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Roderick Alleyn #6
Artists in Crime
The art of detection gets clouded by desire.
It was a bizarre pose for beautiful model Sonia Gluck-and her last. For in the draperies of her couch lay a fatal dagger, and behind her murder lies all the intrigue and acid-etched temperament of an artist's colony. Called in to investigate, Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn finds his own passions unexpectedly stirred by the feisty painter Agatha Troy-brilliant artist and suspected murderess.
It was a bizarre pose for beautiful model Sonia Gluck-and her last. For in the draperies of her couch lay a fatal dagger, and behind her murder lies all the intrigue and acid-etched temperament of an artist's colony. Called in to investigate, Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn finds his own passions unexpectedly stirred by the feisty painter Agatha Troy-brilliant artist and suspected murderess.
316 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1938
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 493 reviews
August 5, 2018
Like a number of other people I enjoyed this considerably more than number 5 in the series. The story was more interesting, it had DCI. Alleyn’s full support team including Bathgate, it introduced more of his background including his esteemed mother, Lady Alleyn and last but certainly not least we were introduced in no uncertain terms to “Troy”.
A great novel, well written and worked out with numerous red herrings masking a devious killer that I didn’t get until virtually the denouement.
Thoroughly enjoyed and my faith is now restored in this challenge !!
A great novel, well written and worked out with numerous red herrings masking a devious killer that I didn’t get until virtually the denouement.
Thoroughly enjoyed and my faith is now restored in this challenge !!
July 29, 2016
Even though I was repulsed by the Sylvester Stallone-like figure on the cover, I pulled this out of the book dumpster for a quick read. It started out promisingly, with Inspector Roderick Alleyn leaning over the deck rail on a Fiji to England cruise, but once we disembarked in England stasis took over. A nude model for an art class held at a wealthy artist and teacher's estate is knifed to death, and everyone in the class becomes a suspect. Interminable discussions of the details of the knifing and of every student's relationship to every other student are held. Because it is 1938, there is a lot of slut-shaming. Just because, Inspector Alleyn feels sexy tingles up and down his pins (I'm trying to channel the Daily Mail here) whenever he is around art teacher Agatha Troy. It was all so tedious that by the time the killer/killers were revealed, I no longer cared who might have done it. I no longer cared whether it was a human, or a really intelligent gerbil.
There was one sentence that impressed me:
Miss Lee's hair was parted down the centre and dragged back from her forehead with such passionate determination that the corners of her eyes had attempted to follow it. Her face, if left to itself, would have been round and eager, but the austerities of the Slade school had superimposed upon it a careful expression of detachment.
Because it's 1938, one art student "looked like a dago". Another fellow is in "Hong Kong taking pictures of the Chinks." And Lady Alleyn, Roderick's mother, is reading the letters of D.H. Lawrence, finding some of the letters "really rather tedious. All these negroid deities growling in his interior! One feels sorry for his wife, but she seems to have had the right touch with him. Have you got your drink?"
The cast of characters is listed at the front of the book. Example: "Valmai Seacliff, a student with sex-appeal." One is identified as "a student with a beard." Marsh writes about the beard as if no person in the solar system had ever worn one before. The beard is remarked on repeatedly, and described as if it is not a natural outgrowth of hair, but a meerkat that happens to be permanently clinging to a man's face. At the model's inquest, the coroner is startled only once "and that was when Cedric Malmsley gave evidence. The coroner eyed Malmsley's beard as if he thought it must be detachable, abruptly changed his own glasses, and never removed his outraged gaze from the witness throughout his evidence."
June 2, 2018
After struggling a little with Ngaio Marsh’s previous mystery, “Vintage Murder,” I was pleased to discover that I enjoyed the sixth in the series, “Artists in Crime,” a great deal more. In “Vintage Murder,” Roderick Alleyn was travelling and, in this book in the series, we see him returning to the UK. On board ship he meets, and falls for, artist, Agatha Troy. Miss Troy turns out to live at Tatler’s End House, close to Lady Alleyn, in Bucks.
Alleyn goes to visit his mother, while Agatha Troy has a group of students visiting. Along with her friend, Katti Bostock, there are a range of other visitors, including artists model, Sonia Gluck. When Sonia is found dead, Alleyn has to unravel the motives among a group of people who all have reasons to dislike the victim- including Agatha Troy.
I enjoyed this mystery and thought there was a good range of suspects and motives. I enjoyed meeting up with Nigel Bathgate and Fox again – I think I missed them in the previous book. Both Lady Alleyn and Agatha Troy seemed a little reminiscent of the Wimsey books to me. However, although Ngaio Marsh is considered one of the four ‘Queens of Crime,’ she does not seem, to me, to be quite as good as either Sayers, or Christie. Saying that, I look forward to reading on in the series.
Alleyn goes to visit his mother, while Agatha Troy has a group of students visiting. Along with her friend, Katti Bostock, there are a range of other visitors, including artists model, Sonia Gluck. When Sonia is found dead, Alleyn has to unravel the motives among a group of people who all have reasons to dislike the victim- including Agatha Troy.
I enjoyed this mystery and thought there was a good range of suspects and motives. I enjoyed meeting up with Nigel Bathgate and Fox again – I think I missed them in the previous book. Both Lady Alleyn and Agatha Troy seemed a little reminiscent of the Wimsey books to me. However, although Ngaio Marsh is considered one of the four ‘Queens of Crime,’ she does not seem, to me, to be quite as good as either Sayers, or Christie. Saying that, I look forward to reading on in the series.
November 11, 2017
A really good murder mystery. Inspector Alleyn meets an artist and falls in love. Meanwhile a model is murdered in front of a group of artist but it takes Inspector Alleyn of Scotland Yard to find the killer.
P. S. The brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch read it on youtube. Yay!!
P. S. The brilliant Benedict Cumberbatch read it on youtube. Yay!!
April 10, 2015
I have a love hate relationship with Ngaio Marsh. I find her writing is often a mixture of snobbery (it's not her characters – Marsh herself comes across as believing the aristocracy should have special privileges. Mixed up in a murder mystery – faugh, how common) & there is often a touch of 'cultural cringe' (believing NZ culture is inferior to other cultures, usually the UK or the States)
This particular book also tested my desire to read uncensored work!
Page 17 Miss Katti Bostock, the well-known painter of....Negro musicians
Acceptable for the times.
Page 23 Alleyn writing to his mother “No darling I didn't not lose my heart in the Antipodes. Would you have been delighted to welcome a strapping black Fijian lady?”
Hmmm...
Page 29 & this is in the narrative. ...Troy's Australian protege, was a short & extremely swarthy youth, who looked like a dago in an American talking picture.
Wow.
But yes, I do still want to read uncensored or you wonder what else has been changed. For example, also on page 29 is digesion. Digestion? & I spotted some other typos as well. My copy is 1962 – I wonder how far back they go?
& this is the start of the Alleyn/Troy romance which I found painful to read – in all the Marsh books I read not just this one. Marsh never married & I think she just wasn't comfortable writing about love - & it shows.
& maybe British police had a lot more latitude but;
So why do I still read Marsh, even if my teeth are sometimes grinding in frustration?
Marsh can write descriptive passages beautifully.
Her narrative, when it's not being stalled by Alleyn or his upper class suspects objecting to the beastly business of murder, moves quite briskly.
I like Alleyn's Mum!
& Marsh isn't so nastily contemptuous of female servants as some of the Golden Age writers are.
& this book in a slice of life from the 1930s & Marsh's own background as an artist & in theatre means she knew these worlds.
So, not a whole hearted recommendation, but not a complete waste of time either.
This particular book also tested my desire to read uncensored work!
Page 17 Miss Katti Bostock, the well-known painter of....Negro musicians
Acceptable for the times.
Page 23 Alleyn writing to his mother “No darling I didn't not lose my heart in the Antipodes. Would you have been delighted to welcome a strapping black Fijian lady?”
Hmmm...
Page 29 & this is in the narrative. ...Troy's Australian protege, was a short & extremely swarthy youth, who looked like a dago in an American talking picture.
Wow.
But yes, I do still want to read uncensored or you wonder what else has been changed. For example, also on page 29 is digesion. Digestion? & I spotted some other typos as well. My copy is 1962 – I wonder how far back they go?
& this is the start of the Alleyn/Troy romance which I found painful to read – in all the Marsh books I read not just this one. Marsh never married & I think she just wasn't comfortable writing about love - & it shows.
& maybe British police had a lot more latitude but;
So why do I still read Marsh, even if my teeth are sometimes grinding in frustration?
Marsh can write descriptive passages beautifully.
Her narrative, when it's not being stalled by Alleyn or his upper class suspects objecting to the beastly business of murder, moves quite briskly.
I like Alleyn's Mum!
& Marsh isn't so nastily contemptuous of female servants as some of the Golden Age writers are.
& this book in a slice of life from the 1930s & Marsh's own background as an artist & in theatre means she knew these worlds.
So, not a whole hearted recommendation, but not a complete waste of time either.
April 22, 2020
I really like these period stories Ms. Marsh creates and the reader who brings them to life. There is a limited cast of suspects as at a small dinner party, and by patient interrogation our hero comes to a successful end with a surprising personal touch along the way.
Somehow the writing reminds me of P.D. James, although there is no such comparison.
Somehow the writing reminds me of P.D. James, although there is no such comparison.
December 25, 2018
As nearly perfect as a book can be to please me so successfully on several levels. My approach to these Marsh books featuring Roderick Alleyn has been to grab them from the library shelf without any attention to the order of the series. I got lucky with this one!
This book begins with Alleyn traveling on a ship headed back to England after a long absence from Scotland Yard, a voyage where he first meets Agatha Troy. She manages to get Alleyn's permission to paint his head during the passage. Their meetings are more uncomfortable for Alleyn, perhaps, as he finds a strong pull towards this woman who seems more than ambivalent about him.
Alleyn's first stop is a planned visit at his mother's estate. Events lead to a death at Agatha Troy's estate where she tutors and supports several artists. All of the characters are uniquely different, and in this case it is the model who was murdered. With Alleyn scheduled to return to work soon, they call on him to investigate since the location is very close to his mother's estate.
Alleyn's usual team is assembled and intensive interviews of all these wildly different artists ensue.
What I found quite wonderful: The relationship between Alleyn and his mother. Their mutual respect and affection is brilliantly warm, dignified and the essence of charm.
I suspect I will find this book to be the very best book of the Alleyn series, but I have many more to go yet. I liked this one so much I will have to read it again.
First published 1938, my pristine paperback from Felony & Mayhem
This book begins with Alleyn traveling on a ship headed back to England after a long absence from Scotland Yard, a voyage where he first meets Agatha Troy. She manages to get Alleyn's permission to paint his head during the passage. Their meetings are more uncomfortable for Alleyn, perhaps, as he finds a strong pull towards this woman who seems more than ambivalent about him.
Alleyn's first stop is a planned visit at his mother's estate. Events lead to a death at Agatha Troy's estate where she tutors and supports several artists. All of the characters are uniquely different, and in this case it is the model who was murdered. With Alleyn scheduled to return to work soon, they call on him to investigate since the location is very close to his mother's estate.
Alleyn's usual team is assembled and intensive interviews of all these wildly different artists ensue.
What I found quite wonderful: The relationship between Alleyn and his mother. Their mutual respect and affection is brilliantly warm, dignified and the essence of charm.
I suspect I will find this book to be the very best book of the Alleyn series, but I have many more to go yet. I liked this one so much I will have to read it again.
First published 1938, my pristine paperback from Felony & Mayhem
June 6, 2022
SPOILERS AHEAD IN LAST PARAGRAPH
Alleyn meets Troy for the first time in the sixth book and falls in love. Of course the path to true love is full of obstacles. They meet on a boat leaving Suva where it does not go well and Alleyn thinks Troy dislikes him.
In England a murder takes place near Alleyn’s mothers home and coincidentally Troy’s house. The model for her students is murdered. One of Troy’s class of students is a murderer and Alleyn must find out who is the murderer.
Lots of suspects with Garcia top of the list. Basil Pilgrim, his beautiful fiancée Seacliff, Malmsey, Ormerin, Hackett, Katti or Phillida Lee. One of them killed the temperament model Sonia. Once again Fox is plodding along and the annoying journalist Nigel Bathgate.
SPOILERS
Surprisingly I deduced the murderer. Once the body of Garcia was discovered horribly murdered with nitric acid it could only be one of two people. The motive also for Seacliff was the biggest. She would lose her opportunity to be married to Basil. Garcia would continue to blackmail her with the nude portraits. Only her and Basil had access to a car to move the sculpture with the caravan, the cut on her hand and the fibs about hating horses and the location of the warehouse all led to her as the brutal murderess.
Alleyn meets Troy for the first time in the sixth book and falls in love. Of course the path to true love is full of obstacles. They meet on a boat leaving Suva where it does not go well and Alleyn thinks Troy dislikes him.
In England a murder takes place near Alleyn’s mothers home and coincidentally Troy’s house. The model for her students is murdered. One of Troy’s class of students is a murderer and Alleyn must find out who is the murderer.
Lots of suspects with Garcia top of the list. Basil Pilgrim, his beautiful fiancée Seacliff, Malmsey, Ormerin, Hackett, Katti or Phillida Lee. One of them killed the temperament model Sonia. Once again Fox is plodding along and the annoying journalist Nigel Bathgate.
SPOILERS
Surprisingly I deduced the murderer. Once the body of Garcia was discovered horribly murdered with nitric acid it could only be one of two people. The motive also for Seacliff was the biggest. She would lose her opportunity to be married to Basil. Garcia would continue to blackmail her with the nude portraits. Only her and Basil had access to a car to move the sculpture with the caravan, the cut on her hand and the fibs about hating horses and the location of the warehouse all led to her as the brutal murderess.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 12, 2020
4 Stars for Artists in Crime (audiobook) by Ngaio Marsh read by Benedict Cumberbatch. This was an interesting murder mystery. But the main reason I wanted to listen to this is for the narration. Benedict Cumberbatch did a wonderful job on all of the voices. It was a real treat getting to hear him read this story.
May 20, 2020
What have I learnt from reading almost all the books by Agatha Christie, and now the books by Ngaio Marsh? That I am too trusting. Too ready to believe someone's alibi. I can never pick the murderer. I'm lead astray by red herrings, and always miss the obvious clue... And to think that I was actually a trained investigator!
What these books also highlight is the incredible ability that both Marsh and Christie had in weaving a story and taking you on a merry dance down the garden path strewn with bodies and false leads.
Artists in Crime had a cast of many potential suspects, each with somewhat of a motive, cooped up in a lovely old house, harbouring their own inner demons and insecurities. Throw in Scotland Yard, an interfering reporter, some local police, the Inspectors mother, and you have yourself a lovely little mystery.
There's none of the disgusting darkness of modern crime novels. The darkness is filtered through a lens of the time. There's opium use, but it's clean and tidily dealt with by using a valuable antique opium set. No dingy bedsits and scabby sores or maltreated children here.
There's death, with its pungent odour. But no maggots or bloated stomachs or loosened bowels. Death washed clean by sensibilities. It doesn't make the deaths any less sad, or gruesome, but perhaps just a dash more palatable? And perhaps we all need more of this in our bookish lives, and less of the devilish darkness of the underbelly of life?
Marsh leads us through tiny doses of backstory. There's no huge build up of characters. Each character has enough shared for the reader to build a life. And this is the way it should be. Tight. Quick. Expressive but not overwrought.
There's a love story, or two. A mistress, or two. Perhaps the most human part of the story is the angst our dear Inspector feels as the investigation progresses and his loyalties are tested by his developing feelings.
I loved it. I'm honestly happy I'm reading more books by NZ authors, and more of NZ's classic crime novels. What better way to understand the development of the genre of crime writing than to start from the very beginning, with the very best authors?
What these books also highlight is the incredible ability that both Marsh and Christie had in weaving a story and taking you on a merry dance down the garden path strewn with bodies and false leads.
Artists in Crime had a cast of many potential suspects, each with somewhat of a motive, cooped up in a lovely old house, harbouring their own inner demons and insecurities. Throw in Scotland Yard, an interfering reporter, some local police, the Inspectors mother, and you have yourself a lovely little mystery.
There's none of the disgusting darkness of modern crime novels. The darkness is filtered through a lens of the time. There's opium use, but it's clean and tidily dealt with by using a valuable antique opium set. No dingy bedsits and scabby sores or maltreated children here.
There's death, with its pungent odour. But no maggots or bloated stomachs or loosened bowels. Death washed clean by sensibilities. It doesn't make the deaths any less sad, or gruesome, but perhaps just a dash more palatable? And perhaps we all need more of this in our bookish lives, and less of the devilish darkness of the underbelly of life?
Marsh leads us through tiny doses of backstory. There's no huge build up of characters. Each character has enough shared for the reader to build a life. And this is the way it should be. Tight. Quick. Expressive but not overwrought.
There's a love story, or two. A mistress, or two. Perhaps the most human part of the story is the angst our dear Inspector feels as the investigation progresses and his loyalties are tested by his developing feelings.
I loved it. I'm honestly happy I'm reading more books by NZ authors, and more of NZ's classic crime novels. What better way to understand the development of the genre of crime writing than to start from the very beginning, with the very best authors?
Read
January 27, 2023Excellent narrator for this.
Of the classic detective series romances, I think this is my favourite. Wimsey/Vane is better known, and I love Amanda in Campion/Fitton more, but I simply enjoy Agatha Troy and Roderick Alleyn most of all.
In all three of these romances, the woman is an independent, with a reputation, friends, and a career of her own. I love Troy's shift from gruff shyness (with most people) to complete authority (with people asking her artistic opinion), and I like how Alleyn both experiences a meeting of minds with her, and yet at the same time slightly misunderstands her (putting her a little on a pedestal of sensibility until she corrects him in a later novel).
The deaths in this story are particularly horrid.
Of the classic detective series romances, I think this is my favourite. Wimsey/Vane is better known, and I love Amanda in Campion/Fitton more, but I simply enjoy Agatha Troy and Roderick Alleyn most of all.
In all three of these romances, the woman is an independent, with a reputation, friends, and a career of her own. I love Troy's shift from gruff shyness (with most people) to complete authority (with people asking her artistic opinion), and I like how Alleyn both experiences a meeting of minds with her, and yet at the same time slightly misunderstands her (putting her a little on a pedestal of sensibility until she corrects him in a later novel).
The deaths in this story are particularly horrid.
June 24, 2020
Aside from the ridiculously implausible murder method, I quite enjoyed this. The portraits of the art world are fun and well-sketched, and watching Alleyn turn into a clumsy mess as he falls for Agatha Troy is great fun. There are a few throwaway lines that using jarringly racist language.
May 10, 2024
Get out the guillotine…
Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is returning by sea from a lengthy trip to New Zealand. On board he meets the successful painter Agatha Troy and immediately falls in love with her, though her feelings are not so clear. Back in England, Alleyn spends the last few days of his leave at his mother’s home, which coincidentally is only a few miles from where Agatha Troy lives. Troy, meantime, is hosting a workshop for a group of artists who are working on various projects in her studio. When their model, Sonia Gluck, is murdered, Alleyn’s boss at the Yard asks him if he will end his leave early and take on the case. So, along with his regular colleagues, Fox and Bailey, and a severe case of lovesickness, Alleyn starts investigating…
On the whole, I really enjoyed this one, but there are a whole host of minor things that irritated me, so I feel the need to resort to a bullet point list for brevity’s sake:
• If you must have an aristocratic ’tec, make him an amateur or have him behave like an actual policeman. Police officers are not allowed to take a year off to recover from a tricky case, swan around the world, and then come back whenever they feel like it, even if they happen to be the son of a baronet.
• Don’t have your policeman invite his journalist friends to sit in on formal police interviews and allow them to view the crime scenes.
• Don’t make your policeman fall in love. It’s nauseating, especially when (as always) the love object immediately becomes a suspect in a murder case. Who are the two most famous ’tecs of all time? Correct – Holmes and Poirot. What do they have in common? No love lives!
• Don’t be snobbish about the working classes. They may one day be in charge of the guillotine.
• Especially don’t be snobbish about your aristo’s working-class sidekick. Having the aristo refer to Inspector Fox as ‘my Foxkin’ breaks my patronisometer.
• Get a narrator who knows how to pronounce the main character’s name. Alleyn is pronounced ‘Allen’, not ‘Ah-lane’. Drove me crazy!
There, that’s that out of my system! On to the good bits!
Sonia had been posing as a murdered woman because one of the artists had a commission for an illustration. To check that the pose was correct the artists had worked out exactly how the fictional murder would have been managed, so when the real murder is carried out in the identical way, it is clear that only one of the artists could have done it. Sonia had been an annoying young woman, especially this year since one of the new artists, Valmai Seacliffe, was more beautiful than her, so the men were all buzzing round her rather than round Sonia. Her jealousy had led her to behave even more erratically than usual (why Troy keeps employing her each year is a mystery in itself – but without her there would be no plot, I suppose), and she had upset just about everyone in one way or another. So there are plenty of suspects for Alleyn to pick from.
The artists are, on the whole, an unlikeable bunch which makes them excellent suspects, though I eventually found myself sympathising with a couple of them. We know, of course, that Troy is innocent – ‘my Foxkin’ does hint a couple of times that she should really be considered a suspect too, but Alleyn’s love has shown him the deep purity of her soul, negating the need for alibis or evidence. (Note to would-be murderers: get a CID officer to fall in love with you a couple of weeks before you commit the crime.) The plotting is very strong and definitely fair play – I did pick up on some of the clues and got to the solution at just about the same time as Alleyn did, which is always very satisfying. And the pacing is excellent – no flabby middle in this one!
Despite my (slightly tongue-in-cheek) list of grumbles, I enjoyed this one a lot – the plotting is much stronger than in the two earlier ones I’ve re-read recently, reminding me more why this was a favourite series of my youth. Now all I need is for Marsh to hurry up and marry Troy and Alleyn off so we don’t have to hear about his lovelornness in every second paragraph. I can’t remember now but I’m hoping the courtship doesn’t drag on as long as that other pair of aristo drips, Lord Peter Wimsey and the tedious Harriet Vane.
And having now annoyed fans of both Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L Sayers, I feel my work is done… 😉
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is returning by sea from a lengthy trip to New Zealand. On board he meets the successful painter Agatha Troy and immediately falls in love with her, though her feelings are not so clear. Back in England, Alleyn spends the last few days of his leave at his mother’s home, which coincidentally is only a few miles from where Agatha Troy lives. Troy, meantime, is hosting a workshop for a group of artists who are working on various projects in her studio. When their model, Sonia Gluck, is murdered, Alleyn’s boss at the Yard asks him if he will end his leave early and take on the case. So, along with his regular colleagues, Fox and Bailey, and a severe case of lovesickness, Alleyn starts investigating…
On the whole, I really enjoyed this one, but there are a whole host of minor things that irritated me, so I feel the need to resort to a bullet point list for brevity’s sake:
• If you must have an aristocratic ’tec, make him an amateur or have him behave like an actual policeman. Police officers are not allowed to take a year off to recover from a tricky case, swan around the world, and then come back whenever they feel like it, even if they happen to be the son of a baronet.
• Don’t have your policeman invite his journalist friends to sit in on formal police interviews and allow them to view the crime scenes.
• Don’t make your policeman fall in love. It’s nauseating, especially when (as always) the love object immediately becomes a suspect in a murder case. Who are the two most famous ’tecs of all time? Correct – Holmes and Poirot. What do they have in common? No love lives!
• Don’t be snobbish about the working classes. They may one day be in charge of the guillotine.
• Especially don’t be snobbish about your aristo’s working-class sidekick. Having the aristo refer to Inspector Fox as ‘my Foxkin’ breaks my patronisometer.
• Get a narrator who knows how to pronounce the main character’s name. Alleyn is pronounced ‘Allen’, not ‘Ah-lane’. Drove me crazy!
There, that’s that out of my system! On to the good bits!
Sonia had been posing as a murdered woman because one of the artists had a commission for an illustration. To check that the pose was correct the artists had worked out exactly how the fictional murder would have been managed, so when the real murder is carried out in the identical way, it is clear that only one of the artists could have done it. Sonia had been an annoying young woman, especially this year since one of the new artists, Valmai Seacliffe, was more beautiful than her, so the men were all buzzing round her rather than round Sonia. Her jealousy had led her to behave even more erratically than usual (why Troy keeps employing her each year is a mystery in itself – but without her there would be no plot, I suppose), and she had upset just about everyone in one way or another. So there are plenty of suspects for Alleyn to pick from.
The artists are, on the whole, an unlikeable bunch which makes them excellent suspects, though I eventually found myself sympathising with a couple of them. We know, of course, that Troy is innocent – ‘my Foxkin’ does hint a couple of times that she should really be considered a suspect too, but Alleyn’s love has shown him the deep purity of her soul, negating the need for alibis or evidence. (Note to would-be murderers: get a CID officer to fall in love with you a couple of weeks before you commit the crime.) The plotting is very strong and definitely fair play – I did pick up on some of the clues and got to the solution at just about the same time as Alleyn did, which is always very satisfying. And the pacing is excellent – no flabby middle in this one!
Despite my (slightly tongue-in-cheek) list of grumbles, I enjoyed this one a lot – the plotting is much stronger than in the two earlier ones I’ve re-read recently, reminding me more why this was a favourite series of my youth. Now all I need is for Marsh to hurry up and marry Troy and Alleyn off so we don’t have to hear about his lovelornness in every second paragraph. I can’t remember now but I’m hoping the courtship doesn’t drag on as long as that other pair of aristo drips, Lord Peter Wimsey and the tedious Harriet Vane.
And having now annoyed fans of both Ngaio Marsh and Dorothy L Sayers, I feel my work is done… 😉
www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com
February 26, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in March 1998.
Like Vintage Murder, this seems to me to be one of the very best of Ngaio Marsh's detective novels. By the time this book came out, the characters in her series (Alleyn, Fox, Bathgate and so on) were well-established, old friends. In Artists in Crime, another important series character is introduced, the painter Agatha Troy.
As so often happens in Ngaio Marsh's stories, one of the series characters interacts with one of the new characters before the murder happens. This follows on directly from the previous novel in the series, Vintage Murder, as the interaction takes place on the ship on which Alleyn returns from New Zealand to England. One of his fellow travellers is the artist Agatha Troy.
On her return to England, Troy is running a school for several pupils. It is at this school that the murder takes place; of the model they are using. She is a particularly infuriating person, and manages to severely annoy just about everyone. She defaces one of Troy's best portraits, is such a difficult sitter for another portrait that it has to be abandoned, is blackmailing at least one of the pupils, is pregnant by another; basically, no one is really going to miss her.
The way in which she is murdered is typical of Marsh; a trap is laid which leads to the actual murder being committed by someone who didn't necessary set the trap (similar plots where the actual killer may not be the murderer include Enter a Murderer, for example).
The book includes one of the most unpleasant murdered bodies in the whole of classic detective fiction, but otherwise is an impeccable example of the art at its very best.
Like Vintage Murder, this seems to me to be one of the very best of Ngaio Marsh's detective novels. By the time this book came out, the characters in her series (Alleyn, Fox, Bathgate and so on) were well-established, old friends. In Artists in Crime, another important series character is introduced, the painter Agatha Troy.
As so often happens in Ngaio Marsh's stories, one of the series characters interacts with one of the new characters before the murder happens. This follows on directly from the previous novel in the series, Vintage Murder, as the interaction takes place on the ship on which Alleyn returns from New Zealand to England. One of his fellow travellers is the artist Agatha Troy.
On her return to England, Troy is running a school for several pupils. It is at this school that the murder takes place; of the model they are using. She is a particularly infuriating person, and manages to severely annoy just about everyone. She defaces one of Troy's best portraits, is such a difficult sitter for another portrait that it has to be abandoned, is blackmailing at least one of the pupils, is pregnant by another; basically, no one is really going to miss her.
The way in which she is murdered is typical of Marsh; a trap is laid which leads to the actual murder being committed by someone who didn't necessary set the trap (similar plots where the actual killer may not be the murderer include Enter a Murderer, for example).
The book includes one of the most unpleasant murdered bodies in the whole of classic detective fiction, but otherwise is an impeccable example of the art at its very best.
June 12, 2016
Well she's done it again! Not for the first time, I have read the whole of a Ngaio Marsh book convinced that I've been very clever and spotted 'whodunit' only to discover I'm completely wrong. I thought I'd picked up subtle clues that others may have missed only to find I'd been led up the garden path. I love it!
This book also introduces Agatha Troy. I enjoyed seeing the developing relationship between her and Alleyn as their two very different worlds collide.
This book also introduces Agatha Troy. I enjoyed seeing the developing relationship between her and Alleyn as their two very different worlds collide.
October 8, 2021
I am on a Ngaio Marsh audiobook jag, and this one was delightful. There is a great mystery, although especially gruesome, and Detective Superintendent Alleyn meets his future wife. Forward.
January 12, 2020
Artists in Crime is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh, I wonder if there is a great deal of difference between a mystery and a detective novel. Whichever it is, it is the sixth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of an artists' model; and Alleyn's love interest Agatha Troy is introduced. I am glad about that because I had the feeling that nearly everyone else in the book were met in earlier books and I felt like I was coming in the middle of something, at least with Agatha Troy I'm getting to know her right from the beginning.
As to our author, Ngaio Marsh, I kept thinking she had a really good first name until I read that her first name is really Edith, so my excitement about her name dropped a bit. Anyway, Marsh was born in New Zealand and was a writer and a theatre director. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1949, and made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. I often wonder what that is but I assume it's pretty important or they wouldn't bother to list it when it has happened. She was also named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
Marsh is known as one of the "Queens of Crime", along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham. Internationally, she is known primarily for her character Inspector Roderick Alleyn, a gentleman detective who works for the Metropolitan Police in London. Oh no, I just read that her name, Ngaio not Edith, is a Maori word which is the name of a flowering tree and also the name of an insect found in New Zealand. The flowering tree would be OK, but not the insect. I'm glad I'm not named after this:
Back to Artists in Crime, it is either the sixth or seventh Roderick Alleyn book, it depends on where you look, but what's important to me is it wasn't the first. The reason is I would have liked to know what happened before, things like this.
The book begins with Alleyn looking over a deck-rail on a ship on its way to London. He has been away for over a year, but why?
When Alleyn returned to the hall he found it full of men. The Scotland Yard officials had arrived, and with their appearance the case, for the first time, seemed to take on a familiar complexion. The year he had spent away from England clicked back into the past at the sight of those familiar over-coated and bowler-hatted figures with their cases and photographic impedimenta.
The door slammed and the voices died away in the distance. Alleyn turned to Fox, Bailey, and Thompson.
"The old team."
"That's right, sir," said Bailey, "Suits us all right."
"Well," said Alleyn, "it's always suited me. Let's get on with it."
I want to know where he has been and why. A year seems like a very long time for a simple vacation. And I want to know more about Fox, Bailey, and Thompson. And I want to know more about his mother and his brother George:
"Come up to the fire, darling. There's the sherry. It's a bottle of the very precious for our last evening."
"Ma'am," said Alleyn, "you are the perfect woman."
"No, only the perfect mamma. I flatter myself I am a very good parent. You look charming in a dinner jacket, Roderick. I wish your brother had some of your finish. George always looks a little too hearty."
"I like George," said Alleyn.
"I quite like him, too," agreed their mother.
But before any of this we have him on the ship returning from his mysterious trip to somewhere for some reason I don't know for a year. On the ship he meets a young lady, Agatha Troy. Miss Troy is a well known artist and owns her own art studio where she gives classes to other artists. Or those who want to be well known artists I suppose. He happens to see her while she is painting a scene of the wharf at Suva, wherever that is. According to Alleyn:
It was as if his deliberately cultivated memory of the wharf at Suva had been simplified and made articulate. The sketch was an almost painfully explicit statement of the feeling of that scene. It was painted very directly with crisp, nervous touches. The pattern of blue-pinks and sharp greens fell across it like the linked syllables of a perfect phrase. It was very simply done, but to Alleyn it was profoundly satisfying - an expression of an emotion, rather than a record of a visual impression.
Miss Troy, however, doesn't feel the same way about the painting and he has to convince her not to do another thing to it, it is perfect the way it is. She is annoyed with being interrupted by him, though, and acts rather cold to him. She packs up her things and returns to her room rather abruptly. But he can't stop thinking of her and we can see what is coming, especially when a murder is committed right there in her art studio, and one of her models being the murdered one, and one of the artists being the murderer. There weren't any other people hanging around the studio, so it had to be one of the artists, right? Miss Troy couldn't have done the murder herself, right? I suppose even Alleyn could have been the murderer considering that his mother's estate just happens to be close to Miss Troy's home, but that would be too strange, and he has to be around for thirty or so more books. So I'm back to one of the artists. I have to say though, I had the whole thing figured out until my main suspect ended up dead near the end of the book. I guess I'll never be a famous detective. I'm giving it three stars for now, but I may change that if I ever figure out what comes before, that just bugs me. And for me it doesn't compare with Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. Happy reading.
As to our author, Ngaio Marsh, I kept thinking she had a really good first name until I read that her first name is really Edith, so my excitement about her name dropped a bit. Anyway, Marsh was born in New Zealand and was a writer and a theatre director. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1949, and made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. I often wonder what that is but I assume it's pretty important or they wouldn't bother to list it when it has happened. She was also named a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America.
Marsh is known as one of the "Queens of Crime", along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham. Internationally, she is known primarily for her character Inspector Roderick Alleyn, a gentleman detective who works for the Metropolitan Police in London. Oh no, I just read that her name, Ngaio not Edith, is a Maori word which is the name of a flowering tree and also the name of an insect found in New Zealand. The flowering tree would be OK, but not the insect. I'm glad I'm not named after this:
Back to Artists in Crime, it is either the sixth or seventh Roderick Alleyn book, it depends on where you look, but what's important to me is it wasn't the first. The reason is I would have liked to know what happened before, things like this.
The book begins with Alleyn looking over a deck-rail on a ship on its way to London. He has been away for over a year, but why?
When Alleyn returned to the hall he found it full of men. The Scotland Yard officials had arrived, and with their appearance the case, for the first time, seemed to take on a familiar complexion. The year he had spent away from England clicked back into the past at the sight of those familiar over-coated and bowler-hatted figures with their cases and photographic impedimenta.
The door slammed and the voices died away in the distance. Alleyn turned to Fox, Bailey, and Thompson.
"The old team."
"That's right, sir," said Bailey, "Suits us all right."
"Well," said Alleyn, "it's always suited me. Let's get on with it."
I want to know where he has been and why. A year seems like a very long time for a simple vacation. And I want to know more about Fox, Bailey, and Thompson. And I want to know more about his mother and his brother George:
"Come up to the fire, darling. There's the sherry. It's a bottle of the very precious for our last evening."
"Ma'am," said Alleyn, "you are the perfect woman."
"No, only the perfect mamma. I flatter myself I am a very good parent. You look charming in a dinner jacket, Roderick. I wish your brother had some of your finish. George always looks a little too hearty."
"I like George," said Alleyn.
"I quite like him, too," agreed their mother.
But before any of this we have him on the ship returning from his mysterious trip to somewhere for some reason I don't know for a year. On the ship he meets a young lady, Agatha Troy. Miss Troy is a well known artist and owns her own art studio where she gives classes to other artists. Or those who want to be well known artists I suppose. He happens to see her while she is painting a scene of the wharf at Suva, wherever that is. According to Alleyn:
It was as if his deliberately cultivated memory of the wharf at Suva had been simplified and made articulate. The sketch was an almost painfully explicit statement of the feeling of that scene. It was painted very directly with crisp, nervous touches. The pattern of blue-pinks and sharp greens fell across it like the linked syllables of a perfect phrase. It was very simply done, but to Alleyn it was profoundly satisfying - an expression of an emotion, rather than a record of a visual impression.
Miss Troy, however, doesn't feel the same way about the painting and he has to convince her not to do another thing to it, it is perfect the way it is. She is annoyed with being interrupted by him, though, and acts rather cold to him. She packs up her things and returns to her room rather abruptly. But he can't stop thinking of her and we can see what is coming, especially when a murder is committed right there in her art studio, and one of her models being the murdered one, and one of the artists being the murderer. There weren't any other people hanging around the studio, so it had to be one of the artists, right? Miss Troy couldn't have done the murder herself, right? I suppose even Alleyn could have been the murderer considering that his mother's estate just happens to be close to Miss Troy's home, but that would be too strange, and he has to be around for thirty or so more books. So I'm back to one of the artists. I have to say though, I had the whole thing figured out until my main suspect ended up dead near the end of the book. I guess I'll never be a famous detective. I'm giving it three stars for now, but I may change that if I ever figure out what comes before, that just bugs me. And for me it doesn't compare with Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. Happy reading.
August 20, 2024
“‘We suspect everyone and no one at the moment. […]’”
Cripes!
Roderick Alleyn really said that! We suspect everyone and no one at the moment. The ambivalence! The gravity! The portent of meaning! It’s so good that even the formidable Inspector Clouseau used it in the movie A Shot in the Dark, the only other time I actually ever heard it, and in A Shot in the Dark it made absolute sense because that movie was a comedy. In Artists in Crime, though, it is meant seriously, as a stylistic device to create effect.
This book is probably remarkable for the first encounter with painter Agatha Troy, who is going to be Alleyn’s wife later on in the series. Troy, who runs a school for artists, is one of the suspects in the case of the murdered model Sonia Gluck, who dies from a wound made by a knife rammed through the back of a “throne” on which Gluck was supposed to pose. Next to Troy, however, there are lots of other suspects, all of them artists, and once more it is up to Alleyn and his indomitable assistant Fox – they are seconded for the last time by the journalist Nigel Bathgate, whom I am going to miss sorely – to find out who had both a motive and the opportunity to kill Sonia, who was not only extremely enervating but also given to blackmail. As usual with Marsh, a lot of time is being spent interrogating the suspects and working out their whereabouts, which can get slightly tedious, but still I have the impression that the farther the series proceeds the better the author manages to use these interrogations in order to build up background stories and include new information. Nevertheless, some editing would have been helpful, as for example in the scene where Alleyn, Fox and a sergeant named Sligo figure out from the clues whether Troy’s van has been used in connection with the crime. This scene is redolent of the fifty-odd pages used by the Fellowship of the Ring to discuss whether to leave a particular rope behind after using it for abseiling or try to retrieve it.
To put it briefly, Marsh is sometimes so involved in the detection process that she forgets that routine work may not only be dull for policemen but also for readers.
Cripes!
Roderick Alleyn really said that! We suspect everyone and no one at the moment. The ambivalence! The gravity! The portent of meaning! It’s so good that even the formidable Inspector Clouseau used it in the movie A Shot in the Dark, the only other time I actually ever heard it, and in A Shot in the Dark it made absolute sense because that movie was a comedy. In Artists in Crime, though, it is meant seriously, as a stylistic device to create effect.
This book is probably remarkable for the first encounter with painter Agatha Troy, who is going to be Alleyn’s wife later on in the series. Troy, who runs a school for artists, is one of the suspects in the case of the murdered model Sonia Gluck, who dies from a wound made by a knife rammed through the back of a “throne” on which Gluck was supposed to pose. Next to Troy, however, there are lots of other suspects, all of them artists, and once more it is up to Alleyn and his indomitable assistant Fox – they are seconded for the last time by the journalist Nigel Bathgate, whom I am going to miss sorely – to find out who had both a motive and the opportunity to kill Sonia, who was not only extremely enervating but also given to blackmail. As usual with Marsh, a lot of time is being spent interrogating the suspects and working out their whereabouts, which can get slightly tedious, but still I have the impression that the farther the series proceeds the better the author manages to use these interrogations in order to build up background stories and include new information. Nevertheless, some editing would have been helpful, as for example in the scene where Alleyn, Fox and a sergeant named Sligo figure out from the clues whether Troy’s van has been used in connection with the crime. This scene is redolent of the fifty-odd pages used by the Fellowship of the Ring to discuss whether to leave a particular rope behind after using it for abseiling or try to retrieve it.
To put it briefly, Marsh is sometimes so involved in the detection process that she forgets that routine work may not only be dull for policemen but also for readers.
February 27, 2016
It started as a student exercise, the knife under the drape, the model's pose chalked in place. But before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class, the pose has been re-enacted in earnest: the model is dead, fixed for ever in one of the most dramatic poses Troy has ever seen.
Roderick Alley series:
3* A Man Lay Dead (Roderick Alleyn, #1)
3* Artists in Crime (Roderick Alleyn, #6)
4* Death in a White Tie (Roderick Alleyn, #7)
3* Death of a Peer (Roderick Alleyn, #10)
3* Death and the Dancing Footman (Roderick Alleyn, #11)
3* Night at the Vulcan (Roderick Alleyn, #16)
3* When in Rome (Roderick Alleyn, #26)
TR Enter a Murderer (Roderick Alleyn, #2)
TR The Nursing Home Murder (Roderick Alleyn, #3)
TR Death in Ecstasy (Roderick Alleyn, #4)
TR Vintage Murder (Roderick Alleyn, #5)
TR Overture to Death (Roderick Alleyn, #8)
TR Death at the Bar (Roderick Alleyn, #9)
TR Colour Scheme (Roderick Alleyn, #12)
TR Died in the Wool (Roderick Alleyn, #13)
TR Final Curtain (Roderick Alleyn, #14)
TR A Wreath for Rivera (Roderick Alleyn, #15)
TR Spinsters in Jeopardy (Roderick Alleyn, #17)
TR Scales of Justice (Roderick Alleyn, #18)
TR Death of a Fool (Roderick Alleyn, #19)
TR Singing in the Shrouds (Roderick Alleyn, #20)
TR False Scent (Roderick Alleyn, #21)
TR Hand in Glove (Roderick Alleyn, #22)
TR Dead Water (Roderick Alleyn, #23)
TR Killer Dolphin (Roderick Alleyn, #24)
TR Clutch of Constables (Roderick Alleyn, #25)
TR Tied Up In Tinsel (Roderick Alleyn, #27)
TR Black As He's Painted (Roderick Alleyn, #28)
TR Last Ditch (Roderick Alleyn, #29)
TR A Grave Mistake (Roderick Alleyn, #30)
TR Photo Finish (Roderick Alleyn, #31)
TR Light Thickens (Roderick Alleyn, #32)
Roderick Alley series:
3* A Man Lay Dead (Roderick Alleyn, #1)
3* Artists in Crime (Roderick Alleyn, #6)
4* Death in a White Tie (Roderick Alleyn, #7)
3* Death of a Peer (Roderick Alleyn, #10)
3* Death and the Dancing Footman (Roderick Alleyn, #11)
3* Night at the Vulcan (Roderick Alleyn, #16)
3* When in Rome (Roderick Alleyn, #26)
TR Enter a Murderer (Roderick Alleyn, #2)
TR The Nursing Home Murder (Roderick Alleyn, #3)
TR Death in Ecstasy (Roderick Alleyn, #4)
TR Vintage Murder (Roderick Alleyn, #5)
TR Overture to Death (Roderick Alleyn, #8)
TR Death at the Bar (Roderick Alleyn, #9)
TR Colour Scheme (Roderick Alleyn, #12)
TR Died in the Wool (Roderick Alleyn, #13)
TR Final Curtain (Roderick Alleyn, #14)
TR A Wreath for Rivera (Roderick Alleyn, #15)
TR Spinsters in Jeopardy (Roderick Alleyn, #17)
TR Scales of Justice (Roderick Alleyn, #18)
TR Death of a Fool (Roderick Alleyn, #19)
TR Singing in the Shrouds (Roderick Alleyn, #20)
TR False Scent (Roderick Alleyn, #21)
TR Hand in Glove (Roderick Alleyn, #22)
TR Dead Water (Roderick Alleyn, #23)
TR Killer Dolphin (Roderick Alleyn, #24)
TR Clutch of Constables (Roderick Alleyn, #25)
TR Tied Up In Tinsel (Roderick Alleyn, #27)
TR Black As He's Painted (Roderick Alleyn, #28)
TR Last Ditch (Roderick Alleyn, #29)
TR A Grave Mistake (Roderick Alleyn, #30)
TR Photo Finish (Roderick Alleyn, #31)
TR Light Thickens (Roderick Alleyn, #32)
June 15, 2014
I was quite hopeful about Artists in Crime bringing Alleyn to life for me a bit more, since this is where he meets his love interest. In a way, the whole set-up of this relationship is reminding me a lot of Lord Peter, especially since Alleyn's mother has a title and so on. It's not exactly parallel, but close enough to annoy me a little.
Still, it does introduce a bit more of a human side to Alleyn. Bathgate's role is thankfully reduced, though the annoying creature does contrive to be present. Inspector Fox and all the other steady, reliable characters who attend Alleyn's crime scenes are present, and I am getting fond of them, especially since Fox is just different to Alleyn, not lesser in the way that, say, Watson is. Alleyn doesn't condescend to him like Wimsey to Parker, too.
I'll need a bit more time with Troy to decide what to think about her and the relationship with Alleyn, but at least she brings in more of a personal life for him.
The mystery in itself, in this book, is typically convoluted and puzzle-like. I did catch on to most of the clues now, because I've sort of got used to the shape of these mysteries.
Still, it does introduce a bit more of a human side to Alleyn. Bathgate's role is thankfully reduced, though the annoying creature does contrive to be present. Inspector Fox and all the other steady, reliable characters who attend Alleyn's crime scenes are present, and I am getting fond of them, especially since Fox is just different to Alleyn, not lesser in the way that, say, Watson is. Alleyn doesn't condescend to him like Wimsey to Parker, too.
I'll need a bit more time with Troy to decide what to think about her and the relationship with Alleyn, but at least she brings in more of a personal life for him.
The mystery in itself, in this book, is typically convoluted and puzzle-like. I did catch on to most of the clues now, because I've sort of got used to the shape of these mysteries.
May 31, 2018
Marsh isn't living up to her 'Queen of Crime' reputation for me but this book, the sixth in her series, is the best so far. After falling for a range of unsuitable women, Alleyn is finally in love with Troy - oh, and turns out he's a titled aristocrat with the obligatory charming, scatty mother... that was kept under wraps in the first five books.
Marsh tends to follow the same structure in all her stories with a spectacularly unrealistic method of murder. There's more investigating than is customary here, and Fox is emerging as my favourite character.
Definitely more dated than Christie.
Marsh tends to follow the same structure in all her stories with a spectacularly unrealistic method of murder. There's more investigating than is customary here, and Fox is emerging as my favourite character.
Definitely more dated than Christie.
March 20, 2018
Detective Inspector Roderick Allen Series Book #6 - 4.5 stars
I normally have to read a series in order because it goes completely against my nature to skip around. After reading book one though, I was on the fence on whether or not to continue the series because, even though I enjoyed the mystery itself, the dialogue and British narrative was quite choppy and all over the place so I had a hard time following a long in certain parts.
I owe Themis-Athena's Garden of Books a huge thank you for recommending that I skip ahead to book 6, Artists in Crime. I followed Themis's advice and I'm really glad I did because I enjoyed this story immensely. The writing is so much more polished in this book. The British narrative is more refined and easier to follow, the plot was well-developed and the mystery was complex enough that I didn't guess the murderer until it was pretty much handed to me on a silver platter. Overall you can just tell that the author's skill has evolved since her debut.
There are a whopping 32 books in this series so I can't say if I will go back and read books 2-5 anytime I soon but I definitely plan to continue reading the series from book 7.
I normally have to read a series in order because it goes completely against my nature to skip around. After reading book one though, I was on the fence on whether or not to continue the series because, even though I enjoyed the mystery itself, the dialogue and British narrative was quite choppy and all over the place so I had a hard time following a long in certain parts.
I owe Themis-Athena's Garden of Books a huge thank you for recommending that I skip ahead to book 6, Artists in Crime. I followed Themis's advice and I'm really glad I did because I enjoyed this story immensely. The writing is so much more polished in this book. The British narrative is more refined and easier to follow, the plot was well-developed and the mystery was complex enough that I didn't guess the murderer until it was pretty much handed to me on a silver platter. Overall you can just tell that the author's skill has evolved since her debut.
There are a whopping 32 books in this series so I can't say if I will go back and read books 2-5 anytime I soon but I definitely plan to continue reading the series from book 7.
August 22, 2021
Още една приятна книжка в класическия криминален жанр. За съжаление, самият случай не ми беше кой знае колко интересен (убийство в ателие, затворен кръг от заподозрени). Признавам, че детективът обаче е чудесен образ. Описан е много жив и човечен, няма нищо общо с надменните, егоцентрични и свръхзнаещи образи, с които обикновено този жанр борави (Сред тях имам любимци, разбира се, но различното е свеж полъх). Ален разчита много на всичките си колеги и близки, не работи сам и въпреки тях, открит, енергичен, одухотворен и внимателен човек е.
Действието на книгата се развива почти изцяло в Англия, обноските са чисто 30-тарски, тъй да се каже. Нелош пейзаж като цяло. На мен ми изглежда малко като грешка всичко да започва с епизод на кораб, тръгващ от Австралия към дома, тъй като случките там навяват на читателя доста подозрения, водещи към извършителя... Но може и на мен само така да ми се струва.
Действието на книгата се развива почти изцяло в Англия, обноските са чисто 30-тарски, тъй да се каже. Нелош пейзаж като цяло. На мен ми изглежда малко като грешка всичко да започва с епизод на кораб, тръгващ от Австралия към дома, тъй като случките там навяват на читателя доста подозрения, водещи към извършителя... Но може и на мен само така да ми се струва.
June 6, 2023
This is a re-read. I loved this book when I read it (10 years ago!) and I decided to read the series (well, 12 this year - one a month) on that basis. I must admit I have found the others in the series a little underwhelming and I thought I might have been disappointed when I revisited Artists in Crime. Happily, I wasn’t.
I’m not sure why but the previous books in the series (ie books one to five, this is number six) seem to have quite a different feel to them. They are almost amateurish in comparison and Marsh seemed to lack direction. On face value, all Marsh did differently with Artists in Crime was add a new character, Agatha Troy, as her leading man’s love interest. (Even a love interest was nothing new for Alleyn. Marsh was teetering on making him a Marty-Sue with the amount of women batting their eyelashes at him in the earlier books.) Yet, somehow, with Agatha, Alleyn, and Marsh really, becomes much more well-rounded and mature.
The murder case is a lot more violent than in books of this time. Marsh did use the prop as a murder weapon yet again (this is now the third time) but it was much more effective. She also again added a locked room scenario but, also, she did this much more effortlessly than before. I also never got confused with the supporting characters (no need to refer to the list of characters for me this time!).
If I was to recommend this series to someone else to read, I think I would say to make this a starting point. This I say with a touch of trust that Marsh will continue with this higher standard from now on. Fingers crossed!
5 out of 5
Previous review:
I read this on a friend's rec after I finished reading all the Vane/Whimsey books of Sayers's because of the similarities between that couple and the couple in these books, Roderick and Agatha. Roderick Alleyn is actually a real detective from Scotland Yard in these books, and I must say that makes it a bit easier to understand why he gets to investigate the murders a little more than Lord Peter. The woman he pretty much falls in love with from sight is Agatha Troy, an artist on the same cruise as he is. When they return to England, he is called upon to investigate a murder that has occurred at her studio. Most of the minor characters/suspects are rather awful and I felt little pity for any of them. (Marsh is a New Zealander and she makes the Australian character a real fool! LOL!). Although I did guess the murderer, it didn't worry me much, because it was still an unusual scenario. Of course I didn't read it for the murder. I was reading it for the romance, and Marsh didn't disappoint. I liked how she gave just a few crumbs for us about what happened on the cruise; our imagination can run wild. Like Sayers, Marsh can also give a lot of depth to a character's apparent throw away line. I'm assured this couple get to feature in many more of Marsh's books, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
5 out of 5
I’m not sure why but the previous books in the series (ie books one to five, this is number six) seem to have quite a different feel to them. They are almost amateurish in comparison and Marsh seemed to lack direction. On face value, all Marsh did differently with Artists in Crime was add a new character, Agatha Troy, as her leading man’s love interest. (Even a love interest was nothing new for Alleyn. Marsh was teetering on making him a Marty-Sue with the amount of women batting their eyelashes at him in the earlier books.) Yet, somehow, with Agatha, Alleyn, and Marsh really, becomes much more well-rounded and mature.
The murder case is a lot more violent than in books of this time. Marsh did use the prop as a murder weapon yet again (this is now the third time) but it was much more effective. She also again added a locked room scenario but, also, she did this much more effortlessly than before. I also never got confused with the supporting characters (no need to refer to the list of characters for me this time!).
If I was to recommend this series to someone else to read, I think I would say to make this a starting point. This I say with a touch of trust that Marsh will continue with this higher standard from now on. Fingers crossed!
5 out of 5
Previous review:
I read this on a friend's rec after I finished reading all the Vane/Whimsey books of Sayers's because of the similarities between that couple and the couple in these books, Roderick and Agatha. Roderick Alleyn is actually a real detective from Scotland Yard in these books, and I must say that makes it a bit easier to understand why he gets to investigate the murders a little more than Lord Peter. The woman he pretty much falls in love with from sight is Agatha Troy, an artist on the same cruise as he is. When they return to England, he is called upon to investigate a murder that has occurred at her studio. Most of the minor characters/suspects are rather awful and I felt little pity for any of them. (Marsh is a New Zealander and she makes the Australian character a real fool! LOL!). Although I did guess the murderer, it didn't worry me much, because it was still an unusual scenario. Of course I didn't read it for the murder. I was reading it for the romance, and Marsh didn't disappoint. I liked how she gave just a few crumbs for us about what happened on the cruise; our imagination can run wild. Like Sayers, Marsh can also give a lot of depth to a character's apparent throw away line. I'm assured this couple get to feature in many more of Marsh's books, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
5 out of 5
January 13, 2016
Alleyn is returning from his New Zealand trip when he meets Agatha Troy on board the ship. Sparks fly between them and feel each do not like each. other Troy hosts a group of artists at her home. After a discussion of a method of murder with the group. The murder happens in front of all the artists. This book has numerous twists and turns keeping the reader alert. I read a Large Print edition from my library
June 13, 2023
An artist's model is killed in plain sight - but what happened?
February 23, 2018
A reasonably good tale spoiled by the poor reading of one Terry Wilton. His inflexions were odd, his attempt at different accents and mannerisms fell flat. Half the time Alleyn was using Fox's voice, or the cardboard "ozzie" accent assigned to another character. The reading felt rushed, as if Wilton couldn't wait to be through. I must read this in print and get more out of it.
I felt that Alleyn did rather lead the suspects in questioning them. Instead of saying, "What did you do Saturday?" and seeing if the person's story agrees with the others, he says, "Now on Saturday you did thus and so, is that correct?" I must say I did tape the murderer near the beginning, and the second murder felt rather Murder, She Wrote. Unfortunately the ro-mance between Alleyn and Troy (who calls the woman he loves by her surname in 1938?) felt rather like a pale copy of Wimsey and Harriet Vane...which was written before this. Too much tell-not-show at the end, but that's a common failing of mystery authors of the time. At least it wasn't the dreaded Library Scene: "I know you're all wondering why I've called you here today..."
Why did a NZ author create such a cardboard Australian character? Why bother? He has nothing to do with the action, and all he had to say for himself was "Goodoh, Miss Troy." I was amused by the perception of aspirin as a sleeping drug; I've run into this in people's diaries of the period as well. Bayer Aspirin, however, contained a small amount of caffiene in those days, so how it could relax you or make you "sleep like the dead" I cannot imagine--particularly those who took one with their coffee! (Mind, English coffee of the time was not what it is now.)
Therefore three stars. Perhaps if I read it, and the narrator's voice isn't there to annoy, I can edit this review.
I felt that Alleyn did rather lead the suspects in questioning them. Instead of saying, "What did you do Saturday?" and seeing if the person's story agrees with the others, he says, "Now on Saturday you did thus and so, is that correct?" I must say I did tape the murderer near the beginning, and the second murder felt rather Murder, She Wrote. Unfortunately the ro-mance between Alleyn and Troy (who calls the woman he loves by her surname in 1938?) felt rather like a pale copy of Wimsey and Harriet Vane...which was written before this. Too much tell-not-show at the end, but that's a common failing of mystery authors of the time. At least it wasn't the dreaded Library Scene: "I know you're all wondering why I've called you here today..."
Why did a NZ author create such a cardboard Australian character? Why bother? He has nothing to do with the action, and all he had to say for himself was "Goodoh, Miss Troy." I was amused by the perception of aspirin as a sleeping drug; I've run into this in people's diaries of the period as well. Bayer Aspirin, however, contained a small amount of caffiene in those days, so how it could relax you or make you "sleep like the dead" I cannot imagine--particularly those who took one with their coffee! (Mind, English coffee of the time was not what it is now.)
Therefore three stars. Perhaps if I read it, and the narrator's voice isn't there to annoy, I can edit this review.
June 2, 2018
The death of an artists' model brings Alleyn into contact with a community of artists who all seem to have something to hide. The artists are attending classes at the home of renowned artist Agatha Troy, whom Alleyn had previously met on his return journey from New Zealand. Alleyn has to put his growing feelings for Troy to one side in order to uncover a murderer.
This novel is my favourite so far from this series. Marsh has achieved a good balance of characters, an interesting setting, some sparkling dialogue and a clever plot. The book also benefits from pushing the ebullient reporter Bathgate more into the background and introducing Alleyn's mother whose exchanges with Fox are a highlight.
This novel is my favourite so far from this series. Marsh has achieved a good balance of characters, an interesting setting, some sparkling dialogue and a clever plot. The book also benefits from pushing the ebullient reporter Bathgate more into the background and introducing Alleyn's mother whose exchanges with Fox are a highlight.
February 1, 2020
B : The most I've liked Roderick Alleyn as a character. He finally feels human, what with his burgeoning romance with Agatha Troy and the touching relationship he has with his mother, Lady Alleyn. Because of that, this really is required reading within the series. As for the mystery, I found the method of the murders chilling but rather silly, honestly, and I'm not sure all of the characters pop (a minor character called Bobbie, who's barely in it, is hilarious, though.) It's also a little long, but the conclusion is satisfying and the final two chapters summarise the tale very well.
November 9, 2021
Author Ngaio Marsh never disappoints. This is another fine golden age of mystery book that certainly rivals, if not exceeds, the talents of Dame Agatha Christie.
In Artists in Crime, we get a view into Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's personal life by meeting his mother. Along with the investigation into the model's murder, Alleyn's thoughts are also occupied with fond thoughts of one of his mother's neighbors -- who is also a suspect in the ongoing murder investigation.
In Artists in Crime, we get a view into Scotland Yard's Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's personal life by meeting his mother. Along with the investigation into the model's murder, Alleyn's thoughts are also occupied with fond thoughts of one of his mother's neighbors -- who is also a suspect in the ongoing murder investigation.
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