Nice early Ngaio March. Alleyn, on holidays in NZ after an undisclosed operation has befriended a travelling theatre company and is invited by NZ police to assist when one of the company is murdered. Nice feel for colonial relations, Ngaio Marsh's NZ and theatre background make this an entertaining read. Interesting picture of 1930's attitude to Maori - today we may find her attitude a little racist but at the time it would've been seen as very liberal! ( )

Vintage Murder is the second Ngaio Marsh mystery I've read, and I'm starting to think all of her books are set in the theater. The theater certainly provides a fascinating backdrop for a murder mystery: the layers of acting and illusion, carefully arranged set pieces, and scripted roles. Everyone plays a part in the drama, and even the detective must put on a bit of a show to get at the truth.

Roderick Alleyn is going on vacation to New Zealand when he meets up travelling group of actors on the train. One of the managers, Alfred Meyer, believes that someone tried to kill him by pushing him off the train. When he is killed by a birthday surprise he set up for his wife — a huge jeroboam of champagne swinging down from the set on pulleys, but somehow tampered with — the entire company falls under suspicion. Any one of them could have scampered up the scaffolds and adjusted the rig so it would swing down and brain Mr. Meyer. But who? And why? Who would want to murder a well-respected, honest company manager who was known for treating his actors right?

Marsh creates an interesting assortment of characters. There is Carolyn Dacres, the beautiful, glamorous actress inexplicably married to the diminutive Mr. Meyer; Hailey Hambledon, the leading man who loves Carolyn; Susan Max, who figured in a previous murder investigation; Dr. Te Pokiha, the well-educated aboriginal native; Bob Parsons, the put-upon props man; George Mason, the dyspeptic company manager; Valerie Gaynes, the foolish and incompetent young actress; Ackroyd, the sinister "funny man"; and several others who make their entrances, speak their lines, and exit the stage. Some of the minor male characters blurred together a bit and never really took on much life, but it would be hard to maintain complicated character studies of the entire troupe.

It's easy to see that Marsh was a theater and Shakespeare enthusiast. One of her minor characters in this story is a broken-down actor who quotes Shakespeare all he can in conversation. It's funny and goofy and a little bit sad. Marsh also does a good job of probing Carolyn Dacres' character and giving her a bit more depth than the usual self-absorbed leading lady. Other characters do seem to be the shallow parts they play; one cannot imagine Valerie Gaynes as anything but what she appears, and Ackroyd is also somewhat transparent, for all his prevarications. But there are a few little surprises in the simple parts; I really loved how Marsh delineated theater hierarchies so delicately in Bob Parsons' story.

Roderick Alleyn is an interesting detective. He's not quite Lord Peter or Hercule Poirot, but he seems to have his own little set of quirks. He's very witty, and sensitive to the politics of local police forces, and apparently attractive to the ladies. I wonder if in other books Marsh does with him what Dorothy Sayers does with Lord Peter... the character is lifted off the page of a mere detective novel and given depth and empathy that makes the reader care more for him than for the mystery. I can certainly see the potential in what Marsh has done already with Alleyn, and I look forward to reading more stories starring him.

I did not guess the solution to the mystery. Even when Alleyn shouts who it is, I was a little surprised and thought it was another stratagem. Circumstances did not look good for a certain other player in the story... But mystery writers labor under a disadvantage; the reader can see how many pages are left, and we know when the solution must be imminent. Once again it comes down to a part played skillfully, and the merest coincidences that inexorably narrow the suspects. Overall, this is a well-executed mystery, with a few playful pokes at its own genre and a cast of mostly interesting characters. Enjoyable light reading. ( )

An early, and fun, book in the Roderick Alleyn series. This one takes place as he is travelling through New Zealand and recovering from some unspecified operation. It is early in the canon as he is not yet married or dreaming of his future wife. There is a rugby-hooligan type incident on a train that ends with a bruised backside on one of the characters and a theft before the main murder even occurs. This book has a number of characters, and following every movement of each person can get baffling at times; however, Marsh never makes the reader feel as if Alleyn knows something special or has super-powers, merely that his powers of deduction are sharp and that all of the information is there that is necessary to solve the mystery along with him.
It is interesting to note that the translations of the book all mention the murder weapon, but lose the pun inherent in the original title. ( )

The leading lady of a theater company touring New Zealand was stunningly beautiful. No one-including her lover-understood why she married the company's pudgy producer. But did she rig a huge jeroboam of champagne to kill her husband during a cast party?

Did her sweetheart? Or was another villain waiting in the wings? On a holiday down under, Inspector Roderick Alleyn must uncork this mystery and uncover a devious killer... ( )