Singing in the Shrouds

Summary: Alleyn joins a ship bound for Cape Town seeking a serial murderer, one of nine passengers.

Hmm. This isn’t my idea of a good time. A cruise on a cargo ship with eight other passengers, all strangers. Add to that the possibility of a serial murderer on board, one of those passengers. That’s the scenario Ngaio Marsh has created in this installment of the Roderick Alleyn mysteries.

An eccentric group comes aboard the Cape Farewell, captained by Jasper Bannerman, an old sea dog used to being in charge–perhaps too much so. Mrs. Ruby Dillington-Blick is a widowed socialite, living large in every sense, used to being adored. Fred and Ethel Cuddy are a middle-class, middle-aged couple. Katherine Abbott is a spinster specializing in show more church music, with large hands and feet! Philip Merryman is a fussy retired schoolmaster. Jemima Carmichael is on the cruise to heal from a broken engagement. Dr. Timothy Makepiece signed on as ship’s doctor to travel to South Africa. Aubyn Dale is an alcoholic TV emcee skating very close to a breakdown. And Mr. Donald McAngus is an elderly, stamp-collecting bachelor.

Just before the ship sailed, a young girl is murdered near the docks. The murder has all the marks of “the Flower Killer,” who strangles the victims with a necklace, found broken, strews flower petals over them, and departs the scene singing. The murderer has killed at ten day intervals. The girl is found just as the Cape Farewell departs. Part of an embarkation notice for the ship is found in her hand.

The suspicion is that the murderer is one of the passengers. They all had been in the vicinity prior to sailing. Alleyn is assigned the case, boarding at Portsmouth, assuming the identity of a shipping company official. He has to investigate without appearing to do so or alarming the passengers. And Bannerman is less than willing to help. He doesn’t believe any of these passengers could be the murderer. But the case is urgent. The next ten day interval will expire while the ship is at sea. There could be another victim.

This is one of my favorites so far. There is a budding love affair between Jemima and the doctor. The doctor and the priest have alibis that check out and become silent partners with Alleyn in watching out for the women. Marsh does well in leaving both red herrings and avoids giving away the murderer. We can’t help but admire Mrs. Dillington-Blick, as do all the men around her. I found myself wondering a bit about the mysterious Katherine Abbott. And I didn’t want anything to happen to Jemima, who struck me as the perfect murder victim. This makes for a great holiday or vacation read! show less

Alleyn has to discover which member of a ship's passengers is serial killer, if indeed any of them, while undercover and with a ship's captain who doesn't believe the killer is on board. Marsh does an excellent job of describing the characters and growing tension between them. I suspected the guilty party but only as much as I suspected each of the suspects in turn - the denouement was splendid!

Author Ngaio Marsh usually writes a pretty good mystery. There are some exceptions -- Overture To Death and Death And The Dancing Footman come to mind. However, for the most part, they're good to great. Singing in the Shrouds falls in the good camp. Roderick Alleyn goes under cover to discover who on a passenger ship is a serial killer who strangles his victims and then sprinkles flowers over them. Needless to say, Alleyn gets his man.

Marsh plays fair with the reader, and you'll be guessing to the very end. The psychobabble explanation for the serial killer's motivation will seem dated and unrealistic; however, except for that, the book is a good read with believable characters and situations. There's no incredibly feats of show more perspicacity; this isn't Death In A White Tie. However, I definitely recommend this one for British cozy fans.

Merged review:

Author Ngaio Marsh usually writes a pretty good mystery. There are some exceptions -- Overture To Death and Death And The Dancing Footman come to mind. However, for the most part, they're good to great. Singing in the Shrouds falls in the good camp. Roderick Alleyn goes under cover to discover who on a passenger ship is a serial killer who strangles his victims and then sprinkles flowers over them. Needless to say, Alleyn gets his man.

Marsh plays fair with the reader, and you'll be guessing to the very end. The psychobabble explanation for the serial killer's motivation will seem dated and unrealistic; however, except for that, the book is a good read with believable characters and situations. There's no incredibly feats of perspicacity; this isn't Death In A White Tie. However, I definitely recommend this one for British cozy fans. show less

Superintendent Alleyn goes undercover on an oceanliner sailing from England to South Africa in order to track down a serial killer. He is on his own, without his trusted sidekick Inspector Fox, which lessens my interest in the story. It's a slow moving whodunit that gets resolved at the last minute after plenty of melodrama. There's few appealing characters among the cast if potential suspects and that made the reading slow and even tedious at times as Alleyn sorted out alibis.

This one has grown on me. Alleyn is sent to sea on a cruise (a freighter carring a small number of passengers - as was quite common once) on the hunch that serial killer has shipped for the voyage. The delight in this is the small number of characters interacting as we count down the days to the next outburst. Once again NM shows her anti-gay colours but otherwise really enjoyable read.
Additional comments on re-read: Interesting description of early reality TV as "spiritual strip tease", not quite as anti-gay as I thought on first reading. Love the play on words in the title (nautical vs burial shrouds).

Warning: this review contains spoilers

****

Alleyn is sent aboard the Cape Farewell to uncover a murderer among the passengers: specifically, the “Flower Murderer” who strangles women and leaves flowers on their corpses. Along the way he enlists the help of two of the men, ruling them out as suspects. And because the women are considered to be above suspicion, the circle is limited even further. As a result, I didn’t find the solution as satisfactory as I might otherwise have. (I was expecting one of the men he’d trusted to turn out to be the murderer—wouldn’t that have been a turn-up!)

Another fun Roderick Alleyn mystery--this time he goes undercover on a ship to find 'The Flower Killer", who has already murdered several women at 10 day intervals before killing another on the docks the night the ship embarks. Alleyn mingles with the eccentric passengers, knowing that one of them may be a killer and that one of them may be the next victim.

Engrossing mystery with a fun cast of characters--par for the course for Ms. Marsh.