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Of course, the dear friends are also rivals for the rector's regard--each woman imagining herself to be the front-runner in the "rector's wife" stakes. When Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives on the scene to decide who gave Miss Campanula such a dramatic death scene, he finds that he must first discover if the murderer has cast the right woman as victim.

For until about twenty minutes or so before curtain time, everyone assumed that Miss Prentice would be playing her standard piece as the opening. She is prevented from doing so by an infected finger and only agrees to give up her martyr's determination to play no matter how much it hurt after the rector convinces her.

There seems to have been no time for the gun to have been rigged up in the piano after the change in pianists took place--so was Miss Prentice the intended victim?


  • Captain Banjo and his Merry Band of Marauding Pirate Goats.
  • Overture To Death by Ngaio Marsh.
  • Sexual Misconduct and the Future of Mega-Churches: How Large Religious Organizations Go Astray.
  • Ngaio Marsh Collection | Awards | LibraryThing.
  • The Ngaio Marsh Collection (III) - Vintage Murder / Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh.

And what was the motive? Do people really kill just because someone is a meddling, gossipy busybody? This was an enjoyable entry in the Alleyn case files. A cast of interesting characters from repressed village spinsters and the handsome cleric to the county squire and the young lovers whose parents are forbidding the match to the doctor and his adulterous love interest, the attractive widow; a clever murder method; a heaping helping of red herrings some provided courtesy of the young scamp George Biggins; and plenty of humor and excellent dialogue. Alleyn does an amusing turn as Holmes and we blessedly see little of Nigel Bathgate I am getting a bit tired of Mr.

Great fun even though I remembered who the culprit is. Please request permission before reposting. Nov 20, FangirlNation rated it it was amazing. The local church really needs a new piano, so a group of eight local citizens gets together to raise money for a new piano by putting on a play. Eleanor Prentice lives with her brother-in-law, the someone dense Squire Jocelyn Journingham, and his son, Henry, who is in love with Dinah Copeland, daughter of the rector and a young lady trying to make her way on the London stage.

The final pair consists of Dr. Celia Ross, a new resident of Chipping with a suspicious background and with whom it seems apparent that Dr. Template, the husband of an invalid, has been having an affair. Read the rest of this review and other fun, geeky articles at Fangirl Nation Nov 24, Bill rated it really liked it Shelves: I do love the Roderick Alleyn mysteries. I've read the first 8 so far, with Overture to Death by Ngaio Marsh being the 8th one, plus a couple of others further down the line. They do seem to get better and better.

The mysteries are always interesting. In this story, an unpopular woman is murdered in a most interesting way. Was she the target or another? Alleyn and his team, the steady, constant Inspector Fox and his friend, news reporter Nigel Bathgate, accompany Alleyn to Pen Cuckoo at the behe I do love the Roderick Alleyn mysteries. Alleyn and his team, the steady, constant Inspector Fox and his friend, news reporter Nigel Bathgate, accompany Alleyn to Pen Cuckoo at the behest of the local authorities as they are busy trying to sort out a series of robberies.

I love the investigation, the interviews with the various characters. I also like how Marsh develops the story, leading up the murder before even bringing Alleyn into the picture, about half way through the story. There is nice humour, there are lovely touches I'm thinking of late in the story when Alleyn writes a letter to his beloved, Troy. The whole story is a joy to read and hard to put down. Excellent series and excellent story. Very enjoyable even knowing the solution.

The Ngaio Marsh Collection (III) - Vintage Murder / Overture to Death

I could appreciate how well Marsh gives the reader a the clues without making it obvious. Just as amateur pianist Miss Campanula strikes the third chord of the overture to a new village play, a shot rings out and she slumps dead across the keys. Closer examination reveals the piano was boobytrapped: But who could have wanted Miss Campanula dead?

Just to complicate matters, was Miss Campanula really the intend Just as amateur pianist Miss Campanula strikes the third chord of the overture to a new village play, a shot rings out and she slumps dead across the keys. Just to complicate matters, was Miss Campanula really the intended victim? After all, until mere minutes before, Miss Campanula's bosom friend and bitter rival, Miss Prentice, was the designated pianist; it was only thanks to the influence of the vicar that Miss Prentice abruptly conceded the honor because of a septic finger.

Enter Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn and his trusty sidekick, Inspector Fox, drafted in from the Yard because the local rozzers are tied up handling the latest exploit of a serial burglar gang. The cast of suspects seems easily whittlable down to the seven people involved in the presentation of the play -- eight, if you count Miss Campanula herself, who might feasibly have chosen to boobytrap her piano as a particularly macabre means of suicide.

Slowly and painstakingly, Alleyn and his team tease out the truth. After reading Marsh's romp Spinsters in Jeopardy , it was refreshing, even although I enjoyed that book a great deal, to turn to one of her more traditionally formed mystery stories.

Most of the book is taken up with Alleyn's investigation, which might have become a tad longwinded had it not been for Marsh's prose, laced as it is with numerous of her trademark good jokes and shrewd observations of village life and human foibles. The revelation of the murderer came as no great surprise -- not because it was obvious whodunnit but simply because, by the novel's latter stages, any one of several of the suspects could have been revealed as the guilty party without my raising an eyebrow.

Leaving that aside, the denouement was perfectly satisfying -- as it should be in a good Golden Age 'tec. I know some people have difficulty with Ngaio Marsh's fiction as a whole, but I'm not one of them. This isn't a particularly outstanding example of her work -- more like beans on toast than smoked salmon -- but it did for me exactly what it set out to do: Jul 17, Orinoco Womble tidy bag and all rated it liked it Shelves: At first I thought, oh yum, village theatricals!

Always a hotbed of discontent, of course you expect everyone to have their knives into everyone else, but shooting someone in the head is a little extreme!

33 comments

Unfortunately, Marsh was soon riding her psychological hobbyhorse round and round, and trust me--the old grey mare just ain't what she used to be. I get miffed when "lady writers" sell out their own sex by blaming everything from obsessive housecleaning to--well, murderous impulses--on thwarted At first I thought, oh yum, village theatricals! I get miffed when "lady writers" sell out their own sex by blaming everything from obsessive housecleaning to--well, murderous impulses--on thwarted sexuality.

And yet they all do it. Christie, Sayers, Mitchell, and now Marsh, who goes so far as to repeatedly use the term "hysteria" in its Victorian sense. Then there's the "man's woman", by which Marsh means the sultry temptress who chases anything in pants with her husky voice and seductive glances. That cost it a star. The other star was removed because of the tell-not-show recap in the last chapter.

If you've written well, it's not necessary--readers are not stupid. I was also heartily sick of Nigel Bathgate in this volume, and I got the feeling Alleyn was, too. I missed his mum, though. Jun 01, Sophie Hannah rated it liked it. Well written, engaging, very detailed It seemed quite repetitive and longer than it needed to be. An enjoyable Golden Age mystery, but lacking that touch of magic that you get with Agatha Christie. Somehow not quite gripping enough.

Jun 19, Subashini rated it it was ok. Those familiar with Ngaio Marsh and her Roderick Alleyn novels know that her writing style isn't the frenzied roller-coaster ride so popular today.

Inspector Appleby Mysteries - Appleby's End

She takes her time letting you know her characters and slyly sending up the upper classes of her day. However, in Overture to Death , four or five chapters slip by simply exploring the petty machinations of two village harpies: The endless focus of these parodies of the malicious spinste Those familiar with Ngaio Marsh and her Roderick Alleyn novels know that her writing style isn't the frenzied roller-coaster ride so popular today.

The endless focus of these parodies of the malicious spinster droned on so long that I nodded off several time. While sometimes humorous, a lot less of Eleanor Prentice and Idris Campanula would have gone a long way in helping speed the pace a bit. Once past the lengthy exposition and when the overbearing Miss Campanula gets what's coming to her and Alleyn comes on the scene, however, the novel picks up quite a bit.

I recommend the book to Marsh fans like myself; however, those who make Overture to Death their first taste of Marsh are unlikely to be back for seconds. May 27, Patricia Vocat rated it liked it. Overture to Death has all what I look for in a Mystery novel: It is very atmospheric, very British, steeped in the time period it is set in, oh, and possibly a little stereotypical.

There is a play to be performed to raise money for a new piano. The old piano is played when one of the ladies dies while playing the No one can write a caustic old parish busy-body quite like Marsh. They appear throughout her books, but in this one we have two of the best. Eleanor Prentice and Idris Campanula spend their days A case of sinister infatuation for the brilliant Chief Detective-Inspector Alleyn. The Meet at Pen Cuckoo. I think Marsh always does an excellent job of combining a novel about people with a fair play puzzle plot.

Most of her books have a strong setup, memorable victim and murder. In Overture, the murderer surprised me; the clues are excellent; and the plot is really well worked out. And it has a splendid murder method death by piano and several good characters. I just don;t see myself getting past what appears to be the default marsh scenario — quite interesting until Alleyn arrives, and then it just stops dead and not in a good way — I admire your perseverance chum! Thanks, Sergio, I was getting worried that it was just me.

Very good, solid bit of GAD detection — hope you like it. But others have no problems. The issue here is that nothing is revealed in the second half that advances the plot and most readers will have already spotted the murderer and just want Alleyn to catch up. I attempted some Ngaio Marsh but found it so awful that I gave up. You have spoken of the 4 Queens of Crime but one of them is so far ahead of others that it would be more appropriate to talk about The Queen Of Crime!

How the heck are you supposed to pronounce it? I refuse to read writers whose name I cannot pronounce.

Overture to Death (Roderick Alleyn, #8) by Ngaio Marsh

Marsh often took here time to get to the murder. I find it curious that she never tried writing some non-detective fiction. Especially her books about with theatrical settings seems to be about the theater and the actors as much as about the murder. Even Christie wrote romantic fiction and perhaps that is a genre Marsh should have tried as well.

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Especially as the build tends to be more interesting. That is probably true, though if Marsh wrote under her own name she would probably still get some readers for non-detective fiction since they presumably read her in large degree for the non-murder parts. I wonder whether it would have sold if it was presented simply as a novel about a theatrical production.

For me, she is quite clearly no. Sayers is boring especially her later books where she is casting longing glances at Lord Peter and Allingham unfortunately seems never to be able to decide whether she is a GA writer, a thriller writer or a writer of comedies of manner. Both have written good stuff, but to me Marsh is much more consistent.