Talk Back

[alyson]

Titles:
A Man Lay Dead (published 1934)
Artists in Crime (published 1938)
Overture to Death (published 1939)

My mom has always loved mysteries, and she went through a period in the 80s when Ngaio Marsh was a favorite. This year, discovering that I liked them well enough and was interested in reading them, she sent me a small box at postal book rate, stuffed compactly with Ngaio Marsh books.

I do like them, as fluffy clear-your-head reading. They're not deep, but I find it hard to turn out the light and go to sleep when I've been reading one. They bother me, though, in that Marsh always seems to find someone to include among her suspects who usually isn't the murderer but who does attract attention as being low class--by being a homewrecker, or a nymphomaniac, or a fem gay guy, or a foreigner, etc.

I like the detective and I like who he likes, and the stories are engaging, and the murderer isn't always the butler. But I look forward to Marsh books from as late as the 70's or 80's, because I'm hoping by then she'll have switched the roles, with the gallant, earnest young man and his lovely doctor's daughter sweetheart being the murderers, and the fem gay foreign guy garnering the respect of all and sundry.