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verityw's review against another edition
4.0
Another good golden age murder mystery - and one which left me guessing who done it for quite a long time. Interesting cast of characters and clever misdirection.
readmore's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
saralouisemarsbar's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
4.5
missn80's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
dan78's review against another edition
4.0
I loved this book!
A country house, a weekend party filled with guests who really hate each other, a snow storm that traps them all together and a serious of attempts on various guests lives!
That plus a murder and Inspector Alleyn what's not to love and what else more do you need?
Well!! There is also the references to the "boomps-a-daisy" dance that made me laugh! That along with a Footman who is caught doing the dance whilst the murder is taking place...
A perfect read if you want a Country house mystery!
A country house, a weekend party filled with guests who really hate each other, a snow storm that traps them all together and a serious of attempts on various guests lives!
That plus a murder and Inspector Alleyn what's not to love and what else more do you need?
Well!! There is also the references to the "boomps-a-daisy" dance that made me laugh! That along with a Footman who is caught doing the dance whilst the murder is taking place...
A perfect read if you want a Country house mystery!
ssejig's review against another edition
3.0
I can't find the spelling for the characters so some of the names may be a bit off.
A house party has been carefully assembled. The host, Jonathon Royal, has "plotted" to bring together a group of people with who to make a "flesh and blood" art project He wants to confine a group of people in his house to see how drama might unfold. To that end, he has invited seven characters with an "emotional, intellectual tension and antagonism."
He explains to his "audience," Audrey Mandrake, a playwright, who all of the characters in this macabre play are to be. A mother, Mrs. Sandra Compline, with two sons, William (32, soldier) and Nicholas (29). She clearly favors the second, more handsome Nicholas, who is to be cut completely out of his inheritance by the rules of entail. William is engaged to Nick's ex-fiancee, Miss Cloris Wynn (also invited, hated by Sandra). Also, the Nick's inamorata, the reason for his breakup with Cloris, Madame Lissa, who has also come under the gimlet eye of our host's aunt, Lady Hersey Amblington when she opens a beauty salon which takes away the brilliant and brightest customers from the aunt's. The last guest? Dr. Francis Hart, the man who not only leaves Madame Lissa's flat "at a most scandalous hour" but who is also a beauty specialist. In fact, the one who botched Sandra's plastic surgery twenty years ago.
The first morning of the house party, Audrey is pushed into the swimming pool and almost drowns. Having been wearing a cloak that Nicholas, Jonathon, and Francis all own identical versions of, it is hard to say who the intended victim really was.
Then a trap is set up for Nicholas, but it ends up William who dies. His mother takes an overdose and lies on the edge of death. Who has planned all this? And who perpetrated such a horrible murder? It all hangs on the footman who dances along to "Bootsy, Baby" in the corridor.
A house party has been carefully assembled. The host, Jonathon Royal, has "plotted" to bring together a group of people with who to make a "flesh and blood" art project He wants to confine a group of people in his house to see how drama might unfold. To that end, he has invited seven characters with an "emotional, intellectual tension and antagonism."
He explains to his "audience," Audrey Mandrake, a playwright, who all of the characters in this macabre play are to be. A mother, Mrs. Sandra Compline, with two sons, William (32, soldier) and Nicholas (29). She clearly favors the second, more handsome Nicholas, who is to be cut completely out of his inheritance by the rules of entail. William is engaged to Nick's ex-fiancee, Miss Cloris Wynn (also invited, hated by Sandra). Also, the Nick's inamorata, the reason for his breakup with Cloris, Madame Lissa, who has also come under the gimlet eye of our host's aunt, Lady Hersey Amblington when she opens a beauty salon which takes away the brilliant and brightest customers from the aunt's. The last guest? Dr. Francis Hart, the man who not only leaves Madame Lissa's flat "at a most scandalous hour" but who is also a beauty specialist. In fact, the one who botched Sandra's plastic surgery twenty years ago.
The first morning of the house party, Audrey is pushed into the swimming pool and almost drowns. Having been wearing a cloak that Nicholas, Jonathon, and Francis all own identical versions of, it is hard to say who the intended victim really was.
Then a trap is set up for Nicholas, but it ends up William who dies. His mother takes an overdose and lies on the edge of death. Who has planned all this? And who perpetrated such a horrible murder? It all hangs on the footman who dances along to "Bootsy, Baby" in the corridor.
thecommonswings's review against another edition
5.0
I really wasn’t expecting much from this, and honestly it took until the crime happened for it really take hold for me, but I suspect that was always the plan. The central idea - the host of a country house party invites six people who in some way or other all viscerally hate each other just so he can see what happens and provide his rather gauche surrealist playwright friend with some new material - is great, but at first it’s all laid on a bit thick. Especially when the great alibi breaker is a moment that John Dickson Carr would have made a grotesque one, but Marsh instead makes *genuinely* surreal (as opposed to Mandrake’s rather forced efforts): the titular footman is so carried away by hearing Roll Out the Barrel he does a little dance. It’s a beautifully strange moment and almost completely transforms the novel
Because what we get next is like some sort of fever dream of a book: relationships implode and are remoulded; unexpected characters breakdown in varying levels of weirdness; and Mandrake, our sort of narrator, has an almost existential rebuilding of his self. It all culminates in a series of claustrophobic harried meetings with the suspects, and in the case of Mandrake and Chloris this happens during a huge thaw, which also mirrors what’s happening to the personalities of both characters
So when we finally get to Alleyn, about 2/3 of the way through the book, his role is less detective and more a calming influence on this wildly splintered characters. All that was broken begins to coalesce in new and surprising forms. That Alleyn’s sidekicks turn up with about two chapters to go must be, for regular readers of the author, been a kind of final sense of normality in the chaos: the end is now inevitable. Weirdly, and by god maybe it’s Mandrake who’s making me think like this, it reminds me of how long it took David Lynch to give us Dale Cooper in the third series of Twin Peaks. I’m not saying Marsh was thinking like that, and it certainly doesn’t head into wild despair for the final chapter, but there’s a sense of “FINALLY” about it which is one of the most tangible moments of pending justice in crime fiction I can remember. In this way it reminds me a lot of Kitchin’s Death of My Aunt
The solution is a bit convoluted, but the villain is suitably demented. There’s a real sense of dread in the last couple of chapters, of impending doom and it’s delivered in the unmasking of the villain. And it’s cleverly exactly who you thought would be either the victim or murderer when you first met them. Marsh absolutely harnesses that feeling and uses it as a way to bend the reader into wildly surprising new shapes. I’m not sure if I’m reading more into this than anyone else, and I probably am, but quietly this is one of the greatest golden age crime novels I can remember. Hugely impressed and hugely impressive
Because what we get next is like some sort of fever dream of a book: relationships implode and are remoulded; unexpected characters breakdown in varying levels of weirdness; and Mandrake, our sort of narrator, has an almost existential rebuilding of his self. It all culminates in a series of claustrophobic harried meetings with the suspects, and in the case of Mandrake and Chloris this happens during a huge thaw, which also mirrors what’s happening to the personalities of both characters
So when we finally get to Alleyn, about 2/3 of the way through the book, his role is less detective and more a calming influence on this wildly splintered characters. All that was broken begins to coalesce in new and surprising forms. That Alleyn’s sidekicks turn up with about two chapters to go must be, for regular readers of the author, been a kind of final sense of normality in the chaos: the end is now inevitable. Weirdly, and by god maybe it’s Mandrake who’s making me think like this, it reminds me of how long it took David Lynch to give us Dale Cooper in the third series of Twin Peaks. I’m not saying Marsh was thinking like that, and it certainly doesn’t head into wild despair for the final chapter, but there’s a sense of “FINALLY” about it which is one of the most tangible moments of pending justice in crime fiction I can remember. In this way it reminds me a lot of Kitchin’s Death of My Aunt
The solution is a bit convoluted, but the villain is suitably demented. There’s a real sense of dread in the last couple of chapters, of impending doom and it’s delivered in the unmasking of the villain. And it’s cleverly exactly who you thought would be either the victim or murderer when you first met them. Marsh absolutely harnesses that feeling and uses it as a way to bend the reader into wildly surprising new shapes. I’m not sure if I’m reading more into this than anyone else, and I probably am, but quietly this is one of the greatest golden age crime novels I can remember. Hugely impressed and hugely impressive
scorpionturtle's review against another edition
1.0
This has been the book I've disliked the most so far of the series. It really made no sense. Everyone was ridiculous and I kind of wished they would all die. I only finished it as part of the reading challenge and I have to admit I skipped words as I went. The whodid was so very clear and the characters were written such scorn by the writer and the set up so ridiculous not mention that it had already been done by Christie and other writers that it was such a slog. It's really hard to know if Marsh actually liked writing mysteries or just saw it as a profitable business. With Christie, Allingham and Sayles I feel a connection between the author and their characters and they seem to have sympathy for them and give them some depth. I often don't find that with Marsh.
clockless's review against another edition
3.0
The real flaw of the book is that the mystery, which isn't all that difficult, hinges on some very particular items and a specific, detailed room arrangement. In fact, the book is replete with explanations of room layouts, building plans, and character seating arrangements, not all of which figure into the crime, but doesn't have a single map. The maps are my favorite part of mysteries. There's actually quite a lot to like about it, particularly in the setup (and it's 90% setup), but it doesn't have much of a payoff.
nathuffman97's review against another edition
4.0
I thought this was one of the best Marsh books that I've read so far. A good cast of characters that all have complicated relationships with each other and different reasons for possibly wanting the others dead. And I really like snowed-in mysteries. Marsh also does a good job of the suspense before Alleyn finally gets called in; you start to feel that anything could go wrong in this shut up house with all these people who hate each other.