Friday's Forgotten (or Overlooked) Book: WHEN IN ROME (1971) by Ngaio Marsh

The elegant and oh-so-handsome Superintendent Roderick Alleyn of the C.I.D. is travelling in Rome pretending to be a tourist. He is hot on the trail of drug smugglers whose apparent point man is Sebastian Mailer, a seedy, blackmailing low-life tour guide - 'the cicerone' of Il Cicerone Conducted Tours.

Working with the approval of the Italian police, Alleyn joins the tour alongside several rather eccentric if not out-and-out suspicious individuals: 

Lady Braceley, a charmless British woman of a certain age still attempting to use her ravaged beauty to lure men - if not for her sake, then for the sake of her gay nephew. He is the Honorable Kevin Dorne, drug-addict and general shifty-eyed, no-account sponger.

Major Hamilton Sweet, retired ex-Army chap. The kind of huffy and stuffy 'old school' sort beloved of Agatha Christie once upon a time. In fact, he appears too good to be true, almost as if he'd wandered in from another book.

The Baron and Baroness Van Der Veghel noticeably resemble each other as many long-term married couples do, except more so. The Baron, who works for a very conservative Dutch publishing house, is huge and ungainly and besotted with his equally huge and ungainly Baroness, a woman who shies away from the sordid ugliness of life. The Baron will do anything to protect her from said ugliness.

Sophy Jason, a young and attractive writer of children's books on her first visit to Rome. For her, the tour is an impulse event.

Last but not least, there is Barnaby Grant, famous bestselling author, hardly the sort you'd expect to find tagging along on a seedy tour. When it becomes obvious that Grant is there against his will, Alleyn naturally becomes intrigued.

In fact, we've already met Barnaby Grant in the first chapter - the story expands from Grant's first supposedly accidental meeting with Sebastian Mailer. A most unfortunate incident with unexpected consequences.

The only saving grace for Grant on tour, is Sophie Jason, though he knows he is probably too old for her.

Add to the mix, an abandoned slattern of a wife with a vicious tongue, inquisitive priests, an uneasy restaurateur, a nervous chauffeur/assistant guide, various porters, waiters and even the British Ambassador and you have a lively murder tale full of atmosphere, foreign accents, intrigue, excitable Italian police and plenty of local color as the tour culminates in murder at the basilica of San Tommaso in Pallaria. 

I recommend WHEN IN ROME as the perfect vintage summer reading.

Also: don't forget to check in at Patti Abbott's blog Pattinase to see what other forgotten books other bloggers are talking about today.

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Friday's Forgotten (or Overlooked ) Book: SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY (1954) by Ngaio Marsh

A preposterous book peopled with preposterous characters in a preposterous plot, and yet Ngaio Marsh makes it all work. How is it that some authors can get away with stuff like this?

I don't know.

(Even the title is a stretch, explained near the end in case the reader missed the connotation.)

Agatha Christie did this sort of thing all the time. Not to mention, John Dickson Carr and a few others whose names escape me at the moment. The height of preposterousness is T.H. White's DARKNESS AT PEMBERLEY, but damn if it doesn't work a treat and leave you wishing White had written more mysteries - many more.

SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY begins with a well-known plot device: murder spotted from the window of a moving train. In this instance though, it's not some old lady looking on from her train compartment, it's Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn of the C.I.D. and his wife Troy (Agatha Troy, the famed British painter). They are traveling in France with their little son Ricky, on holiday, but in Alleyn's case, also to do a bit of police work on the side. There is this drug smuggling ring that needs to be dealt with.

This was back in the day when people still used the term 'reefers' and it was thought that marijuana was almost as life destroying as heroin. (I suppose that's been dis-proved.) Some of the terminology is very quaint, but the deadly implications of heroine can never be emphasized enough in my view - then and now. One of the main reasons, by the way, that I normally avoid books with drugs as a main theme is that it all seems so sordid, mindless and soul crushing. But I digress.

The overall setting of SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY is the South of France, but the more immediate setting is the lazy little town of Rocqueville and the nearby dark and creepy Chateau de la Chevre D'Argent. (Chateau of the Silver Goat.) A very atmospheric place full of nooks, crannies and dark shadows.

The Chateau is the home of a 'jet-set cult' at the heart of the dope smuggling business which Alleyn has been asked to investigate - in tandem with the French police. The fact that his family is with him is meant as cover though to me it seems preposterous that Alleyn would connive in this way, allowing himself to believe that there is no specific danger to Troy and Ricky. But nobody's perfect.

I'm very fond of Alleyn and Troy, especially as a married couple and then as parents. They seem to have the sort of relationship any woman might envy. They even have a small son who speaks as if he were a very proper little old man. As some of you might know, I am especially fond of precocious British children of the well-to-do (if written well). This little six year old is fond of using the words, 'lavish' and 'however.' I have to say I was charmed by the whole thing. Especially when Alleyn and his wife worry that maybe Ricky is just a tad too precociously inclined (their friends have remarked). All is done with the suave Alleyn touch.

Back to the plot:

Moments after Alleyn and Troy have spotted the murder from a window, a fellow traveler aboard their train - an elderly British lady (Miss Truebody) traveling alone - is stricken with appendicitis. Alleyn and Troy, as fellow compatriots, feel they can't turn their backs on her. Coincidentally, the only doctor available is a certain Dr. Ali Baradi (a sweaty and oily sort reminding me very of much of Wilkie Collins' evil creation, Count Fosco) who resides at the Chateau.

Alleyn realizes that the murder glimpsed from the train took place in a room at that same sinister chateau. He proposes to leave his wife and son at the hotel in town while he insinuates himself into Baradi's group of restless ex-pats. And what better entry to the place than the poor, stricken Miss Truebody who lies on the brink on death unless Baradi performs an immediate operation. (A bit cold-blooded, but when providence provides...)

The Chateau de la Chevre D'Argent belongs to an effete 'poseur', an embarrassment of a man, the very wealthy Monsieur Oberon of indefinable nationality and pretensions of grandeur - the leader of the so-called cult. The sort of man who has begun to believe his own dangerous malarkey, but a man not really as clever as he might, at first, appear.

The jaw-dropping activities which occur at the chateau on one Thursday night a month are hinted at (think pentagram), but mostly left to the imagination. Though we aren't spared the 'sight' of the repulsive Monsieur Oberon walking around in the buff. Drugs and sex go...uh, hand in hand, I suppose.

My favorite characters in the book, besides Alleyn, Troy and their son, are the young and terribly handsome Frenchman Raoul Milano, the Alleyn's indefatigable local driver, and Monsieur Dupont of the Surete, Acting Commisaire at the Prefecture, Rocqueville. I love how Dupont keeps calling Ricky, 'Ricketts' - so adorably French. I love how Raoul and Dupont join the hunt when 'Ricketts' is kidnapped and the frantic mother and father must keep their heads while searching for their boy - Alleyn desperately trying to keep his real identity from the culprits up at the chateau.

Oh we know who the bad guys are going in, no question. What we don't know is who was killed and why and who at the Chateau can be counted on to not interfere when the you-know-what hits the fan. Besides that, there is the excellently written suspense of the kidnapping and search for Ricky and near the end, an impersonation which comes out of the blue. Ngaio Marsh is brilliant at misdirection. There is also a brilliant scene at a local chemical factory when the righteous officialdom of the law comes up against egocentric criminal stubbornness. Just fabulous writing.

There is also a thumping good scene in which Raoul in all his glorious Frenchiness berates his weeping girlfriend (who works at the chateau as a maid and has been duped into taking part in the kidnapping). It's the sort of scene which only an experienced writer (sure of herself) can fashion. It surges into life in your imagination and you watch the thing with dismay and amusement. You can even hear the French accent of the rightly outraged beau. (He is speaking in French, but the author translates for our benefit.)

Alleyn, Raoul and Teresa sat on an ornamental garden seat in the factory grounds. Teresa wept and Raoul gave her cause to do so.

"Infamous girl," Raoul said, "to what sink of depravity have you retired? I think of your perfidy," he went on, "and I spit." He rose, retired a few paces, spat and returned. 

"I compare your behavior," he continued, "to its disadvantage with that of Herod, the Anti-Christ who slit the throats of first-born innocents. Ricky is an innocent and also, Monsieur will correct me if I speak in error, a first-born. He is, moreover, the son of Monsieur, my employer, who, as you observe, can find no words to express his loathing of the fallen woman with whom he finds himself in occupation of this contaminated piece of garden furniture."

"Spare me," Teresa sobbed. "I can explain myself."

Raoul bent down in order to place his exquisite but distorted face close to hers. "Female ravisher of infants," he apostrophized. "Trafficker in unmentionable vices. Associate of perverts."

Well, as you can see, Raoul has a tendency to get carried away. It is a very enjoyable scene. Ngaio Marsh has Alleyn look askance at all this as if he's watching grand opera. And so do we. It's wonderful.

At any rate, all will be well. Teresa will be vindicated and the happy couple will be left at the end of the book, after a fabulous feast at the future in-laws' cafe, planning their wedding.

Ngaio Marsh is 'lavish' in her fabulousness, don't miss her books. Here's a link to my favorites.

I read all of Marsh's books in one fell swoop, several years ago, and now it looks as if I'm beginning again.

Don't forget to check in at Patti's blog to get the low-down on other forgotten (or overlooked) books.

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Friday Forgotten Book: FINAL CURTAIN (1947) by Ngaio Marsh

I'm not posting forgotten books regularly anymore - I simply have run out of steam, possibly because I've forgotten any forgotten books I've read in the past. But occasionally, when I do stumble across one, accidentally or otherwise, I'll be writing about it - kind of on an irregular basis. In the meantime, don't forget to keep checking in at Patti Abbott's blog to see what forgotten (or overlooked) books other readers are talking about - most of them show up every Friday.

I know I read Ngaio Marsh's FINAL CURTAIN a while back but damn if I hadn't forgotten who the killer was, not that that really matters much. Remembering would not have stopped me re-reading - it's all about the writing and the re-visiting for me. This is a particularly leisurely mystery as the first murder doesn't happen until well into the book and the second murder happens just a few pages before the end.

As for the ending, it is a bit abrupt and not very satisfying, after everything that has gone before. But this is one of those books that you want to read regardless because Ngaio Marsh's gift for characterization and dialogue are absolutely topnotch and the setting is perfection, mystery-writing-wise.

Here again we have murder at a large, foreboding, ungainly estate in the English countryside - something I am very fond of reading about. Ancreton is the 'family home' of  the Ancreds - a very theatrical and fractious family at whose head sits Sir Henry, a famous and oh-so-egotistical Shakespearean actor now past his prime. 'Drama' is the Ancreds' middle name - they thrive on it, can't manage to get through the day without six or seven exhausting emotional scenes. Everything is a production. Everything has to be hashed over and over until there's nothing left but a morsel of the original idea.

They are a wearisome bunch. And now that they are all gathering at Ancreton for Sir Henry's birthday, unpleasant things are bound to happen. Especially since Sir Henry has a habit of changing his will at the drop of a hat, depending on who in his family is momentarily in disfavor.

Agatha Troy (known as 'Troy' to her hubby), the famous painter and wife of Scotland Yard Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is commissioned to paint a birthday portrait of Sir Henry in costume as MacBeth. She has been nervously awaiting the return of her husband who has been on overseas duty for MI5 (or its equivalent) during the war. They haven't seen each other in three years, so she's on pins and needles. Judging correctly that working will help pass the time that much quicker (Alleyn is due home in a couple of weeks), Troy arrives at Ancreton ready to paint.

What she is not ready for are the constant battle royals and dramatic scenes involving Sir Henry and assorted members of his family, all of whom have arrived at the house to spend a few days. She finds Sir Henry a wonderful subject - though elderly, he is tall, handsome and dignified with a sweeping head of white hair - and the painting goes along relatively smoothly. The first third of the book is taken up with family drama and the feeling of impending doom, yes, but also with the how-to of portrait painting which I found fascinating. I'm very fond of painting minutia.

But things can't help but go from bad to worse at Ancreton. Sir Henry has installed a young chippy of a gold-digging actress, the beautiful Sonia Orrincourt, and is making plans to marry her. Needless to say, this does not go down well with the relatives several of whom are in various stages of hysteria at the mere thought.

When the very unfunny practical jokes begin early on, Troy realizes that something is seriously amiss.

"A lamp, out of sight beyond the first spiral, brought the curved wall rather stealthily to life.

Troy mounted briskly, hoping there would still be a fire in her white room. As she turned the spiral, she gathered up her long dress in her right hand and her left reached out for the narrow rail.

The rail was sticky.

She snatched her hand away with some violence and looked at it. The palm and the under surface was dark. Troy stood in the shadow of the inner wall but she now moved up into light. By the single lamp she saw that the stain on her hand was red.

Five seconds must have gone by before she realized that the stuff on her hand was paint."

By the time of the expected first murder, we know more than enough about the Ancreds' eccentricities and antagonisms to fill a volume. For me, the fun of this book lies in the family's day to day dramatics and the interaction between parties involved. Ngaio Marsh creates two very memorable characters: the achingly swishy Cedric Ancred (the expected heir) who is persistently hard up for money - adored by his mother but abhorred by the rest of the family - and Thomas Ancred who is incapable of expressing himself without his mind wandering afield. Conversation with Thomas is fatiguing, to say the least. But oh, he makes you smile.

It's fun to see how Troy and eventually, Roderick Alleyn (arriving home from the Antipodes to a murder involving his wife) deal with this frenetic and oh-so-very-British bunch. An excellent whodunit although in the end, you won't care that much about the 'why' of it.

I will say though that if, like me, you love reading about voluble theatrical families given to grand gestures, this is the book for you. A book, by the way, which would make for a terrific play.

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Art and Murder - Together Again

Actual poster issued by Senator Joseph McCarthy during The Red Scare in the 1950's.It might also have come first from Queen Victoria.

I'm crazy about art mysteries - whether the hero is an artist, a museum curator, an art collector, art historian, restorer or just some guy who wanders into an art gallery and finds a dead body.

If the mystery is well-written and set in the art world, I'll be reading it sooner rather than later. There's just something about art and murder that has always captured my fancy. (Maybe because I have an art background and have to keep from swooning when I enter a museum.)

But not everyone has heard of the art mysteries I love best, so I thought I'd list the cream of the crop and urge you to take a look. (You don't have to be an art maven like me to appreciate a good mystery no matter where it's set - right?)

1) The art historian Jonathan Argyll series by Oxford historian Iain Pears begun in 1990:

First book: THE RAPHAEL AFFAIR which introduces us to the fumbling but endearing British art historian Jonathan Argyll and his future cohorts: the gruff but genial General Bottando and his beautiful associate, Flavia di Stefano, both of the Italian National Art Theft Squad. The books mostly take place in Italy and occasionally in England. All I can say is I Love These Books! They should be read in order if possible.

THE RAPHAEL AFFAIR (1990)
THE TITIAN COMMITTEE (1991)
THE BERNINI BUST (1992)
THE LAST JUDGEMENT (1993)
GIOTTO'S HAND (1994)
DEATH AND RESTORATION (1996)
THE IMMACULATE DECEPTION (2000)

2) The Fred Taylor mysteries by American art historian Nicholas Kilmer begun in 1995:

First Book: HARMONY IN FLESH AND BLACK which introduces us to Vietnam vet Fred Taylor, a hard to define kind of guy except to say he is tough, laconic and an art expert. He is the right hand man of the very eccentric, Boston high society art collector Clayton Reed. Skulduggery is a matter of course as Clayton sends Fred out into the art world to follow up his often inspired hunches. (See my review here.)

HARMONY IN FLESH AND BLACK (1995)
MAN WITH A SQUIRREL (1996)
O SACRED HEAD (1997)
DIRTY LINEN (1999)
LAZARUS ARISE (2001)
MADONNA OF THE APES (2005)
A BUTTERFLY IN FLAME (2010)
A PARADISE FOR FOOLS (2011)

Note: The early hard covers of the first four books had simply splendid covers. While I've read the entire series, the first four books are my favorites.

3) The Chris Norgren mysteries by American writer Aaron Elkins begun in 1987:

First Book: A DECEPTIVE CLARITY which introduces us to the very likable San Francisco museum curator Chris Norgren as he heads to Berlin to help set-up The Plundered Past exhibit which will feature works of art looted by the Nazis during WWII. (See my review here.)

A DECEPTIVE CLARITY (1987)
A GLANCING LIGHT (1991)
OLD SCORES (1993)

4) Stand-Alone: THE FORGERY OF VENUS (2008) by Michael Gruber
In which the difference between art forgery and artistic art forgery is revealed - more or less. A brilliant book which makes you think about art (and maybe murder) in an eye-opening new way. Is painter Chaz Wilmot mad? You decide.

5) Stand-Alone: LOOT (1999) by Aaron Elkins
My favorite of Elkins' stand-alones and in general one of my favorite books of all time. A re-reader's delight.

A painting - Nazi loot - thought lost forever turns up in a Boston junk shop, followed by murder and the disappearance of the painting yet again.. Ben Revere, ex-art curator begins a quest for the killers which will take him on a danger filled trip to Europe. (Read my review here.)

6) Stand-Alone: TO THE HILT (1996) by Dick Francis
My first Dick Francis book, after which I read almost all his books in a great frenzy of discovery. Artist Alexander Kinloch lives an isolated existence in the Scottish Highlands where he paints allegorical paintings of golf courses. (Hey, it all makes perfect sense to me.) When thugs turn up on his doorstep and leave him for dead, he begins an idyll involving friends, family and nasty secrets which takes him to England where he will ask questions nobody wants answered. One of my favorite parts in the book is a moment in time when Alexander describes his painting process in a very luscious way. So damn intriguing.

7) Stand-Alone: IN THE FRAME (1976) by Dick Francis
Charles Todd is a well-known English artist who specializes in paintings of horses. When Todd's cousin's house is burglarized and his wife murdered, Todd becomes a suspect and so, of course, he must track down the real killer.

"Few match Francis for dangerous flights of fancy and pure, inventive menace." Boston Herald. Couldn't have said it better myself.

8) Thanks to Les Blatt for reminding me of two of my favorite art mysteries which inexplicably slipped my mind when composing this post earlier. ARTISTS IN CRIME by Ngaio Marsh - the sixth in the Roderick Allyn series by Ngaio Marsh - a dame of the golden age.

How could I forget the book in which Scotland Yard Superintendent Allyn first meets artist Agatha Troy and later marries her.

9) A CLUTCH OF CONSTABLES by Ngaio Marsh - When Allyn's artist wife Troy goes on a river cruise, murder interrupts the peaceful jaunt. Thanks again Les, for the timely reminder.

*********************

Note:  I might add the Gabriel Allon series by Daniel Silva because the hero is an art restorer - but he is also a part time Mossad agent. Though I've only read a couple of these I've always meant to read more. However, the stories in these books seem to concentrate on spying and the darker aspects of international intrigue than on any art related crimes.

First Book: THE KILL ARTIST (2000)
For the rest of the titles in the series, please use this link.

I heard that there's a book out there which features Leonardo da Vinci in a murder mystery, but I'm a little leery. Besides I can't remember the author or title.

Illustration by the legendary Brad Holland.

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Friday's Forgotten Book: SINGING IN THE SHROUDS(1958) by Ngaio Marsh

The theme for Friday is Forgotten Books, the weekly meme hosted by Patti Abbott at her blog, Pattinase. So don't forget to check in at Patti's to see what Forgotten (or Overlooked) Books other bloggers are talking about today. 

My entry is SINGING IN THE SHROUDS by Ngaio Marsh, one of her many enjoyable Inspector Roderick Allyn mysteries and one of my faves simply because it takes place on board an ocean liner. Mystery aboard a boat. What could be better? Well, mystery on a train, maybe. Or mystery in the library - but I think you know what I mean. 

Author of 32 mystery novels and considered a Grande Dame alongside her contemporary, Agatha Christie, Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand and made her mark in the theater as a long-time producer/director, before turning to writing mysteries.

I've read every Allyn mystery (mostly in one grand extravaganza a couple of years ago) and recommend most of them very highly. If you'll check out my 101 Favorite Mysteries list (link on my left side bar) you'll find some of the Marsh titles I especially loved.

SINGING IN THE SHROUDS is not the best written of Marsh's books, but that doesn't stop it being one of the most eerie and fun to read on a foggy night when you're in the mood. The search is on for a serial killer on the high seas. (Yes, even Ngaio Marsh wrote a book about a serial killer way back then.) To add to the macabre quality of his foul deeds, this fellow likes to sprinkle flowers and sing a little ditty over his victims. 

A body lies dead on the docks where the Cape Farewell, is set to sail at midnight. A clue clutched in a dead woman's hand leads Inspector Roderick Allyn to join the ship incognito as it sails for South Africa with nine passengers on board - one of whom is a killer. (Don't you love that sort of thing?)

Being a British mystery, of course everyone on board is an eccentric type of one variety or another - that's to be expected, in fact, that's what I love about these sorts of stories. I mean, it wouldn't be any fun if everyone involved were just boring and pedantic and normal.

No blood-letting or long-winded entries into the killer's thoughts to worry about here. This is, more or less, a cozy set on the high seas as Inspector Allyn must use every ounce of intelligence and detective expertise to catch a killer bound any moment to kill again.

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