Customer Reviews

Spinsters in Jeopardy

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
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When he is assigned to investigate a drug ring hiding behind the facade of a cult religion in the south of France, Inspector Allen elects to combine business with pleasure: he will take his wife Troy and their son Ricky along, allowing them to vacation in the area while he works. But circumstances override his intentions when an Englishwoman on their train suffers an attack of appendicitus requiring immediate surgery, the Allens agree to take charge of her, and the only qualified surgeon in the area is one working with the drug ring. Allen's cover is quickly blown, and in order to distract him from further investigation the drug ring members kidnap his child.

SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY is quite unlike most Marsh novels for it is not a mystery per se; the criminals are immediately apparent, and although there is a somewhat covert mystery afoot Marsh relies almost exclusively upon suspense and her knack for creating vividly-painted characters to substain interest. While this is certainly enough to make the novel entertaining, it is not enough to make this particular novel--the plot of which relies on coincidence upon coincidence--as memorable as her other work. Even so, the book is quite enjoyable in a Hitchcockian sort of way, reminding one a bit of the director's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. Agatha Christie fans will also recognize that Marsh has borrowed a device from Christie's THE 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON, in which a passenger unexpectedly witnesses a murder through a train window. A pleasant read, but not among the first rank of Marsh novels.

First I noted on the cover at the top was written about Ngaio
Marsh: She writes better than christie-New York Times. This I
do disagree with. Marsh was very good but her mysteries for t he
most part were rather eccentric, hard to follow in some cases.
Inspector Alleyn, his wife , Troy and 8 year old son, Ricky
were planning a trip to the Mediterranean as a vacation.
As they getting off the train at Roqueville, a passenger suddenly
suffered an attack of appendicitis. Alleyn felt it his duty to
try to get her help as she had no relations. There were no
docters around and he discovered there was a Dr. Oberon at
this chateau high up in the mountains. He knew of Oberon as being
a famous, excellent physician so Alleyn and his family got a
taxi and took her up to the chateau. Now this is one weird place
where rites of the sun god were being held. Alleyn felt they
were selling and transporting drugs buthe left the passenger
there as he trusted Oberon. Alleyn, Troy and Ricky go down
to a local hotel to stay. They occupy two bedrooms with a bath
seperating them with Ricky staying in one and Troy and Alleyn
in the other. Then they proceeded to go to lunch in the hotel
leaving Ricky sleeping. When they to check on him, he is gone.
This is the part I find hard to believe; they know the place
they have been in that there is something definitely wrong
with it yet they leave Ricky upstairs sleeping by himself.
He has been kidnapped(surprise, surprise). The Chateau is
wondering just who Alleyn is; he did not inform them he was
a police Inspector. They are afraid their little shady
operations will be discovered and will leave no stone unturned
to make sure it is not. Also I am still not sure why this
title was chosen: Spinsters in Jeopardy. When I first saw it,
I immediately thought of something with old maid spinsters
living together in a village(a la Christie) and suspicious
doings going on. I am sure there are die hard Marsh fans
out there who would disagree with my review but this is the
way I saw it.

This book is not what we usually see when we read a Roderick Alleyn mystery. For one thing, the basic premise behind the book is actually borrowed from an Agatha Christie story. Also, the book is not really a mystery as such. It is more an expose of some criminal activity that occured on the Continent to do with the early drug trade. In it we meet some truly odious characters and Ms. Marsh does a really good job of depicting these nefarious people. We also get a pretty good description of the world of Cults and witchcraft as seen through the eyes of Alleyn and his wife Troy. Ms. Marsh can write a good story, and even if she steps out of her comfort zone, she does a pretty good job with a plot that's quite different from her usual.

This publication was poorly done. The layout placed the page type so close to the spine that one has to bend the book open to read the page. It was in average condition.

My wife introduced me to Nagaio Marsh last year and since then I have been soaking up her books. I enjoy the character of Inspector Allyn but this one just did not really have as much mystery as it did adventure. It was not bad but for those new to Marsh they might want to try "Death at the Bar" or "The Nursing Home Murders" which I feel are much better.

This features Alleyn's family - his wife "Troy" and young son Ricky.
You can spot the villains from a mile away. There's a little bit of racism on the menu. One of characters, non-Caucasian,just oozes evil and reprehensible desires, with hints that these characteristics are inextricably bound with his ethnicity.
It's an interesting read, but the entire narrative darkly foreshadows the secret cult ceremony to come, which as modern readers we can guess at all too well.
I prefer the English villages!