shellystilger's review against another edition
4.0
I can always rely on a Ngaio Marsh novel. Her writing is just so spot on, light but not frivolous, entertaining and smart. I love Alleyn & Troy's relationship.
lbooks's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
sergei_ter_tumasov's review against another edition
4.0
Хороший детектив! Сюжет стандартный, без всяких изысков. Как всегда преступником может оказаться каждый из персонажей (и как это ни смешно, практически, так и выходит). И в итоге приходится отгадывать не преступника, а невиновного (я смог отгадать только жертву, а с невиновным промахнулся, забыл золотое правило всех детективов, что самый подозрительный -это самый невиновный)!!!
ssejig's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
The book opens with Roderick Alleyn telling the story to group of upcoming police of the time Troy decided to take a riverboat cruise on impulse. And this group is interspersed with a third person view of how a murder occurred on board and why/how a famous thief, the Jam Pot (sp?) was involved.
With Roderick in the United States and her son away as well, Troy can afford to take eight days on the river. Of course, people will probably find out who she is but she does try to stay under the radar, especially when a cloying Englishwoman with a cold latches on to her. If the woman knew that Troy was a famous artist... ugh. No one on the trip is too upset when that woman ends up leaving the boat but Troy is definitely concerned. Especially since she was already on alert when she makes an offhand comment about Constables (meaning the artist) and feels a sudden tension. Then she sees a newspaper article mentioning that the man who was supposed to be in her cabin was strangled. It makes her call Brer Fox to see if she needs to be worried.
Overt racism is exhibited by some of the passengers making some of the trip uncomfortable. Also, the solution is a little overly dramatic. I decided to read this out of order based on the Classic Mysteries podcast episode.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
Troy Alleyn, wife of Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard, decides to take a small break after a big art show in London. She sees an advertisement for a last-minute opening on a five-day cruise along an English river aboard the M. V. Zodiac. She hopes to relax and enjoy the slow-paced journey.
Meanwhile, Alleyn is in the United States on the track of an international criminal who goes by the nickname "Jampot." A criminal with several murders to his credit along with a trade in narcotics and art forgeries. No one knows exactly who he is or what he looks like and he's known to be a meticulous planner and superb mimic with something unusual in his physical appearance. There are hints of Jampot-like activity in the U. S. But when it's discovered that the passenger who "cancelled" his Zodiac reservation at the last minute has been murdered in a way that bears all the hallmarks of Jampot, it looks like Alleyn is searching on the wrong side of the Atlantic.
Could Jampot be one of Troy's fellow passengers? There is a graphics expert with a clubfoot, a most inquisitive cleric with only one eye, a "swivel-eyed*" butterfly enthusiast, and an Ethiopian doctor with an interest in skin dyeing. Of course, the rumors of an unusual physical appearance may have been intentionally circulated to mislead...When a second passenger dies and there is reason to believe she has met her fate at the hands of the international criminal as well, Alleyn becomes concerned about Troy's safety and heads back to England post-haste. He arrives in time to save her, but not soon enough to prevent one final death...
For the most part, this story is told from the point of view of Agatha Troy Alleyn--which makes it unusual an unusual entry in the Marsh mysteries. Framing this main narrative are take-way shots to Alleyn giving a police lecture (about a year later) on Jampot's criminal activities and eventual capture. On the plus side: I enjoyed the difference in telling the story from Troy's point of view. Those sections of the book where we were on the boat and following her adventures were delightful. Marsh does a good job reflecting Troy's "artist's eye" for detail in those portions of the book. What doesn't work so well: the framing of the story with Alleyn's lectures on the investigation. The insertion of these scenes were jarring and took me completely out of the story. It was also evident that Alleyn wanted to kick Carmichael's bottom (the listener in the second row) and I wish he had done and gotten it over with. That running theme was also incredibly distracting and, frankly, unnecessary.
The plot, once we swallow the incredible coincidence of the wife of the celebrated Inspector Alleyn sharing a river voyage with a criminal mastermind, is interesting enough, though I'm not quite sold on why we had to take a river cruise to try out our art forgery stunts (and there's another lovely coincidence--not only do we have the wife of an inspector aboard--but we have the famous artist Troy along on cruise where art forgery will figure heavily!). Perhaps it's because I've read this before (though it's been about 35 years or so and I really didn't feel like "oh yeah, I remember--that's who did it..."), but I spotted the villain immediately and absolutely knew that his next victim was about to be knocked off. It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the river trip account, so I can put this down as a nice, solid read.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
Meanwhile, Alleyn is in the United States on the track of an international criminal who goes by the nickname "Jampot." A criminal with several murders to his credit along with a trade in narcotics and art forgeries. No one knows exactly who he is or what he looks like and he's known to be a meticulous planner and superb mimic with something unusual in his physical appearance. There are hints of Jampot-like activity in the U. S. But when it's discovered that the passenger who "cancelled" his Zodiac reservation at the last minute has been murdered in a way that bears all the hallmarks of Jampot, it looks like Alleyn is searching on the wrong side of the Atlantic.
Could Jampot be one of Troy's fellow passengers? There is a graphics expert with a clubfoot, a most inquisitive cleric with only one eye, a "swivel-eyed*" butterfly enthusiast, and an Ethiopian doctor with an interest in skin dyeing. Of course, the rumors of an unusual physical appearance may have been intentionally circulated to mislead...When a second passenger dies and there is reason to believe she has met her fate at the hands of the international criminal as well, Alleyn becomes concerned about Troy's safety and heads back to England post-haste. He arrives in time to save her, but not soon enough to prevent one final death...
For the most part, this story is told from the point of view of Agatha Troy Alleyn--which makes it unusual an unusual entry in the Marsh mysteries. Framing this main narrative are take-way shots to Alleyn giving a police lecture (about a year later) on Jampot's criminal activities and eventual capture. On the plus side: I enjoyed the difference in telling the story from Troy's point of view. Those sections of the book where we were on the boat and following her adventures were delightful. Marsh does a good job reflecting Troy's "artist's eye" for detail in those portions of the book. What doesn't work so well: the framing of the story with Alleyn's lectures on the investigation. The insertion of these scenes were jarring and took me completely out of the story. It was also evident that Alleyn wanted to kick Carmichael's bottom (the listener in the second row) and I wish he had done and gotten it over with. That running theme was also incredibly distracting and, frankly, unnecessary.
The plot, once we swallow the incredible coincidence of the wife of the celebrated Inspector Alleyn sharing a river voyage with a criminal mastermind, is interesting enough, though I'm not quite sold on why we had to take a river cruise to try out our art forgery stunts (and there's another lovely coincidence--not only do we have the wife of an inspector aboard--but we have the famous artist Troy along on cruise where art forgery will figure heavily!). Perhaps it's because I've read this before (though it's been about 35 years or so and I really didn't feel like "oh yeah, I remember--that's who did it..."), but I spotted the villain immediately and absolutely knew that his next victim was about to be knocked off. It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the river trip account, so I can put this down as a nice, solid read.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block.
missn80's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
verityw's review against another edition
3.0
Another installment in the Inspector Alleyn series - and another featuring Troy in a prominent role. And it's really rather good - not the best of the series, but still twisty and intriguing. The boat trip device is rather nifty as is the framing device of Rory giving a speech to detectives about the Jampot that he's searching for.
akhaladzetako's review
3.0
ahhhh the old good detectives... I'm still upset that the person I was suspecting turned out to be the only innocent one though ugh
fivemack's review
3.0
I was recommended this as a first Ngaio Marsh, and I enjoyed it. It has reached the point of being slightly knowing in its set-up of a closed environment in which two separate crimes play themselves out; Alleyn's wife is definitely worthy of the comparison with Harriet Vane. It's a very different view of the British habit of messing about on narrow-boats from _Three Men in a Boat_, but has a similar understanding of the absurdity.
kath_knits's review
4.0
A thoroughly enjoyable police procedural of the old fashioned sort. It would have got 5 stars but for two things, one possibly unfair to the author; the treatment of the race issue jars by today's acceptable language and way of thinking (but how should the author be ahead of their time?), nevertheless it just made me wince a little and took the edge off my enjoyment of the story; secondly, the author sometimes keeps things from the reader but says the police know something we don't - unfair I always feel, share it all and give us a chance to figure out whodunnit, please!