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A review by maplessence
Vintage Murder by Ngaio Marsh
4.0
Maybe I'm going soft, but I'm getting fonder of Ngaio Marsh and her upper class sleuth, Roderick Alleyn!
This book makes it clear I've been pronouncing his name wrong all these years. It's Allen not Al-laine. & he is enjoying a holiday in Marsh's native New Zealand.Members of the Incorporated Playhouses acting troup offer Alleyne a seat in their train carriage. They are all on their way to the fictitious town of Middleton, near Ohakune in the centre of the North Island..
Alleyn is invited to their latest production & of course there is a murder. Typically for Marsh the murder is staged (Ha! Staged - I kill me!) in a highly unlikely way and (also to me highly unlikely) Alleyn ends up assisting the local police.
What I liked was revisiting old fashioned kiwi slang. I'm old enough to remember some of these now dated expressions. We do still say we are "feeling crook" if we are unwell, less likely to "go crook" if we are angry.
& I promise we aren't so sensitive to criticism of "God's Own Country" as we used to be.
There are also signs of how real Alleyn is becoming to Marsh. His character changes often in the previous books - in the case of [b:A Man Lay Dead|280847|A Man Lay Dead (Roderick Alleyn, #1)|Ngaio Marsh|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1331112594s/280847.jpg|868823] often in the same chapter! This book he is more consistent - & with less of the upper class angst that is a tiresome feature in some of her later books. Marsh even has Alleyn as an author;
This reminded me so much of my made up world as a young teen that I gave an affectionate giggle!
I also liked the cast of characters and the inventively named chapters. The latter is just fun, but the former helps this reader keep a large cast straight. I wish more modern mystery writers would do this.
Lastly, I can't resist this quote from this 1937 novel.
Prescient.
This book makes it clear I've been pronouncing his name wrong all these years. It's Allen not Al-laine. & he is enjoying a holiday in Marsh's native New Zealand.Members of the Incorporated Playhouses acting troup offer Alleyne a seat in their train carriage. They are all on their way to the fictitious town of Middleton, near Ohakune in the centre of the North Island..
The Daylight Limited train crossing the Hapuawhenua Viaduct north of Ohakune, ca 1930s(National Library Collection)
Alleyn is invited to their latest production & of course there is a murder. Typically for Marsh the murder is staged (Ha! Staged - I kill me!) in a highly unlikely way and (also to me highly unlikely) Alleyn ends up assisting the local police.
What I liked was revisiting old fashioned kiwi slang. I'm old enough to remember some of these now dated expressions. We do still say we are "feeling crook" if we are unwell, less likely to "go crook" if we are angry.
& I promise we aren't so sensitive to criticism of "God's Own Country" as we used to be.
There are also signs of how real Alleyn is becoming to Marsh. His character changes often in the previous books - in the case of [b:A Man Lay Dead|280847|A Man Lay Dead (Roderick Alleyn, #1)|Ngaio Marsh|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1331112594s/280847.jpg|868823] often in the same chapter! This book he is more consistent - & with less of the upper class angst that is a tiresome feature in some of her later books. Marsh even has Alleyn as an author;
This reminded me so much of my made up world as a young teen that I gave an affectionate giggle!
I also liked the cast of characters and the inventively named chapters. The latter is just fun, but the former helps this reader keep a large cast straight. I wish more modern mystery writers would do this.
Lastly, I can't resist this quote from this 1937 novel.
"What do you think,Mr Alleyn? If there's another war will the young chaps come at it, same as we did, thinking it's great? And get the same jolt? What do you reckon?"
"I'm afraid to speculate," said Alleyn.
Prescient.