Enter a Murderer

A perfectly readable, diverting, Golden Age mystery. A thoroughly unlikable actor is shot on stage in the middle of a live performance—who could have swapped out the blanks in the gun for real bullets? There are the wobbles in here that you'd expect from an author's early work, and the occasional gestures towards romantic attraction between the detective Roderick Alleyn and one of the suspects is a bit cringey. Still, I was entertained, particularly since there was something about Alleyn's affect here—glibness over seriousness, polish and a certain bite to the patter—which meant I mentally pictured him as Cary Grant circa His Girl Friday throughout.

I've been curious about Ngaio (pronounced "nigh-oh") Marsh's mysteries for some time. I had purchased some of Marsh's books secondhand because of a friend's recommendation, but seeing a few others at the thrift store recently gave me that little push to finally read one. Enter a Murderer is the one I picked, quite at random, and I have to say it was pretty good.

Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is invited by his journalist friend Nigel Bathgate to a highly rated play. In the play, one of the characters shoots another as part of the story. Only this time, the gun was really loaded, and a man really died. Alleyn is immediately on-duty trying to figure out who, of all the people behind the scenes during the four-minute set change, would show more change the blanks in the gun to real bullets. Several people have possible motives, and the story is doubly interesting because unlike most suspects in a mystery novel, all these characters are already actors and know how to play a careful part.

In this story, Roderick Alleyn is nothing extraordinary as a detective character. He doesn't have Poirot's lovable cuteness or Lord Peter's debonair charm, but he is intelligent enough to sift to the bottom of the mystery — and doesn't always play by the rules along the way. I don't know what character development he has already had in previous books. He's fairly likeable, and I've certainly never heard a literary detective admit he has a rotten memory. I should like to know a little more about him before I consign him to the ranks of so-so characters.

I don't think Marsh quite reaches Christie's level, but the mystery was quite presentable and the characters interesting. I wouldn't recommend her books to younger readers, though. There's definitely a sexual undertone in this one, perhaps because of the plot of the play and the way the actors' real lives mirror it. I'll probably read more of Marsh's mysteries, and overall I'd recommend it for fans of Sayers, Christie, and Tey. show less

Originally published in 1935, Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh is the second of her mysteries to feature Inspector Roderick Alleyn. This particular mystery is set in and about a theatre, a world in which the author knew well as she has spent time touring as an actress and had experience as a director.

This book delves into the theatre world and the personalities of the cast and crew. The murder took place on the stage and was viewed by many including Inspector Alleyn and his friend, Nigel Bathgate. The victim is an actor that no one liked and so there was no limit to the number of suspects. Inspector Alleyn needed to work his way through all the suspects and also look into past scandal and a drug connection. I did feel that during the show more course of the story, the author used too many red herrings so when the actual murderer was finally revealed at the end of the book, I felt a little blah about the whole thing.

This second book helps to develop the character of Inspector Alleyn and he holds his own against so many larger-than-life theatre personalities. The writing was lively with plenty of wit and charm and I will definitely be reading more from this series. show less

I usually dislike theatre-centric novels/storylines. This one shows the author has an excellent understanding of the theatre - both on stage and off. Her mystery moves a little slowly, and there were points wherein it felt both Nigel and Alleyn were annoying each other and themselves. However, there are some great quotes, witty moments, and overall its a lot better read than many, many novels.

Written in 1935, this was the second book for Ngaio Marsh, theater director and eventually one of the ‘greats’ in crime fiction writers. To write it, she drew upon her knowledge of theater and the many types that surround the performing arts. Her knowledge of setting and characters is evident, and I can’t say that I thought any of it felt unrealistic or poorly done.

It opens with an unpleasant scene between producer Joseph Saint (born Simes) and his nephew, Arthur Surbonadier (also born Simes), followed by an equally unpleasant scene with Surbonadier and leading lady Stephanie Vaughan. It primes the reader for the confrontation, and gives initial insight into further interactions of the three. The story continues with Nigel show more Bathgate, journalist, inviting his friend Detective Inspector Alleyn to a night at the theater and a chance to meet the crew before the show. It’s a fabulous set-up, allowing the reader a bit of insight Alleyn doesn’t know yet, but also priming the tension for what is to come. So many potential targets for so many reasons. The two men take their seats and production of The Rat and the Beaver.

I’m probably a gullible reader, because I was as surprised with the murder as the audience, expecting someone else to be a better candidate. Detective Alleyn gets to work, with the faithful yet equally gullible Nigel as his note-taking sidekick. The theater is examined, the company patted down, alibis checked. A significant portion of the story takes place within the theater, and this part works well. If the characters seem a bit daffy, it’s only because they are acting types, professionally inclined to perform:

“The players walked through the wings and stood quietly in a semi-circle. They looked attentive and businesslike. It was almost as though they had needed the stage and the lights to give them full solidity. They no longer seemed preposterous or even artificial. They were in their right environment and had become real.”

I enjoyed the writing style. I noted the occasional interesting vocabulary word and but didn’t take the time to write any of them down. ‘Het up’ sticks out in my mind, as I believe the savoir and polished Alleyn used it (settle down: I’ve since looked it up and discovered it’s Scottish origins in the mid-19th c.), but it was interesting, as at least one reviewer was bothered by it. I’m not a period reader, so I couldn’t say what’s appropriate or not, but the colloquialisms seemed less ‘proper’ than expected. Still, Marsh is great at setting a scene and creating a mood.

Characters were fun, with Marsh generally stressing the larger-than-life theater type personality. Alleyn still struggles a bit, and I find my 2o18 enculturation stressed by the concept of detection mid-century. Most of it I could likely have forgiven had I been able to understand Alleyn’s personality. I think Marsh was going for a sort of Cary Grant daffy charm crossed with a know-all copper, but it didn’t work. It just felt too inconsistent to have him seriously questioning a witness, telling Bathgate he must leave, allowing him to stay, challenging Bathgate’s incorrect assumptions, and merrily baiting Fox.

Too bad about the plot, though. She keeps suspense going until the very end (literally the last six pages of my book), and perhaps that explains why I found it only mildly satisfying. The beauty of good Christie is that when the hand is shown, I say, ‘oh yes, of course; that makes sense.’ When the denouement occurs, I thought, ‘what?’ and read the motive paragraph again, whereupon I was left with a different but equally unsatisfied feeling. It also failed to explain some of the red herrings and equally odd behavior by another character.

Still, up until that last bit, I enjoyed it. The first part of the book was quite riveting, so I’ll try to focus on that instead of the unsatisfying end. I’ll certainly continue to the next. show less

The second outing for Roderick Alleyn and it still feels like an early book. This story was not as improbable as the first book in the series but it still has a sense of "author finding her characters" to it.

I really liked the story and loved the theatrical setting. I did have a hard time with Alleyn in this. He seemed rather pompous. There were even scenes of his subordinates admiring him in this story that badly reminded me of Alexander Wilson's thriller series, in which the police's hero worship was one of the many factors to that led me to DNF both books I tried in the series.

There were a few elements in the plot that struck me as gaffes in the author's research, although I have no doubt that these would have excited the show more mystery-loving reader in 1935, when the book was published.

Still, I very much enjoyed the suspense of the story and the "let me tell you why I have gathered you all together here" ending. I'm a sucker for a Poirot-style solution. Especially, when it reminds me of one of my favourite Poirot novels, which happened to be published a year before Enter a Murderer. show less

Summary: Invited to see a play with his sidekick Bathgate, Alleyn actually witnesses the murder he will investigate.

Nigel Bathgate is friends with the lead actor in a play at the unicorn and receives two tickets to a performance. His friend, and lead partner in crime investigation, Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is free and joins him. Before the play, they visit the lead actor, Felix Gardner and witness tensions within the cast as Arthur Subornadier barges into a conversation with Gardner and actress Stephanie Vaughn, a lovers’ triangle with Subornadier the jilted lover. We also learn that Subornadier had threatened the theatre owner, Jacob Saint with blackmail to get the lead part. Are you getting the picture that Subornadier is not show more a very likable character. Turns out he has offended most of the cast and crew.

During the climactic scene, the character played by Subornadier loads a gun (supposedly with dummy bullets) quarrels with Gardner’s character. Gardner gets the gun, fires and kills Subornadier as the stage manager fires a blank shot. Only Gardner really kills Subornadier, and Alleyn sees it all and calls in his crew to investigate. Quickly, they figure out the murder is the one who substitute real bullets for the dummies that were in the top drawer of a desk during a short time when the stage was blacked out. Attention focuses on various characters including Jacob Saint, who is eventually arrested, and Albert Hickson, the property manager who was responsible for the bullets–until Hickson turns up dead while Saint is in jail.

The climax comes when the actors return to the theatre to re-enact their movements in the final scene. In the end the murderer self-exposes, the very person who Alleyn had written down for his newswriting sidekick, Bathgate. And so ends the first of Marsh’s murder mysteries set in a theatre–a favorite location.

This is early Alleyn. He and Bathgate are still learning to trust each other. Alleyn seems a bit rougher around the edges than in later novels, and without Troy in the picture, suggestively returns the attentions of lead actress Stephanie Vaughn, who doesn’t seem to mind gathering men around her. At the same time, the trademark qualities of Alleyn emerge, his quiet, commanding character that marshals the efforts of his team, including Bathgate and his focus on details and not appearances until the murderer is revealed.

This was a quick read and great fun with an unexpected twist at the end–all the ingredients for a good mystery, and for one just beginning the series, an indication of the good things to come with thirty more of these to go! show less