Customer Reviews

Off With His Head

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

 

 

It's time for the men of the Andersen clan to re-enact the annual Dance of the Five Swords. Don't let the fact that they unite every year for this tradition fool you into thinking that this is a peaceful family - All of the Andersen men chafe under the rule of their father/grandfather, William Andersen (AKA "The Guiser") who has held a tight fist over the family smithy and cash, not to mention every single member of his family, especially Ernie the "slow" one. There are also others in the village who manage to antagonize each other. Still, the last thing anyone expects is for one of the dancers to die in a gruesome manner, mid-dance. An excellent tale - it blends Marsh's gifts for mystery, character and observation.

This work has Marsh's usual cast of characters: Alleyn, Fox, Bailey, Thompson, & Curtis. The mystery is rather intricate. Some of it is discernible IMHO, but some is not. The characters are interesting but some seem like charicatures. William Andersen's dialect was impossible to understand; many other characters (as usual in Marsh books) use many British idioms not readily understood in the US. But, these are annoyances only. "The Play's the Thing." The 5 Sword Dance, a continuation of an ancient pagan ritual, is described in great detail. Interestingly, I was reading the entry on Dancing in the encyclopedia Man, Myth & Magic, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural 24 Volume Complete Set (or Man, Myth and Magic: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Supernatural (24-Vol. Set)) at the time! Synchronicity--per C. Jung (see The Tao of Psychology: Synchronicity and Self). There's a lot of psychology in Alleyn's solution to the case. What amazes me the most though is how people (assuming Marsh's characterizations are realistic) can be so foolish in dealing with a murder investigation. But, "it takes all kinds..." It's a pretty good mystery, I liked the ritual aspects, but not her best IMHO. This novel is included in: FIVE COMPLETE NOVELS SCALES OF JUSTICE DEATH OF A FOOL TIED UP IN TINSEL GRAVE MISTAKE PHOTO FINISH

To celebrate the Winter Solstice, the swordsmen of South Mardian intricately weave their blades in an ancient ritual dance. When one of their number is found decapitated, this hallowed fertility rite is corrupted into a pageant of death. Inspector Roderick Alleyn is called upon to solve the murder and in doing so finds himself plunged into a morass of mysteries, secrets and sins of this eccentric group, along with a surly blacksmith, a domineering dowager, and a not-so-simple village idiot. Blackstone Audiobooks is a premier audiobook publisher with a justifiable reputation of technically flawless recordings. Their complete and unabridged, ten hour, CD edition of master mystery writer Nagaio Marsh's Death Of A Fool is dramatically narrated by Nadia May. A very highly recommended, "theater of the mind" listening experience for mystery buffs in general, and Nagaio Marsh fans in particular, Death Of A Fool is also available in an unabridged audio cassette format ...

I loved every one of Dame Ngaio's books except for this one. It was AWFUL. The language was very difficult to follow and because of this the story was hard to follow. I struggled all the way through it. When I finished I was glad it was not the first book by her I had read or even the second because I probably would have never read another book by her. She wrote many other much better books, this does not even come close to measuring up. If it were possible to give negative stars to this review it would get a negative 3 stars.