Reviews

A Man Lay Dead, by Ngaio Marsh

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shanaqui's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Reread this on a bit of a whim. It's fairly standard as a mystery from that time period goes, and Alleyn doesn't stand out very much yet (though he seems basically decent). There's a whole Russian thriller type plot going on, which jumps our cosy-ish mystery abruptly into the realms of torture. Bit odd as an experience, now I think about it!

maddie__13's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

Je note plus tard que d'habitude et je crois que quand j'ai finis j'hésitais entre 2 ou 3 étoiles mais au final je me dis 2 parce que il m'a pas marqué plus que ça. Le plus gros soucis c'est que j'ai mis trop de temps pour rentrer dans le livre, jsp pourquoi mais j'ai eu du mal donc forcément j'ai moins apprécié ma lecture. Je pense aussi avoir lu plusieurs livres / vu des films ou séries de ce genre et donc à force ça devient répétitif. Je sais que la dernière fois que j'avais essayé de lire un Agatha Christie ça m'avait fait la même chose donc c'est peut être pour ça que j'ai eu du mal.

cleheny's review against another edition

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3.0

Ngaio Marsh's introduction of Chief Inspector Alleyn is engaging and decently-constructed, though I found the explanation of how the murderer committed the murder to be implausible. A weekend house party, in the home of an expert on Russia who is known for having wonderful house parties, goes badly awry when one of the guests is murdered, even as the guests are playing a Murder Game, where one guest is designated the murderer, has to choose a victim, and carry out the "murder" within a certain time frame. Then all of the guests try to identify the killer.

Marsh does a decent job of setting up the party; it is primarily made up of old friends who often stay at the estate. But there are tensions beneath the placid surface. One guest (the victim) appears to be romantically involved with two women, one of whom is married (and whose husband is present). The victim also displays a unique dagger which he was gifted by a mysterious Russian. That dagger attracts a lot of attention from the host--the Russia expert who passionately collects ancient/old/unique weapons--a Russian guest, and the host's Russian butler.

The murder itself is established to have taken place in a window of no more than 5 minutes (and probably 4), and everyone seems to have alibis. It is the establishment of one of those alibis that led me to correctly identify the murderer, and I think Marsh may have been influenced by Sayers' Have His Carcase, published two years before.

Spoiler

In Sayers' mystery, Lord Peter says that it's the suspect with the perfect alibi who is most suspicious, and, of course, Lord Peter is right. Similarly, here, one of the guests has a rather ostentatious alibi that immediately drew my suspicion.

Still, even though the alibi made me suspicious, I had a hard time figuring out how to break it. Alleyn does so, but the explanation is hard to believe.

Spoiler

In Have His Carcase, the stumbling block for Peter is the victim's hemophilia, which was unknown at the time of his death. Based on the physical and eyewitness evidence, Peter firmly believes, for most of the book, that the murder occurred about 2 hours later than it actually did. So he is frustrated by the suspect's alibi, which is elaborate and perfect for the period in which the murder is believed to have occurred. Sayers' mystery is extremely challenging because, at the outset, everyone mistakes the time of death. In A Man Lay Dead, there's no question that the murder was committed in this 4-5 minute window, for which the murderer seems to have an ironclad alibi, as he was supposedly taking a bath while talking through the closed door to his neighbor (who shared the bath) during this crucial time. The solution is that he was able to duck out of the bathroom quickly, slide headfirst down a bannister, grab the dagger which was hanging on the wall, stab the victim who was bent over getting a drink, and turn off the lights. All in about a minute or less. Sayers' murder--motive and method--makes sense and is plausible (for the time), while Marsh's murder method doesn't and isn't.

The plot also involves a somewhat-convoluted story of Russian secret societies and vengeance. It's not great and comes across as fairly ridiculous now (others have commented on the weird detail that the conspirators regularly perform group self-immolation, which makes you wonder how this society lasted for centuries). Still, the bones of a compelling sleuth are there. I rate this at 2.75 stars.

audrey042's review against another edition

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4.0

Quand un collectionneur d'armes anciennes invite six personnes à participer à une murder party, il n'imaginait pas condamner l'un d'entre eux. Et pourtant, Charles Ranki est retrouvé poignardé ! Fin de la partie et début de l'enquête pour l'inspecteur de Scotland Yard, Roderick Alleyn...

Réédition d’un roman paru dans les années 30, Le jeu de l’assassin marque les débuts d’une série de cosy mystery que je prendrais plaisir à continuer, ayant apprécié la plume de l’autrice et son style assez particulier. Il se dégage, en effet, quelque chose de très théâtral dans la manière dont l’autrice met en scène les personnages, et notamment un inspecteur qui aime ménager ses effets et qui trouvera, en l'un des invités, une personne prête à l'aider à résoudre son enquête.

Une enquête en huis clos qui se révèlera d'ailleurs intéressante et dynamique, Alleyn sollicitant régulièrement les invités, parfois de manière peu conventionnelle, tout en prenant le temps de récapituler les faits et son avancée. J’ai apprécié le procédé qui m’a donné le sentiment de participer activement à l’enquête, voire à une murder part en raison du côté très théâtral de la plume de l’autrice et du scénario. Le suspense sans être intenable est, quant à lui, au rendez-vous, certains invités ayant un mobile, quand d’autres semblent cacher des informations et/ou réagir de manière suspecte...

En bref, réfléchissez-y à deux fois avant d’accepter de participer à une murder party et plongez-vous plutôt dans ce roman qui allie charme anglais, plume vive et dynamique, meurtre et enquête à la mise en scène très théâtrale !

https://lightandsmell.wordpress.com/2021/10/06/le-jeu-de-lassassin-ngaio-marsh/

Avis complet sur https://lightandsmell.wordpress.com/2021/10/06/le-jeu-de-lassassin-ngaio-marsh/