Customer Reviews

Enter A Murderer

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First Sentence: On May 25th Arthur Surbonadier, whose real name was Arthur Simes, went to visit his uncle, Jacob Saint, whose real name was Jacob Simes.

When Inspector Roderick Alleyn accepts an invitation to the theater from his friend, newspaper journalist Nigen Bathgate, he doesn't expect to be witness to a murder. During a scene in the play, actors Arthur Surbonadier and Felix Gardner struggle over a gun.

The gun had been loaded by Arthur but, in the struggle, fired by Felix and Arthur dies. Unfortunately, the planned blanks were live and the stage death is real. The question is, was it murder or suicide? Who exchanged out the blanks?

It is a delight to read Ngaio Marsh right from the first page. It is a wonderful period; during the Industrial Revolution and between the wars. Police inspectors were highly educated; in this case an Oxford man. I always love the literary and historical references Alleyn uses in his conversations.

Even for the period, however, the dialogue does seem a bit stilted to me. I am always amused by Alleyn's irreverence and apparent facetious manner. The lack of expletives is refreshing: "Props uttered a few well-chosen and highly illuminating words. "He was" were the only two of them that were printable." I was also amused when a character would be mentioned but you were immediately advised that character was not germane to the story.

In today's world, you would never find a detective using a journalist to do their investigative work but a confrontation between Alleyn and Bathgate was effective in legitimizing their working together.

It is plot that drove the story; who did it, how and why? It is a bit frustrating knowing that the author holds back information from the reader until the final confrontation.

Nonetheless, I always enjoy rereading the Golden Age authors and Marsh in particular.

This is book #2 in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn mysteries. Alleyn and his journalist friend Nigel Bathgate (who is his Watson) go to the theater, where a performer is shot with real bullets instead of blanks. Alleyn's job is complicated since most of the suspects are actors...how does he know who is telling him the truth?

I figured out the murderer early, which is usually not a good thing. But the plot kept my interest til the end. I'm also starting to bond with the main characters - more so than the first book, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

While I enjoyed _Enter a Murderer_, I found the plot a bit similar to _Death at the Bar_. If I hadn't first read _Death at the Bar_ this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, as both plots are rather clever - it's just unfortunate that they're clever in the same way. I also didn't like Inspector Alleyn as much in this book - granted he was investigating a murder that takes place amongst theatrical people, but still, he came off as a bit overdone at times. At any rate, _Enter a Murderer_ was quite entertaining - Marsh definitely starts to plumb the depths in terms of a murderer's psychology, and the whole set up, with the murder taking place on stage in full-view of an audience (talk about witnesses!) was a really neat idea.

First Murderer appears at the door
- stage direction from Macbeth, Act III, scene iv

ENTER A MURDERER, the second Alleyn book, is told in a style introduced in A MAN LAY DEAD but gradually abandoned over the course of the series - rather than alternating between the views of various principals in the case and members of the police team, it relies heavily on Nigel Bathgate, a personal friend of Alleyn's who is fascinated by investigation as long as it doesn't interfere with his personal loyalties. Bathgate is the vehicle for Alleyn's involvement in this case, in a tidy bit of business simultaneously illustrating both Bathgate's personal entanglements with the case and drawing Alleyn into it: having acquired two free tickets to a performance of "The Rat and the Beaver" while his girlfriend is away, Bathgate invites Alleyn, only to witness the murder of one of the actors when live ammunition is introduced to the final dramatic confrontation.

Unfortunately for Bathgate's amateur sleuthing, Felix Gardener, the friend who gave him the tickets, is the actor who pulled the trigger, so Bathgate's personal concerns over his friend's involvement lead him to nose into the investigation far more than his professional desire for a scoop. Bathgate, in fact, generally seems unprofessional in this story, as he allows Alleyn to censor his stories before publication and seems very leisurely in getting his copy turned in; his status with his paper is rather vague, since he jumps about from writing theatre reviews to covering a crime reporter's proper beat. Alleyn's permissive attitude toward bringing Bathgate along when he frankly has no business being involved doesn't ring true, and Alleyn's perennial involvement with the bread-and-butter work of the forensic specialists seems unnecessary - while he apparently respects the other members of his team, he doesn't seem content to let them do their jobs.

As for the victim, the police are spoiled for choice as to motive; Arthur Surbonadier (born Arthur Simes) was a good actor to whom the other two leads owed their start in the profession thanks to his connection with theatre magnate Jacob Saint (born Jacob Simes), but Surbonadier dabbled far too much in drink, amateur blackmail, and sexual harassment to leave a good impression on anyone, from the property master whose girl he'd interfered with to his fellow players, who resented what they saw as his use of personal pull to get better parts than he deserved.

I recommend the audio edition narrated by James Saxon - while it omits the foreword, which isn't necessary to the story (it's a mildly funny exchange between Alleyn and the author), it's well played. Like most of Marsh's stories, ENTER A MURDERER works best when performed. It's somewhat melodramatic - Bathgate's extensive appearances as viewpoint character and his personal involvement contribute heavily to that impression - and mostly of interest to readers who are pursuing the Alleyn stories as a whole. Marsh's later stories are better executed.

Drive-in totals:
- Two deaths (shooting, hanging).
- Multiple instances of blackmail, mixed up with criminal libel.
- Multiple love interests, among them the attactions the leading lady holds for Alleyn - Stephanie Vaughan [sic], who was involved to some degree with both Surbonadier and Gardener.
- Drugs (both involvement in pushing and in drug-taking), though drinking more than drugs affects the characters' visible behaviour.

The book came quickly and in very good condition. I honestly have never heard of the writer and I decided to give her a try. My Pen-Pal in England who is a big reader mentioned this Author and how she liked her style. I'm only into a few chapters but can say the author draws one into the characters and has a certain charm to her style. Quite a find!

Ngaio Marsh was the best mystery writer in my opinion. All of her books are excellent and I highly recommend.

This is the second mystery featuring Alleyn. The first is "A Man Lay Dead" (1934). Marsh is one of the grand dames from the golden age of mysteries. You learn a lot about the theater, painting and New Zealand while reading her books.

This is an early Marsh and a good one--I've now read over ½ of her mysteries. Several of them have dramatic murders on stage (e.g. Vintage Murder & A WREATH FOR RIVERA - An Inspector Suptendent Roderick Alleyn Mystery) even right in front of Alleyn. This one is tough for a reader to figure out--though I did suspect the actual murderer, I couldn't prove it at all. It's also one of the ones in which Alleyn's journalist friend Nigel Bathgate is a major player. IMHO the charm of the book (and it's a very charming one) revolves around Bathgate's repartee with Alleyn as well as his mental/emotional conflicts among his job, friendship with Alleyn, and relationship with Felix. The interplay--psychological, emotional, rational, etc. is VERY well done and human--thus, not entirely consistent or obvious. This is a very enjoyable book. It's also available in a 3-mystery collection called Curtain Calls: Three Great Mysteries..Enter a Murderer..Night At the Vulcan...Killer Dolphin (with Night at the Vulcan (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries) and Killer Dolphin).

Nagaio Marsh's Enter A Murderer appears unabridged, with James Saxon narrating the story of a theater murder and an actor. It's up to Inspector Roderick Alleyn to sort out whodunit. The narration brings the story to life, with all its strengths.