Complimentary theatre ticket gives Inspector Alleyn a front row seat for murder
Ngaio
Marsh draws on her experience as a theatre director in New Zealand to describe
the background of her second Inspector Roderick Alleyn novel published in 1935.Patrick Malahide played
Alleyn on TV in the 1990s
In Enter
a Murderer, she places Inspector Alleyn near the front of the audience at a
London theatre when one of the actors is shot dead on the stage.
A
character in the play is meant to be shot with a gun loaded with dummy
cartridges, but when he falls down and the horrified cast realise he is dead
for real, the gentleman detective, Alleyn, suspects foul play immediately.
He had
been invited to the theatre by his friend, the journalist Nigel Bathgate, who
he met when investigating the death of a guest at a country house party in the
first novel, A Man Lay Dead.
Nigel has
been given complimentary tickets for the play by his old University friend,
Felix Gardener, who is playing the male lead in the production.
Alleyn
and Bathgate visit Felix in his dressing room before the play starts and are
actually introduced to Arthur Surbonadier, the actor who is going to be the
murder victim. He is clearly the worse for wear because he has been drinking
and demonstrates that he is jealous of Felix because of his blossoming
relationship with Stephanie, who is playing the female lead.
Alleyn
and Bathgate leave to take their seats front of house because they feel
uncomfortable in the acrimonious atmosphere of the dressing room.
After
Arthur has been shot and it becomes clear that he really is dead, the
production is halted and the audience sent home.
Helped by
his team who arrive from Scotland Yard, Alleyn secures the forensic evidence
and interview all the members of the cast.You can read Ngaio Marsh's first
three Alleyn novels in one volume
At this
point I was surprised by Alleyn’s demeanour as he makes jokes for the benefit
of Bathgate and his fellow officers, which hardly seemed appropriate, but then
I thought of Dorothy L Sayers and her sleuth, Lord Peter Wimsey, and Margery
Allingham and her investigator, Albert Campion, and I realised this clowning
around was the fashion at the time and perhaps a nudge to the reader not to
take the story too seriously.
I was
also surprised Alleyn allows Bathgate to play an active part in the case and
sit in on the interviews and take notes.
Bathgate
is involved in the investigation in Ngaio’s first novel, A Man Lay Dead, but
that was because he was actually staying in the house where the murder
investigation takes place and couldn’t be sent away.
But then
I realised Bathgate is kept around in Enter a Murderer to be the Watson for
Alleyn. He gets to know some of what the detective is thinking but not all of
it and, like the reader, he has no idea what to expect at the end.
I was
slightly disappointed at the denouement when Alleyn uses the same trick as in
the first novel, A Man Lay Dead, and holds a re-enactment of the murder. This
time he has all the actors taking part, which eventually leads the murderer to
incriminate himself.
But Enter
a Murderer certainly fulfils what the reader expects from a detective novel as
it is an interesting story with a surprise at the end. Ngaio describes life
backstage at a theatre very well, drawing on her own experiences of acting and
directing
Her great
passion was the theatre and she joined a touring company in New Zealand as an
actress in 1916. Later in life, she directed several of Shakespeare’s plays for
New Zealand audiences and lived long enough to see the theatre firmly
established in her own country and provided with proper financial support.Ngaio Marsh
The
University of Canterbury in New Zealand named their theatre the Ngaio Marsh
Theatre and she was made a Dame in the 1966 Queen’s Birthday Honours for
services to the arts.
The title, Enter a Murderer, is taken from a line of stage direction from Shakespeare’s
play, Macbeth.
Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh is available as a hardback, paperback, Kindle or Audiobook. I read it as part of an omnibus edition comprising A Man Lay Dead, Enter a Murderer and The Nursing Home Murder - the first three Roderick Alleyn mysteries.
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