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A review by lelia_t
Final Curtain by Ngaio Marsh
4.0
My favorite Marsh mysteries seem to be the ones in which Alleyn’s wife Troy plays a role, and she’s got a fairly big part in this one, being at the scene of the crime before Alleyn has even made an appearance in the book. Plus, Marsh had a lot of fun with her characters, the Ancreds, a theatrical (histrionic) family highly skilled at making an entrance. It’s the family patriarch’s suspicious exit that brings Alleyn and Fox to the family seat to investigate.
There are several things about the book that are jarring to the present-day reader - use of racial slurs and stereotypes, and the instinctive disgust most of the characters feel toward Cedric, who’s portrayed with all the stereotypical characteristics of a gay man. Marsh is not above the prejudices of her day, but while I thought her treatment of Cedric was troubling (I actually found him one of the most likable of the Ancreds), I categorized it as part of Marsh’s portrayal of all the Ancred family as self-absorbed and attention-seeking.
There are several things about the book that are jarring to the present-day reader - use of racial slurs and stereotypes, and the instinctive disgust most of the characters feel toward Cedric, who’s portrayed with all the stereotypical characteristics of a gay man. Marsh is not above the prejudices of her day, but while I thought her treatment of Cedric was troubling (I actually found him one of the most likable of the Ancreds), I categorized it as part of Marsh’s portrayal of all the Ancred family as self-absorbed and attention-seeking.