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timinbc's review against another edition
3.0
This was my first Marsh, or perhaps my second.
Parts of it seem dreadfully dated, don'tcha know, and others quite modern. Marsh was older than my grandmother, and I am not young; Marsh would have been 67 when this came out. "The writing style!" he ejaculated. "So many verbs that modern authors use more rarely," he exclaimed.
Annoying dogs. Gloves. The condolence notes. A Really Important Cigarette Case that made the Maltese Falcon look like a trifle. Endless references to all four. The plot might have been OK if this novella hadn't been padded to novel length by all the repetition of the above. Although the notes are a rather obvious contrivance, not far from the old switched-briefcase clunker.
Mostly annoying characters. A couple of REALLY annoying characters. I hope it was intentional.
This is balanced by a considerable amount of what we now call snark from the author. I enjoyed that part.
My Aeonian Press edition had two pairs of blank facing pages; that is, four pages that were where they should have been but had no words on them. Another page had a graphic, filling the bottom half of a page; it cut off a sentence that resumed at the top of the next page as if nothing had happened.
I'm glad I read this, and I'm glad I now know Inspector Alleyn. But I won't seek another.
Maybe I'll see how Lord Peter Wimsey has held up over time.
Parts of it seem dreadfully dated, don'tcha know, and others quite modern. Marsh was older than my grandmother, and I am not young; Marsh would have been 67 when this came out. "The writing style!" he ejaculated. "So many verbs that modern authors use more rarely," he exclaimed.
Annoying dogs. Gloves. The condolence notes. A Really Important Cigarette Case that made the Maltese Falcon look like a trifle. Endless references to all four. The plot might have been OK if this novella hadn't been padded to novel length by all the repetition of the above. Although the notes are a rather obvious contrivance, not far from the old switched-briefcase clunker.
Mostly annoying characters. A couple of REALLY annoying characters. I hope it was intentional.
This is balanced by a considerable amount of what we now call snark from the author. I enjoyed that part.
My Aeonian Press edition had two pairs of blank facing pages; that is, four pages that were where they should have been but had no words on them. Another page had a graphic, filling the bottom half of a page; it cut off a sentence that resumed at the top of the next page as if nothing had happened.
I'm glad I read this, and I'm glad I now know Inspector Alleyn. But I won't seek another.
Maybe I'll see how Lord Peter Wimsey has held up over time.
kathydavie's review against another edition
5.0
Twenty-second in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage mystery series revolving around a Scotland Yard detective. The focus is on Pyke Period's obsessions and Andrew's troubles. Originally published in 1962.
My Take
It's weird to read about Alleyn in the 1960s when the series started in the 1930s. It's also weird to read about him and the culture of the 1960s. If Marsh hadn't so selfishly died, would he have lived on to the age of cellphones and computers?
Damning with faint praise, Marsh describes the inside of Period's home in dismal tones through Nicola's first impressions. It seems Pyke is a stickler for proper manners. He's also insecure about his antecedents. Naughty boy.
Connie Cartell also seems rather desperate — she can't see anything wrong with Moppett, who treats her like dirt. Moppett is, in turn, treated like dirt by Leiss and both collude in unfavorable activities.
Ooh, Lady Bantling (who refused to give up her title when she remarried) is quite the colorful woman with her orange hair and lips and reputation for partying. Her current husband, Bimbo, brings in some dubious doings . . . that Alleyn recollects. It also appears that Bimbo is not exactly in good financial form, an issue that cleared up about a year ago, when he married Desirée.
Poor Pyke. I do agree that Harold is quite irritating. And Marsh is not clear on why Pyke takes on a housemate. And why didn't he do his due diligence on his potential tenant?
Nicola is friends with the Alleyns, and it's a friendship that undergoes a change in perspective when she's one of Alleyn's targets in the investigation. Nicola has her own encounter which opens the story up to yet more characters that add to the conflicts and fun.
We learn all this through Marsh's use of third person global subjective point-of-view from most of the main characters in Hand in Glove. Naturally, Alleyn, Nicola, and Pyke are the primary perspectives. Yep, the perspectives are not limited to only these three.
Per usual, the witnesses in this murder leave things out. And Alleyn and Fox dance with the local police in efforts at mollifying them.
It's an interesting combination of character and action with the usual round of police interviewing and speculating. It comes down to a mix-up in letters that sets off the final incident.
The Story
Mr Pyke Period has been asked to write a book on etiquette by a publisher! A request that necessitates taking on a typist, Nicola Maitland-Mayne.
A chance meeting on the train takes Nicola to an English country house party and a flamboyant dowager's treasure hunt party.
Then a man is found murdered — face down in the mire of an open drain — murder by sewer pipe.
The Characters
Chief Inspector-Detective Roderick Alleyn, a.k.a. Le Cid, is with CID at Scotland Yard. Agatha Troy is a famous painter who's picky about what commissions she accepts, the students she takes, and the people with whom she surrounds herself. She's also Roddy's wife.
His team includes Inspector Teddy Fox, a.k.a. Br'er Fox, with his talent for disappearing and schmoozing staff; Detective Sergeants Bailey and Thompson — fingerprints and photography; Sir James Curtis is the Home Office pathologist; and, Bob Williams works the vacuum cleaner.
Nicola Maitland-Mayne is the typist Pyke has hired. General Basil Maitland-Mayne, an old friend of Pyke's, is her grandfather. And Nicola has quite different memories of him than Pyke.
Percival Pyke Period, a bachelor with self-esteem issues, is famous for his letters of condolence. He's also one of Andrew's trustees. Alfred Belt is Pyke's butler. Mrs Mitchell is the cook. Harold Cartell, a.k.a. Boysie, Andrew's stepfather, guardian/trustee, retired lawyer, and Desirée's second husband, is Pyke's irritating housemate of seven months. Pixie is Cartell's inconsiderate boxer, who's in heat.
Connie Cartell is a spinster neighbor across the way and Harold's sister. Li-Chi is Cartell's indulged Pekinese. Trudi is her Austrian house-parlour maid. Miss Cartell has adopted Mary Ralston, a.k.a. Moppett, a bad'un who likes to live dangerously. Leonard Leiss is Moppett's boyfriend, a really bad'un with a record.
Andrew Bantling is in the Brigade of Guards and only six months from his inheritance. Lord Ormsbury has died in Australia. Desirée, Lady Bantling, and now Mrs Bimbo Dodds, is Ormsbury's surviving sister and lives at Bayneshole. She's also Andrew's mama. Bobo Bantling, the seventh baron, was the first of Desirée's husbands and Andrew's father. Bimbo, a.k.a. Benedict Arthur Dodds, is Desirée's current husband.
Mr Cooper runs the local taxi. George Copper owns a garage and has a car for sale.
The Little Codling PD
Sergeant Bill Raikes is investigating Leiss. Superintendent Bob Williams is investigating the murder. Dr Elekton is the divisional surgeon.
Contemporaries include Felicité Sankie-Bond and Nancy. Lady Barsington left Pyke a memento. The Grantham Gallery is for sale. The Hacienda Club has seen some suspicious doings. Mrs Nicholls is the rector's wife. The previous rector, Father Forsdyke, was rather vague about the records.
The Cover and Title
The theme color is mustard yellow for the cover's background. The top "half" is a gray to mustard gradient with the gray on the top and sides softening to the lighter yellow. The title is white to gray against the mustard yellow. In the middle is a stretched-out banner in a peachy yellow with the author's name in a yellowish brown Deco font with lines filling in and a white glow around it. The bottom "half" has rays of white scalloped lines radiating out from the bottom center with the spaces between a gradient of gray to mustard. The bottom center is a graphic of a calendar spotlighting April in colonial blue. At the very bottom is a pale yellow arch with the series info in brown.
The title is the primary clue, the Hand in Glove.
My Take
It's weird to read about Alleyn in the 1960s when the series started in the 1930s. It's also weird to read about him and the culture of the 1960s. If Marsh hadn't so selfishly died, would he have lived on to the age of cellphones and computers?
Damning with faint praise, Marsh describes the inside of Period's home in dismal tones through Nicola's first impressions. It seems Pyke is a stickler for proper manners. He's also insecure about his antecedents. Naughty boy.
Connie Cartell also seems rather desperate — she can't see anything wrong with Moppett, who treats her like dirt. Moppett is, in turn, treated like dirt by Leiss and both collude in unfavorable activities.
Ooh, Lady Bantling (who refused to give up her title when she remarried) is quite the colorful woman with her orange hair and lips and reputation for partying. Her current husband, Bimbo, brings in some dubious doings . . . that Alleyn recollects. It also appears that Bimbo is not exactly in good financial form, an issue that cleared up about a year ago, when he married Desirée.
Poor Pyke. I do agree that Harold is quite irritating. And Marsh is not clear on why Pyke takes on a housemate. And why didn't he do his due diligence on his potential tenant?
Nicola is friends with the Alleyns, and it's a friendship that undergoes a change in perspective when she's one of Alleyn's targets in the investigation. Nicola has her own encounter which opens the story up to yet more characters that add to the conflicts and fun.
We learn all this through Marsh's use of third person global subjective point-of-view from most of the main characters in Hand in Glove. Naturally, Alleyn, Nicola, and Pyke are the primary perspectives. Yep, the perspectives are not limited to only these three.
Per usual, the witnesses in this murder leave things out. And Alleyn and Fox dance with the local police in efforts at mollifying them.
It's an interesting combination of character and action with the usual round of police interviewing and speculating. It comes down to a mix-up in letters that sets off the final incident.
The Story
Mr Pyke Period has been asked to write a book on etiquette by a publisher! A request that necessitates taking on a typist, Nicola Maitland-Mayne.
A chance meeting on the train takes Nicola to an English country house party and a flamboyant dowager's treasure hunt party.
Then a man is found murdered — face down in the mire of an open drain — murder by sewer pipe.
The Characters
Chief Inspector-Detective Roderick Alleyn, a.k.a. Le Cid, is with CID at Scotland Yard. Agatha Troy is a famous painter who's picky about what commissions she accepts, the students she takes, and the people with whom she surrounds herself. She's also Roddy's wife.
His team includes Inspector Teddy Fox, a.k.a. Br'er Fox, with his talent for disappearing and schmoozing staff; Detective Sergeants Bailey and Thompson — fingerprints and photography; Sir James Curtis is the Home Office pathologist; and, Bob Williams works the vacuum cleaner.
Nicola Maitland-Mayne is the typist Pyke has hired. General Basil Maitland-Mayne, an old friend of Pyke's, is her grandfather. And Nicola has quite different memories of him than Pyke.
Percival Pyke Period, a bachelor with self-esteem issues, is famous for his letters of condolence. He's also one of Andrew's trustees. Alfred Belt is Pyke's butler. Mrs Mitchell is the cook. Harold Cartell, a.k.a. Boysie, Andrew's stepfather, guardian/trustee, retired lawyer, and Desirée's second husband, is Pyke's irritating housemate of seven months. Pixie is Cartell's inconsiderate boxer, who's in heat.
Connie Cartell is a spinster neighbor across the way and Harold's sister. Li-Chi is Cartell's indulged Pekinese. Trudi is her Austrian house-parlour maid. Miss Cartell has adopted Mary Ralston, a.k.a. Moppett, a bad'un who likes to live dangerously. Leonard Leiss is Moppett's boyfriend, a really bad'un with a record.
Andrew Bantling is in the Brigade of Guards and only six months from his inheritance. Lord Ormsbury has died in Australia. Desirée, Lady Bantling, and now Mrs Bimbo Dodds, is Ormsbury's surviving sister and lives at Bayneshole. She's also Andrew's mama. Bobo Bantling, the seventh baron, was the first of Desirée's husbands and Andrew's father. Bimbo, a.k.a. Benedict Arthur Dodds, is Desirée's current husband.
Mr Cooper runs the local taxi. George Copper owns a garage and has a car for sale.
The Little Codling PD
Sergeant Bill Raikes is investigating Leiss. Superintendent Bob Williams is investigating the murder. Dr Elekton is the divisional surgeon.
Contemporaries include Felicité Sankie-Bond and Nancy. Lady Barsington left Pyke a memento. The Grantham Gallery is for sale. The Hacienda Club has seen some suspicious doings. Mrs Nicholls is the rector's wife. The previous rector, Father Forsdyke, was rather vague about the records.
The Cover and Title
The theme color is mustard yellow for the cover's background. The top "half" is a gray to mustard gradient with the gray on the top and sides softening to the lighter yellow. The title is white to gray against the mustard yellow. In the middle is a stretched-out banner in a peachy yellow with the author's name in a yellowish brown Deco font with lines filling in and a white glow around it. The bottom "half" has rays of white scalloped lines radiating out from the bottom center with the spaces between a gradient of gray to mustard. The bottom center is a graphic of a calendar spotlighting April in colonial blue. At the very bottom is a pale yellow arch with the series info in brown.
The title is the primary clue, the Hand in Glove.
sarahmatthews's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
Hand in Glove by Ngaio Marsh
read on audio
Narrator: Marie McCarthy
Harpercollins
Pub. 1962, 251pp
___
This is a classic crime read set in a village among a group of neighbours who’re related in various ways. I knew I was going to get on well with the audiobook from the start as the narrator was instantly engaging, expressing the dialogue brilliantly.
The action centres around the home of snobbish Percival Pyke Period, an eccentric figure who’s writing his memoirs, alongside the cook Mrs Mitchell, his loyal servant Alfred and his new lodger Mr Cartell who has a rather troublesome dog, Pixie. The first chapters set up the world surrounding this household with the introduction of a cast of distinctive characters. I particularly liked Mr Cartell’s ex-wife, the Flamboyant Desiree Bantling, and this great description:
“with her incredible hair brushed up into a kind of bonfire, her carefree makeup, her eyebrows and her general air of raffishness she belonged, asMr Period mildly reflected, to Toulouse Lautrec rather than any contemporary background.”
She’s known for her amusing parties and there’s a long build up to her April Fool’s treasure hunt which is set to end in tragedy. In fact, as the murder doesn’t take place until about Chapter 14 I felt I knew everyone involved very well and of course there were plenty of strong motives for possible killers.
The central idea of a letter being sent in condolence to someone for the death of a loved one before the deceased was discovered was unique and played out well.
One thing that surprised me was the lack of period details to root the story to the 1960s. It seemed to me that it could’ve very easily been set in the 30s or 50s, though there were a few passing references like mentioning TV. I guess it stuck out as my other read for the 1962 club week was The Mirror Crack’d From Side to Side by Agatha Christie which was very much about social change.
This is my first Ngiao Marsh novel and I’ll be returning to her in future
kdtarvainen's review against another edition
5.0
A fun, classic whodunnit with all the character, clues and country houses you’d want.
anzunagi's review against another edition
3.0
This is an acceptable cozy murder mystery a la Agatha Christie. Not as good. But ok.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
4.0
April Fool's Day seems to Lady Bantling to be the perfect time to throw a scavenger hunt dinner party. Known for her outrageous parties, she goes all out, sending her guests on a village-wide hunt for rhyming clues that will lead them to the grand prize--a magnum of champagne. But the festivities come to a disagreeable end when Mr. Harold Cartell is found dead face down in a drainage ditch the next morning. A drainage ditch that was the site for one of the clues. Superintendent Alleyn and company are called in right away so the trail is fresh and the evidence (such as it is) as undisturbed as possible.
The question Alleyn will have to answer is whose hands were in the gloves that set a fatal booby for the disagreeable elderly lawyer Mr. Cartell? Leading up to the fateful night, there are all sorts of relationship troubles. The sweet but snobbish bachelor Mr. Pyke Period has been forced by post-war circumstances to share his lodgings with the prickly Mr. Cartell. It causes all sorts of domestic upheavals from unexpected (dare I say unwanted) extra guests at meal times to the outrageous antics of Cartell's disagreeable dog Pixie to Cartell's indelicate references to Period's claims of ancestry. But has Mr. Period's life been disrupted enough to cause him feel murderous towards his housemate?
Then there's Cartell's relationship to his sister Connie--a childless woman who has taken an unaccountable fancy to a "poor orphan girl" (of 20 or so, mind you) and is willing to turn a blind eye to anything Moppet (what a nickname) and her disreputable boyfriend might get up to. When it becomes apparent that Leonard (said boyfriend) is a thief and a man out to con a local garage man out of a fancy car, Cartell lowers the boom. Connie must disentangle Moppet from her boyfriend or Moppet and Leonard will face the police. Would Connie kill her brother over a girl who's no relation? Would Moppet and/or Leonard kill to prevent a more minor run-in with the police?
We mustn't forget Lady Desiree Bantling and her delightful (key sarcasm font) third husband Bimbo (who is not Lord Bantling). Bimbo was mixed up in some unsavory doings at a club in London. Would he kill over that ancient history? Or are there more recent doings to cover up? Nor should we overlook Lady Bantling's son, Andrew. Cartell and Period are the trustees of Lord Bantling's will and Andrew has had a fairly heated argument with the lawyer over his future plans. Andrew paints (rather well according to Troy Alleyn who should know) and wants an advance on his trust funds to start his own gallery. Cartell refuses to consider such "nonsense" and insists that the young man stay in the Guards and stick to a proper job. Would Andrew kill for his dreams or would his mother kill to help her son?
Warning: A few spoilery bits in my observations below....
And...while I enjoy Andrew and Nicola (temporary typist for P.P.) and their blooming romance...wouldn't it have been interesting if just once Dame Ngaio had made one of her charming young lovers (or both in cahoots) the guilty party? It's a sure bet that if you've got a pair of young things making eyes at each other in a sweet way (not the antics of Moppet & Leonard!), then neither of them did it. ★★★ and 3/4.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any review content. Thanks.
The question Alleyn will have to answer is whose hands were in the gloves that set a fatal booby for the disagreeable elderly lawyer Mr. Cartell? Leading up to the fateful night, there are all sorts of relationship troubles. The sweet but snobbish bachelor Mr. Pyke Period has been forced by post-war circumstances to share his lodgings with the prickly Mr. Cartell. It causes all sorts of domestic upheavals from unexpected (dare I say unwanted) extra guests at meal times to the outrageous antics of Cartell's disagreeable dog Pixie to Cartell's indelicate references to Period's claims of ancestry. But has Mr. Period's life been disrupted enough to cause him feel murderous towards his housemate?
Then there's Cartell's relationship to his sister Connie--a childless woman who has taken an unaccountable fancy to a "poor orphan girl" (of 20 or so, mind you) and is willing to turn a blind eye to anything Moppet (what a nickname) and her disreputable boyfriend might get up to. When it becomes apparent that Leonard (said boyfriend) is a thief and a man out to con a local garage man out of a fancy car, Cartell lowers the boom. Connie must disentangle Moppet from her boyfriend or Moppet and Leonard will face the police. Would Connie kill her brother over a girl who's no relation? Would Moppet and/or Leonard kill to prevent a more minor run-in with the police?
We mustn't forget Lady Desiree Bantling and her delightful (key sarcasm font) third husband Bimbo (who is not Lord Bantling). Bimbo was mixed up in some unsavory doings at a club in London. Would he kill over that ancient history? Or are there more recent doings to cover up? Nor should we overlook Lady Bantling's son, Andrew. Cartell and Period are the trustees of Lord Bantling's will and Andrew has had a fairly heated argument with the lawyer over his future plans. Andrew paints (rather well according to Troy Alleyn who should know) and wants an advance on his trust funds to start his own gallery. Cartell refuses to consider such "nonsense" and insists that the young man stay in the Guards and stick to a proper job. Would Andrew kill for his dreams or would his mother kill to help her son?
Warning: A few spoilery bits in my observations below....
Spoiler
Marsh's characters in this one are a little more intensely eccentric than usual. P.P. (as he's known) is definitely larger than life as a man snobbishly aware of breeding. And Connie's snorting laugh is a little much (but definitely better on paper than when heard--as in the filmed version with Patrick Malahide as Alleyn--more on that in a bit). But--even with characters that take a bit of believing in at times, this is still a quite enjoyable mystery with a good dose of comedic turns. One might question the motive of the killer, but the theme of twisted love/devotion is a popular one (Sayers addressed it Gaudy Night). Becoming obsessed with the love object, whether a lover or a child, does strange things to people.And...while I enjoy Andrew and Nicola (temporary typist for P.P.) and their blooming romance...wouldn't it have been interesting if just once Dame Ngaio had made one of her charming young lovers (or both in cahoots) the guilty party? It's a sure bet that if you've got a pair of young things making eyes at each other in a sweet way (not the antics of Moppet & Leonard!), then neither of them did it.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any review content. Thanks.
verityw's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't adore this, but I still liked a lot about it. A tricky mystery with lots of false leads and misdirection. Roderick Alleyn is so much fun.
missn80's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
kpeninger's review against another edition
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
I thought this was pretty good, especially for the later books, although I thought the murderer was a tad obvious. But it was enjoyable, and that's all I ask!