Last Ditch (Hardcover)

by Ngaio Marsh (Author) "WITH ALL THEIR easygoing behavior there was, nevertheless, something rarified about the Pharamonds..." (more)
Key Phrases: blackthorn hedge, sorrel mare, horse paddock, Miss Harkness, Saint Pierre, Sergeant Plank (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." --New York magazine
-- Review --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." --New York magazine

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Amereon Limited (June 1976)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 084880578X
• ISBN-13: 978-0848805784
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,248,619 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Marsh's best work but still readable., September 15, 2008

By	Patrick W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" (Lucasville, OH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is an Inspector Roderick Alleyn/Detective Fox entry. It's very late in Alleyn's career because he and his renowned artist wife, Agatha Troy, have a grown son, Ricky, who has traveled to an artist's retreat of sorts to write.

Ricky mixes with the locals which include a family of equestrians. The daughter, a concupiscent gal of local popularity with all the young men, is killed in a horse-riding episode. Ricky suspects that her death may not have been an accident based upon feedback from local residents.

Ricky also gets involved with a sarcastic aspiring young artist who appears to be involved in the drug trade. Subsequent to Rickey being involved in a near drowning, Alleyn and Fox show up to look into the drug allegations and the possible murder of the girl... then Rickey goes missing!

The scenario here is not the most believable cozy murder that Marsh ever wrote. Still I enjoyed it and can recommend it to fans.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Late Ngaio Marsh book-- three and a half stars., March 31, 2006

By	C. Gilbert "frumiousb" (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Last Ditch (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the very latest Marsh books, written in 1977. (43 years after her first book!)

The story centers around Ricky Alleyn, the son of Roderick and Agatha Troy. In this book, he is twenty-one and striking out on his own for the very first time. Despite the best effort of both parents to keep him away from the world of crime, Ricky gets drawn into a local murder. Although Roderick is eventually sent to help his son out, Ricky remains at the center of the piece.

I actually did not mind Ricky as the central character. He has some interesting tensions and I could have seen him go on in later works to follow in his father's footsteps despite the wishes of his parents. That said, these tensions are not well developed in Last Ditch and Ricky remains betwixt and between with Roderick still shouldering most of the responsibility for the crime.

It would also have been interesting to see an aging Roderick less able to cope with the modern world of drugs and promiscuity. But Alleyn seems surprisingly unchanged, despite having a 21 year old son. He adjusts to the junkies and smuggling with ease.

Unfortunately, the world of drugs and junkies described here fails to ring true. It reads like second-hand stereotype rather than something from reality.

All this makes it sound like a bad book. It is not. Particularly for Marsh fans, there are still those moments of brilliance that characterize so much of her work. Julia Pharamond is a brilliant character, for instance. Her dizzy complexity and cold kindness makes her a classic Marsh character. I would not begin here if you haven't read any other Marsh, but if you are already a fan I would not be afraid to pick it up either.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars You'll root for the villains!, September 30, 2004

By	Madame X "mothermonkey" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Ditch (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am an avid Marsh reader. I truly think she's one of the all-time greats. Her characters are delicately and consistently portrayed. Roderick Alleyn, his wife Troy, his sidekick Inspector Fox---sublime. I really love her books because each one stands alone as a sort of mini-novel: a member of the mystery genre, but with creative detail and insights that you're not usually going to find outside serious novels.

Having said that: this book sucks. Ricky Alleyn is one of the most annoying and deadly stupid characters ever depicted anywhere. And since the book revolves around him, it's hard to skim the bits he's in.

Skip this one and read Overture to Death instead.