naluju's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Marsh was a genius!
judyward's review
3.0
The President of Ng'ombwana, a newly independent republic in Africa, is coming to London. There have been several assassination attempts on the President before he arrives in England and the Foreign Office wants to ensure that nothing happens to him during this visit. Luckily, Scotland Yard's Superintendent Roderick Alleyn was a school boy friend of the President during their youth and so Alleyn is assigned to the case. When the Ng'omwanan ambassador is killed by a spear during an embassy reception, everyone assumes that the wrong man was attacked and it will only be a matter of time before the assassin strikes again. In the following days, Alleyn has to deal with his old friend, the President, diplomatic immunity, a wealth of suspects, and one of the most adorable little cats to appear in fiction in quite a while.
sergei_ter_tumasov's review
3.0
Нормальная книжка, но звёзд с неба не хватает!!!
Как это ни странно, но одной из королев детектива, [a:Ngaio Marsh|68144|Ngaio Marsh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1237946649p2/68144.jpg], лучше удаётся именно недетективная часть сюжета, то, что было ДО, а вот само расследование порой бывает скучновато!!!
Персонажи просто замечательные: у каждого свой характер, и при минимуме описательных приёмов автору удаётся создать живой, жизнеспособный образ! Настоящий талант!!!!!! Надо было ей писать и "обычные" книжки. Думаю, у неё это неплохо получилось бы!!!
Моя любимая часть - это отношения Родерика и Агаты! Очень трогательно, без стереотипов и по-настоящему!!!
А вот шуточки инспектора в адрес Громобоя мне не понравились (я сам тоже не являюсь сторонником политкорректности ради политкорректности, но тут был явный перебор).
В целом, книжка ничего, хотя преступника я угадал уже где-то в середине книги (ну, ладно, не преступника, а заказчика), поэтому дальше читать было не очень интересно (не угодишь этим читателям!!!).
Как это ни странно, но одной из королев детектива, [a:Ngaio Marsh|68144|Ngaio Marsh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1237946649p2/68144.jpg], лучше удаётся именно недетективная часть сюжета, то, что было ДО, а вот само расследование порой бывает скучновато!!!
Персонажи просто замечательные: у каждого свой характер, и при минимуме описательных приёмов автору удаётся создать живой, жизнеспособный образ! Настоящий талант!!!!!! Надо было ей писать и "обычные" книжки. Думаю, у неё это неплохо получилось бы!!!
Моя любимая часть - это отношения Родерика и Агаты! Очень трогательно, без стереотипов и по-настоящему!!!
А вот шуточки инспектора в адрес Громобоя мне не понравились (я сам тоже не являюсь сторонником политкорректности ради политкорректности, но тут был явный перебор).
В целом, книжка ничего, хотя преступника я угадал уже где-то в середине книги (ну, ладно, не преступника, а заказчика), поэтому дальше читать было не очень интересно (не угодишь этим читателям!!!).
macbean221b's review
2.0
I've been giving a lot of these books three stars when I mean 3.5, and I just needed to distinguish this one as difficult for me to deal with by giving it a lower rating. There was a good deal of Troy, which I always like, and some very good Fox moments, and Alleyn interacting with a cat...but the double-whammy of a TON of racism and almost as much fatphobia just made it much more emotional labor than the rest of the series.
missn80's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-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
3.0
This is a really weird one. I loved the insight into Troy and Alleyn’s marriage. I loved Sam and Lucy Locket and way she took over his life. There are some racist characters in here - but they’re meant to be hateful and racist. There are also a few outdated turns of phrase. I think that Marsh was writing with good intentions but now, 40 years on (this is a late Alleyn) it seems clumsier than you’d like. Strange.
gretabeth's review
2.0
When Marsh has contempt for one of her characters, she is superbly contemptuous; she is a virtuoso of contempt. Few do it better. I cringe, and admire her talent, and cringe some more. In this book the contempt is pointed at a mincingly effeminate fat man and his equally obese sister; two alcoholics; a coven of racists (rightly so); and, awfully, at Africans in general. Their politics, their bodies, their beliefs, all of which are inflected to one degree or another with a stereotype of savagery. While the most pungently offensive lines come from the overt and malignant racists, who are clearly the villains of the piece, there is plenty to go around in the observations and attitudes of the heroes as well (Troy possibly excepted, or at least nothing she said or did leapt out at me). It's clear that the latter are not unkindly intended, and no doubt Marsh and Alleyn were being as racially open-minded as their best-intentioned peers at the time of its writing. But as a contemporary reader, it spoils the reading of the book.
It's too bad, because it's one of her most superbly atmospheric and genuinely tense works. The Boomer is a vivid and memorable character, and the parameters of his friendship with Alleyn are very carefully drawn, full of allusions to long-ago conversations and to the gulfs of understanding and bridges of camaraderie between them. The relationship between them is a fascinating character study, yet still greatly inflected with the "savagery vs. civilization" motifs that make it nearly unreadable. (Dorothy Gilman, writing around the same time, managed to involve Mrs. Pollifax in African political intrigue without being so sneering about it). Also, too much of the atmosphere and storyline is driven by and depends on those same motifs. Corruption abounds in both the black and the white characters, and Marsh employs many cleverly wicked lines to tell us what she thinks about it all.
In the end, this is one of those books by an author I generally enjoy that just isn't redeemable by the quality of writing or the ingenuity of the whodunit. I won't re-read it, and won't recommend it.
It's too bad, because it's one of her most superbly atmospheric and genuinely tense works. The Boomer is a vivid and memorable character, and the parameters of his friendship with Alleyn are very carefully drawn, full of allusions to long-ago conversations and to the gulfs of understanding and bridges of camaraderie between them. The relationship between them is a fascinating character study, yet still greatly inflected with the "savagery vs. civilization" motifs that make it nearly unreadable. (Dorothy Gilman, writing around the same time, managed to involve Mrs. Pollifax in African political intrigue without being so sneering about it). Also, too much of the atmosphere and storyline is driven by and depends on those same motifs. Corruption abounds in both the black and the white characters, and Marsh employs many cleverly wicked lines to tell us what she thinks about it all.
In the end, this is one of those books by an author I generally enjoy that just isn't redeemable by the quality of writing or the ingenuity of the whodunit. I won't re-read it, and won't recommend it.
carolsnotebook's review against another edition
3.0
The plot is well-done, with the over-arching mystery appropriately tangled and clues doled out that I mostly missed. There's also a quick mystery, too, that helps wrap the whole thing up. As always, it's interesting to see the different viewpoints and cultural norms of the time.
For me though, Marsh 's strength here is the characters. Inspector Alleyn is as intelligent and polite as always. He is a gentleman, a member of the upper class, as this episode reminds us. I like that his wife, Troy, who is a painter had a much larger part in this book than in others I've read. She definitely takes a back seat when there's action, sent home immediately following the killing for example, but she can still hold her own. The Boomer asks her to paint his portrait and she is delighted, even with the potential danger surrounding the man. Seeing the sittings and how she approaches the painting, along with her insights into the Boomer's character added a lot to the book. The Boomer himself is a powerful character, very aware of who he is and who he has to be, if that makes sense.
Mr Whipplestone is probably my favorite character, along with his cat, Lucy Lockett. He's a former Foreign Service Officer who happens to move into a flat near a lot of suspicious people. He's useful with the investigation, having spent time in Ng'ombwana, knowing the language and the key players, but it is truly the cat who helps solve the mystery. She's a smart one, she is, providing one of the pivotal clues. Well, she actually has to show it to the dull people a couple of times before they catch on.
My one problem with the book is that it was rather racist. It was published in 1974, the year I was born actually, and I didn't expect it to be politically correct, but it did make me slightly uncomfortable at a few points.
For me though, Marsh 's strength here is the characters. Inspector Alleyn is as intelligent and polite as always. He is a gentleman, a member of the upper class, as this episode reminds us. I like that his wife, Troy, who is a painter had a much larger part in this book than in others I've read. She definitely takes a back seat when there's action, sent home immediately following the killing for example, but she can still hold her own. The Boomer asks her to paint his portrait and she is delighted, even with the potential danger surrounding the man. Seeing the sittings and how she approaches the painting, along with her insights into the Boomer's character added a lot to the book. The Boomer himself is a powerful character, very aware of who he is and who he has to be, if that makes sense.
Mr Whipplestone is probably my favorite character, along with his cat, Lucy Lockett. He's a former Foreign Service Officer who happens to move into a flat near a lot of suspicious people. He's useful with the investigation, having spent time in Ng'ombwana, knowing the language and the key players, but it is truly the cat who helps solve the mystery. She's a smart one, she is, providing one of the pivotal clues. Well, she actually has to show it to the dull people a couple of times before they catch on.
My one problem with the book is that it was rather racist. It was published in 1974, the year I was born actually, and I didn't expect it to be politically correct, but it did make me slightly uncomfortable at a few points.
meiklejohn's review
2.0
I took the drastic step of borrowing an audiobook from the library because the news is just too mind-bogglingly horrible right now for me to still be functioning after an hour's commute. I really enjoyed the experience, to my surprise. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the specific book, given its intense racism and fatphobia. But I will continue with books for the commute, I believe!
jlmb's review against another edition
2.0
My least favorite Marsh that I've read. Written in 1981, there are a lot of prejudicial remarks about black people and about overweight people. Just as I would get engrossed in the story, I would be pulled out of it be reading some creepy comment about how black people smell different than "normal" or about how grotesque one of the suspected bad guys is because of his weight. The weight thing was a constant. Every time that character appeared, without fail Marsh would describe him as lumbering or lard fat or monstrous. At one point Marsh describes the character and his equally overweight sister thus - " They moved slowly, like two huge vessels shoved from behind by tugs." Wow. Eventually the reader learns the weight of the character. Get this....it's 229 lbs. The way she was describing him, I thought he was supposed to be as heavy as one of people on those lurid reality shows about losing weight that weigh 600 lbs. Have times changed that much that a 6 foot tall, 2229 lb guy used to be considered grotesquely obese?