Customer Reviews

When in Rome

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

 

 

From the first Ngaio Marsh book I read (_Death in a White Tie_)I was hooked. Now, reading my fourth Marsh novel, _When in Rome_, I can say that I like her even better than Agatha Christie. _When in Rome_ is about a group of tourists (incl. the famous Inspector Alleyn) whose guide suddenly disappears. Only Inspector Alleyn, who joined the tour because he suspects that the guide is a key member of a drug ring, is worried about his disappearance; most of the tour group couldn't care less. In fact, a few of them couldn't be happier that the seedy Mr. Mailer has conveniently vanished.

Having read all of Agatha Christies novels I never thought that I would find an author comparable to her. Yet, after reading most of the Ngaio Marsh books I believe it is time to start comparing Agatha Christie to Ngaio Marsh. A great example of this can be found in When in Rome. In this book, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn gets himself involved in a guided tour in an old church site in Rome. When the rather disrepeptable tour guide vanishes and a murder in unearthed in the underground portion of the old church, Alleyn finds himself in the thick of it. Together with the Italian Police, Alleyn trys to sort out the possible suspects. Marsh is at her very best as she takes the reader on a magical mystery tour of Rome. As always, her character descriptions are flawless and the plot moves along in rapid fashion. This book is on a par with Grave Mistake and many of her others. A great read and a superb mystery. Ngaio Marsh is can well be considered one of the best Brittish authors of the century.

This late (1970) Marsh book is worthwhile reading for Marsh fans. Unfortunately, it does not compare well to some of the more classic Alleyn books from earlier in her career. Marsh was at her best writing about earlier days. Her misunderstandings and often (unintentionally) comic view of youth culture during the late 1960s/early 1970s is one of the unfortunate hallmarks of this period in her writing.

In When in Rome, Alleyn registers for a tour incognito to try to crack a drug and blackmailing ring run by a thoroughly unpleasant fellow. When the fellow in question turns up dead, he and his fellow tourists have a great deal of thinking to do about guilt and innocence.

Truthfully, this is probably a three star book. I gave it four stars because of the extra Ngaio Marsh spark which can make even a tedious book worth the time to read. Recommended, as I said, for Marsh fans. Readers new to her work should choose one of the novels from the 1930s through 1950 as a first experience.

WHEN IN ROME presents us with a tantalizing tale of Mr. Sebastian Mailer, an up-scale tour guide whose idea of showing his guests the town ranges from artistic landmarks to drug laden dens of iniquity. Unfortunately, Mailer also laces his mixture with a spot of blackmail, so it is no great surprise to Chief Inspector Alleyn, on duty in Rome, when a body turns up where no body should be.

Among the great authors of 20th Century mystery fiction, Ngaio Marsh was particularly noted for her ability to create unique characters and place them in memorable settings--and WHEN IN ROME offers her the opportunity to do precisely that. But in this instance Marsh overplays her hand. The novel is tainted by repeated condensending British jibes at Italy, some faintly hilarious ideas about drug use, and what can only be described as indirect but nonetheless obvious sneering fits of homophobia.

In the end, this is novel that established Marsh fans will want to read--but it is also a novel that not even established Marsh fans will consider in the same league with such brilliant works as BLACK AS HE'S PAINTED, DEAD WATER, or OVERTURE TO DEATH, to name but a few. Readable, even amusing, but ultimately dismissable.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

This late entry in N. Marsh's strong list of mysteries is not her best IMHO, but it's still pretty good--much better than most mysteries. It's p. 142 "an away match" wherein Superintendent Alleyn is alone in Rome--but on a mission. So, no Nigel Bathgate as Boswell and no artist wife Troy--too bad, the novels they play in seem to sparkle more. I may be stretching a bit giving it 4 stars, but it was clever--still, the necessary clues are not given until the very end. Also the information on drugs is dated if not in error. However, there is some clever commentary upon the differences in male-male vs. female-female communications a la Deborah Tannen (e.g.You Just Don't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation & That's Not What I Meant!). One might object to the somewhat overdone differences in both communications & temperament between the Brits and the Italians in this book--which I think may have been an attempt at humor--but not a very successful attempt. But, as usual, Marsh's characters are unusual & jump off the page into your lap--even though many are rather sleazy in this book. It's interesting though to see Alleyn up against a complicated case without his myrmidons. Enjoy.

The deficiencies here are glaring. Two of the victims are villains and the third hisses a few words, spits at one of the villains, and is gone, never to reappear except as a dead body. We don't miss any of them and don't really care who killed them. The central characters are never remotely in danger of being suspected. The most interesting feature of the story is a fictional twelth-century basilica built atop a third-century church, which had itself been built atop a house dating from Mithraic times. In all, a book without tension, suspense, or interest (except in the basilica).