Artists in Crime

by Ngaio Marsh

Paper Book, 1938

Status

Available

Call number

823.912

Publication

New York, L. Furman, inc., 1938.

Description

When murder upsets the creative tranquillity of an artists' colony, Scotland Yard sends in its most famous investigator. And what begins as a routine case turns out to be the most momentous of Roderick Alleyn's career. For before he can corner the killer, his heart is captured by one of the suspects-the flashing-eyed painter Agatha Troy, who has nothing but scorn for the art of detection.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Clare_M

Listened to the audiobook read by Benedict Cumberbatch. Very well read (love how he does different, consistent voices for each character) and greatly enjoyed the story. Lovely old fashioned "who done it" that doesn't make the killer obvious, yet does give you clues in context as you go along.

19 more

LibraryThing member Smiler69

My first Ngaio Marsh experience overall went well. It's they 6th of the Roderick Alleyn series and I liked the Scotland Yard inspector quite well. He meets artist Agatha Troy (called Troy), makes what seems like a knowledgeable comment on the painting she got underway, and becomes quite taken by

her. Unfortunately for the would-be couple, not very long after, he's called in for a murder that's taken place at her home, which she runs as an artist colony. The studio model has died following a stabbing that occurred when she was taking the awkward pose that was required of her. It seems the knife was inserted through the base of the podium at precisely the right spot to enter her heart. All the artists present are suspects, especially since, artists being artist, there is plenty of drama and strife in the air, and more than a little sexual tension too. I did find certain parts dragged on a little, which was too bad, especially since I had mistakenly gotten the abridged version of this novel on audio. Still, I enjoyed Marsh's approach, which seemed to me a little bit darker and more gritty than Agatha Christie's. I'll be revisiting her and Alleyn in future.

Show Less

LibraryThing member MrsLee

Nice little mystery. I'm not sure whether this author is more fair than others, but I always seem able to spot the murderers in her books. I should be glad about that, but somehow it's dissatisfying. However, the characters are likeable enough that it doesn't matter. Especially like the artist and

the detective.

Show Less

LibraryThing member libraryman_76021

So here is another fine example of the quintessential classic mystery. This one describes the initial meeting of Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn of New Scotland Yard and artist Agatha Troy, followed by their second meeting when he is assigned to investigate a murder in her home/studio. I

love this book! I love the way we watch Alleyn try and maintain his professional decorum and solve the murder while falling head over heels for Troy. And we get treated to Alleyn's usual cohorts: the indefatigable Inspector Fox, fingerprint expert Detective-Sergeant Bailey, photographer Detective-Sergeant Thompson, and, of course, reporter Nigel Bathgate. Plus we get to meet Alleyn's mother! Ahh, such sweet bliss!!

Show Less

LibraryThing member Stewartry

If I ever finish my book, and manage to have an audio edition, I want Benedict Cumberbatch reading it. Even with all the other readers I've come across whose voices I've fallen for, BC is a little bit spectacular. And I'm not even a "Cumberbitch". This is an abridged version of the novel, which

normally I feel is an abomination, but for Cumberbatch's narration? I'm in.

This was the book I heard a clip of on Tumblr, the moment when Cumberbatch "does" the voice of an American woman with a heavy Southern accent who flirts heavily with Rory Alleyn, Our Hero. It was completely ridiculous – and I pretty much headed straight to Audible to buy it. I've come to be fans of several audiobook readers, but the acting chops BC brings to the job are just marvelous. On a page, this would probably be a solid four-star read; the fifth star is all Cumberbatch.

As for the book itself: it's one I read long ago, and not since, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. This is where Marsh's detective hero meets his artist lady love, and where she is brought back into his life when a model she has employed for a workshop is murdered. This is an abridged edition, but it's well done; it's coherent and lean. I loathe abridgements, but … Cumberbatch. It's pure fun.

Show Less

LibraryThing member MusicMom41

This is the book where Alleyn meets Agatha Troy. Marsh is most often compared to Agatha Christie when talking of women mystery authors of the 1930’s to about the 1980’s. The biggest similarity between them is the number of books each wrote and how long each career lasted. I have another author

that I think Marsh should be compared with—and I’m sure there are others who would agree wit me. Consider her set up and style: All of her mysteries feature the same detective, Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn, who is the bachelor younger son of an aristocratic family with an older brother who has the title and seems a little stuffy and a charming mother who rather dotes on him without smothering him. He is attractive to the opposite sex (Alleyn is actually handsome—but there have to be some differences!). He has a boon companion who helps him with the practical details of the case and acts as a sounding board for Alleyn’s creative ideas, but does not valet for him since he is also a Detective Inspector. In this novel he encounters by chance a talented artist to whom he is attracted but who seems gruff because he accidentally interrupted her work. He is unsure of how she reacts to him. Later he meets her again when he must investigate a murder that takes place in her studio during a class she is teaching. There is even loyal journalist who tags along. This book was published in 1935, by which time Dorothy Sayers had already published all but 2 of her Lord Peter Wimsey series, including the first 2 Harriet Vane novels.

Show Less

LibraryThing member mmyoung

One of the Marsh's where I figured out "whodunit" long before the end. I also felt that the relationship between Alleyn and Troy was a dim shadow of the great Harriet/Peter relationship in Sayers.

LibraryThing member Matke

A breezy story set in an artists' studio school in 1930's England, this entry by Marsh has been compared by many to Sayers' work. Well, superficially this would be a true comparison. However, Marsh has, I think, a much more down-to-earth Style, and Alleyn, while a bit too perfectly polite, is never

the buffoonish (or alternatively the too-perfect, well-versed in every possible literate subject) sort that Wimsey often proves to be.

The mystery itself is engaging enough, the murderer is finely drawn, there are very clear clues, and the setting is different enough to hold one's attention. A very nice book for the fan of mysteries or a reader who needs something old-fashioned, amusing, and soothing.

Show Less

LibraryThing member elwyne

Classic Ngaio Marsh. Good mystery with a decent twist. I love the main characters.

LibraryThing member JulesJones

Abridged on three CDs, and narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch. Sixth in the inspector Alleyn series, and the one which he meets his future wife Agatha Troy. The first meeting is on board a cruise ship, and does not go entirely well. Which makes life all the more difficult for Alleyn on a second

meeting, when he is called to a murder investigation at an artists' summer school run by Troy. The method of the murder is signalled to the reader well in advance, which only makes it all the more flinch inducing when it finally occurs. But while the method is clear, there is an abundance of motives. Alleyn has to carry out the usual invasion of people's privacy while dealing with is growing feelings for Troy.

It's an enjoyable period police procedural which has been competently abridged for audio. Of course, the real attraction for many listeners nowadays will be the narration by Benedict Cumberbatch, who does an excellent job.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Condorena

Aside from the excessive who was where when I enjoyed this mystery because It is in this story that Insp. Alleyn mets his romantic interest Troy.

LibraryThing member leslie.98

October 2017 reread via Hoopla audio:
Nadia May does a marvelous narration of this entry in the Alleyn series. I have a fondness for this one, in which Alleyn first meets Agatha Troy.

LibraryThing member TomChicago

very light touch, clever, and the characters are sturdy and attractive. Some dated references to "negroes", though, as if the author felt blacks were some sort of alien species.

LibraryThing member Auntie-Nanuuq

What tripe, I was finally happy to get a book by Marsh (as I had heard so many good things about her writing) but if this is an example of her work, it is the last one I'll pick-up.

Inspector Alleyn is on a cruise of the South Pacific when attempting to escape the clutches of an amorous seductress

he comes across Agatha Troy, a very well known artist & chats her up a bit.

However later (in the next chapter) there is a set of dreadfully written letters to & from Agatha Troy and a second set of equally dreadful letters to & from Alleyn and his "Mamma"

Then suddenly we are in England in the Agatha Troys studio w/ a group of unlikable student artists & a model w/ an attitude. The model is snarky, whiny & refuses to hold a pose, that is being used by one of the student artists for an illustration that will be used in a murder mystery....

And the model is found dead, impaled upon a dagger hidden in the folds of the drapery she reclined upon while posing for the illustration.....

Oh who did it? Oh who cares?

Show Less

LibraryThing member wdwilson3

A period piece, very mannered, almost totally dialogue.

LibraryThing member EmpressReece

Detective Inspector Roderick Allen Series Book #6 - 4.5 stars

I normally have to read a series in order because it goes completely against my nature to skip around. After reading book one though, I was on the fence on whether or not to continue the series because, even though I enjoyed the mystery

itself, the dialogue and British narrative was quite choppy and all over the place so I had a hard time following a long in certain parts.

I owe Themis-Athena's Garden of Books a huge thank you for recommending that I skip ahead to book 6, Artists in Crime. I followed Themis's advice and I'm really glad I did because I enjoyed this story immensely. The writing is so much more polished in this book. The British narrative is more refined and easier to follow, the plot was well-developed and the mystery was complex enough that I didn't guess the murderer until it was pretty much handed to me on a silver platter. Overall you can just tell that the author's skill has evolved since her debut.

There are a whopping 32 books in this series so I can't say if I will go back and read books 2-5 anytime I soon but I definitely plan to continue reading the series from book 7.

Show Less

LibraryThing member Figgles

In Dorothy Sayer's "Gaudy Night" Harriet Vane, a detective novelist, is struggling with the plot of her latest book "Death twixt wind and water". She discusses it with Peter Wimsey who suggests she leaves off writing a purely puzzle book and gives her characters real human emotions and motivations.

I suspect that "Artists in Crime" may be Ngaio Marsh's equivalent. Although the murder itself is bizarre, in allowing Alleyn to fall properly in love she finally shows him as a fully rounded human being with real emotions behind the facetious facade and the book is all the better for it. I also love the introduction of Troy, and Marsh's real feel for the art milieu in which the book is set. Beautiful descriptions too. Her first fully realised book.

Show Less

LibraryThing member leslie.98

Nadia May does a marvelous narration of this entry in the Alleyn series. I have a fondness for this one, in which Alleyn first meets Agatha Troy.

LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing

Inspector Alleyn is called in to investigate the murder, and finds among the suspects the artist he fell for on a recent cruise. They act tortured and repressed at each other in between scenes of Alleyn & co measuring marks on windowsills and the like. As always with Marsh, a large portion of this

book is given over to seemingly endless natterings between characters about who was ~psychologically~ capable of murder. Eventually the murder is solved, but I'd lost all interest in the case by that point.

Putting aside the rather uninspired mystery, I was bothered that Alleyn seems set up as a perfect paragon, so much wiser and classier and richer and bluer blooded than all the rest. I was particularly bothered by this because he outright SAYS to his lady-love-the-suspect that she's totally not a suspect, and the extent of his investigation into her guilt is to have an underling check her alibi. I'd put up with that kind of favoritism from an amateur detective, but not the official investigator!

Show Less

LibraryThing member drthubbie

The very dignified unrequited passion as a subplot to the murder mystery is classic.

Fewer