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3.0 out of 5 stars
A beginner's classic cozy, Dec 7 2003
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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by Ngaio Marsh
by Ngaio Marsh
by Ngaio Marsh
by Ngaio Marsh
by Dorothy Sayers
