Final Curtain

Rating:
Summary: Encore!
Review: A very good big-family-run-by-hated-rich-old-patriarch mystery, complete with a gloomy old house and lots of poison. Has one of Marsh's engaging "mystery queens." While stereotypical, these characters are always amusing and witty, if nasty as well. Unlike Christie, Marsh often alluded to homosexuality in her books. Lots of Troy, which will be a plus or a minus depending on how you feel about her.

Rating:
Summary: Encore!
Review: A very good big-family-run-by-hated-rich-old-patriarch mystery, complete with a gloomy old house and lots of poison. Has one of Marsh's engaging "mystery queens." While stereotypical, these characters are always amusing and witty, if nasty as well. Unlike Christie, Marsh often alluded to homosexuality in her books. Lots of Troy, which will be a plus or a minus depending on how you feel about her.

Rating:
Summary: Encore!
Review: A very good big-family-run-by-hated-rich-old-patriarch mystery, complete with a gloomy old house and lots of poison. Has one of Marsh's engaging "mystery queens." While stereotypical, these characters are always amusing and witty, if nasty as well. Unlike Christie, Marsh often alluded to homosexuality in her books. Lots of Troy, which will be a plus or a minus depending on how you feel about her.

Rating:
Summary: From a first time Marsh reader
Review: As a fan of Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, I was disappointed with the beginnings in Final Curtain. Perhaps it is because this is the first time I read Ngaio Marsh.

Sayers and Christie were skilled in narrating upper British class society in a very comfortable and convincing manner. Marsh on the other hand, though her characters were supposed to be British, did not realistically convey her portrayal of the upper-class Ancred family from a native's perspectives. In this aspect, it was unfortunate for Marsh that she was a New Zealander and a first time reader like myself would conclude that was at least partially responsible for her characters not being genuinely British enough.

The story began with Mrs Alleyn, nee Troy, wife of Inspector Alleyn who was one of Marsh primary detective character, being commissioned to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, an aristocrat equally proud of his background in the dramatic arts.

Arriving at the manor of the baronet, Troy discovered a menagerie of Andreds, by blood and by law, in a highly tensed family situation. While tension was a familiar atmosphere in a family with most members from theatrical background, the severity increased significantly with the widowed Sir Henry being taken by third-rate actress Sonia Orrincourt, and therefore placing the inheritance of his children and grandchildren at risk.

Despite a series of practical pranks and family bombshells, Troy managed to complete the portrait, just before the subject was found dead several hours later.

No foul play was suspected at that time, and Troy resumed her life, meeting with her husband who had been away for nearly two years. For Marsh fans, this would be a significant reunion, and Marsh did not disappoint them by being economical with the details, I suspect.

Shortly after that though, the focus returned to the Ancreds whom all except Sonia received anonymous letters saying the death of Sir Henry was murdered contrived by the one who benefitted the most. Inspector Alleyn was charged with sorting through the menagerie in the Ancred household, from the widowed daughter-in-law who kept the house, to the love-struck first cousins, to the precocious granddaughter, a wide range of colourful characters who couldn't seem to stop being dramatic off stage.

The mystery itself was rather disappointing. Agatha Christie's Poirot would lament at the lack of pattern. However, a positive point to be made was Marsh did not have her detective over-analyse the suspects as Christie was sometimes prone to do.

Rating:
Summary: From a first time Marsh reader
Review: As a fan of Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, I was disappointed with the beginnings in Final Curtain. Perhaps it is because this is the first time I read Ngaio Marsh.

Sayers and Christie were skilled in narrating upper British class society in a very comfortable and convincing manner. Marsh on the other hand, though her characters were supposed to be British, did not realistically convey her portrayal of the upper-class Ancred family from a native's perspectives. In this aspect, it was unfortunate for Marsh that she was a New Zealander and a first time reader like myself would conclude that was at least partially responsible for her characters not being genuinely British enough.

The story began with Mrs Alleyn, nee Troy, wife of Inspector Alleyn who was one of Marsh primary detective character, being commissioned to paint a portrait of Sir Henry Ancred, an aristocrat equally proud of his background in the dramatic arts.

Arriving at the manor of the baronet, Troy discovered a menagerie of Andreds, by blood and by law, in a highly tensed family situation. While tension was a familiar atmosphere in a family with most members from theatrical background, the severity increased significantly with the widowed Sir Henry being taken by third-rate actress Sonia Orrincourt, and therefore placing the inheritance of his children and grandchildren at risk.

Despite a series of practical pranks and family bombshells, Troy managed to complete the portrait, just before the subject was found dead several hours later.

No foul play was suspected at that time, and Troy resumed her life, meeting with her husband who had been away for nearly two years. For Marsh fans, this would be a significant reunion, and Marsh did not disappoint them by being economical with the details, I suspect.

Shortly after that though, the focus returned to the Ancreds whom all except Sonia received anonymous letters saying the death of Sir Henry was murdered contrived by the one who benefitted the most. Inspector Alleyn was charged with sorting through the menagerie in the Ancred household, from the widowed daughter-in-law who kept the house, to the love-struck first cousins, to the precocious granddaughter, a wide range of colourful characters who couldn't seem to stop being dramatic off stage.

The mystery itself was rather disappointing. Agatha Christie's Poirot would lament at the lack of pattern. However, a positive point to be made was Marsh did not have her detective over-analyse the suspects as Christie was sometimes prone to do.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Author's Best!
Review: Perhaps it is because I love the character of Troy, Superintendent Alleyn's wife, that this book has over time become one of my favorites in the series. But as with all of Marsh's books, this entry has twists and turns that left this veteran mystery reader guessing until at least two thirds of the way through.

The first third of the book follows Troy as she accepts an assignment to paint the portrait of a famous Shakespearan actor at his family estate. The cast of characters is drawn vividly and humorously, and yet as the house party continues, an ominous tone begins to creep into the proceedings, in the best gothic manner.

Of course, as Marsh wrote these books over the course of several decades, she allows the characters to age and mature as she does. In the previous several novels, Alleyn, the main detective hero of her novels, had been away from England doing Foreign Office work during World War II. This is the first book following the war. The post WWII reunion of Troy and Alleyn is therefore a highlight. Marsh never hesitates to let the real and messy emotions of her main characters from entering into the story. To me, this is what particularly elevates this book and this series from the sterile-solve-it-by-the-numbers mysteries that can sometimes be associated with early 20th century British mystery novelists.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Author's Best!
Review: Perhaps it is because I love the character of Troy, Superintendent Alleyn's wife, that this book has over time become one of my favorites in the series. But as with all of Marsh's books, this entry has twists and turns that left this veteran mystery reader guessing until at least two thirds of the way through.

The first third of the book follows Troy as she accepts an assignment to paint the portrait of a famous Shakespearan actor at his family estate. The cast of characters is drawn vividly and humorously, and yet as the house party continues, an ominous tone begins to creep into the proceedings, in the best gothic manner.

Of course, as Marsh wrote these books over the course of several decades, she allows the characters to age and mature as she does. In the previous several novels, Alleyn, the main detective hero of her novels, had been away from England doing Foreign Office work during World War II. This is the first book following the war. The post WWII reunion of Troy and Alleyn is therefore a highlight. Marsh never hesitates to let the real and messy emotions of her main characters from entering into the story. To me, this is what particularly elevates this book and this series from the sterile-solve-it-by-the-numbers mysteries that can sometimes be associated with early 20th century British mystery novelists.

Rating:
Summary: Good portrait of a dysfunctional family
Review: Troy Alleyn is commissioned to paint a portrait of the great actor Sir Henry Ancred. Though thanks to journalist/friend Nigel Bathgate she has some idea of what's in store for her, nothing fully prepares her for the amount of in-fighting, jealousy and histrionics the Ancred family can provide. Against this backdrop, Troy is reunited with her husband, Inspector Alleyn, who has been away on CID business for a couple of years. This book is one of the more interesting novels, in that: A) You get to see the beginning of the mystery from Troy's point of view. B)Marsh really knows how to write about awkward reunions and C) You get to see something of the artist's process (not surprising, I suppose, since Marsh herself painted). Another good read by Marsh.

Rating:
Summary: Good portrait of a dysfunctional family
Review: Troy Alleyn is commissioned to paint a portrait of the great actor Sir Henry Ancred. Though thanks to journalist/friend Nigel Bathgate she has some idea of what's in store for her, nothing fully prepares her for the amount of in-fighting, jealousy and histrionics the Ancred family can provide. Against this backdrop, Troy is reunited with her husband, Inspector Alleyn, who has been away on CID business for a couple of years. This book is one of the more interesting novels, in that: A) You get to see the beginning of the mystery from Troy's point of view. B)Marsh really knows how to write about awkward reunions and C) You get to see something of the artist's process (not surprising, I suppose, since Marsh herself painted). Another good read by Marsh.

Rating:
Summary: WWII Homecoming
Review: While waiting for her husband to return from the war after too long apart, Agatha Troy accepts a commission to paint the eccentric actor Sir Henry Ancred at his family home Ancreton.

While the book has many strong points, the plot becomes exceedingly muddled at the end, and I'm not sure that Troy by herself is strong enough to carry a mystery novel on her own as a central character. Even though Alleyn appears near the end, he's not involved for long enough to provide his typical witty effect.

On the other hand, the characters here are among her most vivid-- including ringworm-ridden Panty and the smarmy Cedric. For stronger Marsh I'd recommend Artists in Crime, Death and the Dancing Footman, or Died in the Wool.