fun. A number of favorites return in this novel, including painter Agatha Troy, previously introduced in ARTISTS IN CRIME, and Allen's charming mother; the novel also includes a number of romantic subplots that Marsh handles with considerable effectiveness. Neither newcomers nor old fans will be disappointed; recommended.

This is perhaps Ngaio Marsh's best example of an upper-crust English murder mystery. The characters are so finely drawn that it makes you wish they would show up in her other novels. Rory Alleyn is at his youthful best, with a convincing amount of restrained-British angst just to make him more loveable. This is a compelling whodunit, with more than enough great writing and humour along the way to make it look great as a novel, too.

Chief Detective-Inspector Alleyn enlists the assistance of his well connected society friend Lord Robert 'Bunchy' Gospell to find out who is blackmailing several wealthy ladies. The charming Bunchy makes several interesting discoveries while making the rounds of "the London season," but is quite unfortunately murdered before he can and Alleyn can piece together the whole story.

As usual, Marsh places her clues very fairly but subtly. The backdrop of the debutante parties gives an interesting behind the scenes glimpse of 1930s London society, and if you like your mysteries peopled with lots of peers, this book is for you.

When a blackmailer strikes high society during the Season, Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard enlists the help of Lord Robert "Bunchy" Gospell, a charming elderly gentleman who's a friend to all, to unmask him. Unfortunately, Bunchy gets too close to the truth and pays for it with his life, leaving Alleyn both distraught at the loss of a good friend and responsible for catching the killer.

I've read nine Ngaio Marsh mysteries now, and overall I'm still struggling to understand why she's considered so good an author. Death in a White Tie is certainly more accomplished than some of her previous efforts. The clues are there for the alert reader, the plot mechanics fit together, and the writing is less clunky than Marsh's previous efforts. The 1930s setting has an exotic appeal for readers today and the book feels more open and real than, say, A Man Lay Dead.

On the other hand, this is still a puzzle rather than a novel, where the solution depends on who was in what room when and whether the police can engineer a confession through a series of unlikely interviews. Having the police themselves point out how unlikely they are to succeed doesn't actually excuse it. None of the characters are particularly interesting or appealing, including Alleyn himself, and there's no real depth here. The book also feels unnecessarily long, padded out with a few too many characters and conversations. I can only guess that the rules of evidence in 1930s England weren't what they are now, because this isn't the way I'd want to see police behave.

Alleyn is his usual self here: nobly lacerating his finer feelings to discharge his duty as a policeman and unprofessionally involving friends and family in his investigations. He is the only character permitted to solve even the slightest part of the mystery; no-one else is allowed to shine. It's made clear Alleyn has solved the mystery long before the reader is enlightened, as per usual, but when we aren't shown how his mind works this adds nothing to the book's interest. Alleyn also resumes his puzzling "romance" with Agatha Troy in this book, which leads to a fairly repellent exchange with his mother about what women want.

As far as Golden Age mysteries set amongst the English upper classes go, this is pretty standard fare. It's pleasant enough for whiling away a couple of hours, but no more than that.

Entertaining mystery. I wanted to find out how the romance between Inspector R. Allyn and Agatha Troy progressed as crimes were solved.

This is one of my favorite Marsh mysteries and I was delighted to find a CD audiobook version. Unfortunately, I was extremely surprised when I wound up with a 3-hour abridged version that is a sorry condensation of one of Marsh's longer books. The product description doesn't mention the number of CDs or total playing time, or I would have realized my mistake. (The word "Abridged" is basically illegible in the fuzzy product photo.) I DO NOT recommend this version -- read the book itself, or buy the complete, unabridged version on iTunes.

Not one of Marsh's best to my way of thinking. Excepting perhaps Detective Alleyn, the book is full of characters that one does not care about, engaged in an uninteresting sequence of events. This is exacerbated by the fact that it is unclear as to which character has what significance. Also there is not much of a sense of atmosphere. Disappointing.