A Man Lay Dead [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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A thoroughly delightful old-fashioned British mystery. A group of people are invited to Franstock for the weekend to participate in a 'Murder' party, except instead of a pretend victim they are confronted with a real corpse. I love these types of mysteries and this one was very clever. I was not able to figure out whodunit and was tickled with the plot twists at the end. The cast of characters are all very stereotypical portraits but that is what makes them so fun. In this first of the series, in which we are introduced to Inspector Alleyn we are not given much information about his character or personal life at all. There was no mention of a wife which I found interesting as all the books I've read are further on in the series and he has a wife in them. I'm really looking forward to seeing his character develop over the course of the books. Recommended!

You would think that people in murder mysteries wouldn't go on weekend trips to remote mansions... and definitely wouldn't play murder games. So guess what happens in "A Man Lay Dead," the first of Ngaio Marsh's Inspector Alleyn mysteries -- while it feels a bit by-the-numbers at times, it's a genuine brainscrambler.

To spice up a weekend party at Sir Hubert Handesley's's estate, the guests decide to play "Murder" -- which goes wrong when they stumble across Charles Rankin's corpse with an antique dagger stuck in his back. There are a few motives floating around, but the missing Russian butler seems to be the guilty party just because he's suspiciously missing.

But Inspector Alleyn from Scotland Yard isn't quite sure about the murder, especially since the motive seems rather flimsy. And he must unravel a tangle of alibis, motives (illicit romance! The knife!) and odd clues before he can discover who is responsible for Rankin's murder

Country estate + a pair of attractive young things + hearty squire + suspicious/quirky foreigner + a handful of other random people + a Scotland Yard Inspector = one generic murder mystery.

This was not only Ngaio Marsh's first mystery novel, but her first novel period -- and as a result, "A May Lay Dead" is rather paint-by-numbers as a mystery story. However, you can see the flickerings of unpolished greatness under the surface, and the second half of the novel is where she really starts to blossom -- both in prose and in plot.

Marsh unspools the plot at a pleasantly leisurely pace, filling it with sunlit English countrysides and comfortable old manorhouses. And she sprinkles said plot with a fair number of red herrings, quirky humor (Ethel the Intelligent and Florence the Farsighted), and half-formed motives, although not as many as you'd expect. And while her prose is pleasant but unexceptional in the first half of the book, Marsh hits her stride about halfway through ("Impossible to see behind the shadowy face of the detective into the pigeonholes of his brain").

Alleyn himself is a rather likable and promising detective -- we don't know much about him personally just yet, but he's depicted as a cultured, high society man who has somehow ended up in Scotland Yard. Marsh makes him intelligent and clever, but doesn't make him TOO perfect (when confronted by a surly kid with evidence, he doesn't know what to do).

"A Man Lay Dead" is a solid if slightly generic start to Ngaio Marsh's classic series -- and by the way she improves in the second half, you know that better is yet to come.

Until now, I had never read anything by New Zealander Ngaio Marsh. Shall I ever again? Well, yes, especially when I feel in the mood for a 'classic cozy'; and I mean that quite literally. This is Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's first mystery. He has to be the most shrewdly charismatic of all the sleuths created during the Golden Era of mystery. In its most classic sense, "A man lay dead" takes place at an English country house. A party of five guests arrives for a weekend at Frantock, Sir Hubert Handesley's residence. Quite the tycoon, Handesley distinguishes himself in party planning and antique weapon collecting. One of his guests, Charles Rankin, brings with him not only his dull journalist cousin; but also a very old (and priceless) dagger of Mongolian origin. Upon perusal by Sir Handesley and the other guests during cocktails, the weapon appears to have a bloody past: it is believed to have been savagely used by some secret Russian organizations during the time of the Bolshevik revolts. Needless to say, after seeing the specimen Sir Hubert's mouth waters, his Russian butler disappears mysteriously, his only Russian guest, a Dr. Tokareff, starts acting weirdly then ever; and... Charles Rankin is stabbed in the back with the weapon during 'The Murder Game', which was supposed to be the entertainment of the weekend. Thus, the innocently planned party becomes quite eerie, its guests more tense than ever; even though they all appear to have cast-iron alibis.

This first novel is somewhat general at times, but two thirds into it, I couldn't put it down. I found ingenious the way Marsh would not give away whodunit right up to the last two or three pages in the book. Alleyn keeps everyone on their toes during a constant guessing game, and even though at times he may appear disconcerting to everyone else involved - including the reader - he is very much in control of his ideas, suave as ever. I did find, however, that the Russian element in the story was pushed a bit too much. Even though the dagger does have a bloody past, it has really nothing to do in the end with the actual solving of the crime. In bringing on a complicated background of Russian espionage, Marsh confuses the reader with so many new characters and plot twists. In the end, it all goes back to the beginning - literally - to Frantock, where Alleyn, in a most dramatic display of his powers of persuasion, taunts the murderer into self discovery. I very much enjoyed reading the descriptions of the English country settings and the way the game is planned - perhaps I shall try it for my next party? No dagger, mind you - and I look forward to more Inspector Alleyn mysteries, where, due to Marsh's love of the theater; everything has quite a dramatic development.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Poor Debut
A preposterous tale that can only be excused by the fact that it was the author's apprentice work, obviously to Sayers and Christie. Read more

Published on July 13 2003 by hacklehorn

4.0 out of 5 stars What a wonderful start
In 1934 Ngaio Marsh gave us the first of a series which for lovers of the English cozy deserves to be known better than I think it is. Read more

Published on Mar 19 2003 by J. P Spencer

4.0 out of 5 stars The birth of a detective
A Man Lay Dead is the first appearance of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Alleyn is Ngaio Marsh's "handsome" creation who went on to star in over 30 novels and short... Read more

Published on Jan 14 2002 by Kristen A. Criado

4.0 out of 5 stars A very well-done Golden-Age mystery
"A Man Lay Dead" is a tight, well-written, and fun little murder mystery. It isn't a very long book, and reads quite fast, so it serves its purpose well as a quick and... Read more

Published on May 16 2001 by Matthew Gladney

4.0 out of 5 stars Marsh's first novel
This novel is an excellent starting place to the wonderful world of Alleyn and Ngaio Marsh. The murder takes place in an Enlgish country house, and the entertaining world of the... Read more

Published on Oct 10 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars I agree, not the best...
which doesn't mean that you shouldn't read it, since even Marsh's books that aren't quite up to the mark are still very good reads. Read more

Published on Jun 28 2000 by MK Writer

4.0 out of 5 stars A Matter of Taste
This is not my favorite Ngaio Marsh novel. One of the things I like about her later books is where they break from the more classic chamber mystery form. Read more

Published on Dec 18 1999 by frumiousb

5.0 out of 5 stars The best in the Ngaio Marsh series
This, Ngaios first novel( although it is the second i've read after "Death at the Dolphin", which is not as good) has to be the best she's written,I read it in one... Read more

Published on Sep 6 1999

4.0 out of 5 stars Far superior to Christie.
Ngaio (Nye-O) Marsh is by far the greatest mystery writer to grace this earth. In this, her first book, she introduces her detective, Roderick Alleyn. Read more

Published on Dec 17 1997

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