Scan barcode
A review by cleheny
Death in Ecstasy by Ngaio Marsh
3.0
Once again, Alleyn is brought into a murder because his "Watson," Nigel Bathgate, witnesses one. In this case, for no good reason, Nigel leaves his flat on a stormy night and crosses the street to go to an obscure, cultish church. There, he finagles his way into the ceremony and witnesses a murder. The church and ceremony are sufficiently outlandish--there's a mixture of pagan mythology and a ritual that implies a sexual commitment to the priest. Cara Quayne, the wealthy single woman chosen for the "bride" role, dies of cyanide poisoning, and there are at least 8 potential murderers--the other six initiates, the priest, and an acolyte handing around the wine, which was poisoned. Into this hothouse of strange religious fervor, Alleyn enters and solves the murder.
What Marsh does well, she does very well. The murder method is ingenious (though a bit convoluted), and the motive is a reasonable one. The various suspects are well-drawn, though some feel a bit incomplete. But this is the third mystery involving a somewhat implausible closed/conspiratorial society (her first and third mysteries have Russian communists and their sympathizers as a secondary plot--the first novel is a particularly weird society). The church reads like what a 1930s audience would expect a cult to be like, as opposed to how one might actually work. Also, unlike the first three Alleyn novels, the victim's character doesn't seem that important. Of course, she takes certain action that ultimately set the plot in motion, but she's a cypher. The other characters' memories of her aren't particularly vivid; she seems somewhat cool and remote. It's hard to get that worked up over her death. Also, how the red herring comes into the plot is convoluted and implausible.
What Marsh does well, she does very well. The murder method is ingenious (though a bit convoluted), and the motive is a reasonable one. The various suspects are well-drawn, though some feel a bit incomplete. But this is the third mystery involving a somewhat implausible closed/conspiratorial society (her first and third mysteries have Russian communists and their sympathizers as a secondary plot--the first novel is a particularly weird society). The church reads like what a 1930s audience would expect a cult to be like, as opposed to how one might actually work. Also, unlike the first three Alleyn novels, the victim's character doesn't seem that important. Of course, she takes certain action that ultimately set the plot in motion, but she's a cypher. The other characters' memories of her aren't particularly vivid; she seems somewhat cool and remote. It's hard to get that worked up over her death. Also, how the red herring comes into the plot is convoluted and implausible.