From the Vault: "Clutch of Constables"

If my calendar is correct, we are now in the so-called "dog days" of summer, when many of us try to get away from the stress of our everyday lives for a little while. Sometimes, our plans may go a bit awry. Certainly that's what happens to Agatha Troy - the wife of Scotland Yard Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, the creation of author Ngaio Marsh. Troy sets out for a peaceful river cruise through the English countryside - and finds it is not as peaceful as she might have hoped. It's about those murders...

The result is Clutch of Constables, one of my favorite books by an author who is still widely considered to have been one of the so-called Crime Queens of the Golden Age. Clutch of Constables was written fairly late in Marsh's career, but I think it contains some of her best work. I first reviewed it on the podcast more than nine years ago. Here's a slightly edited version of what I had to say about the book.

- 0 -

“For five days, you step out of time.” So said the advertisement for a five-day cruise on an English river, through beautiful countryside. It seemed like a wonderful idea at the time. It was a little less appealing after the bodies began turning up. The story is Clutch of Constables, by Ngaio Marsh.

I think Ngaio Marsh was one of the finest classic mystery authors. Her books, all of them featuring Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn, provide interesting puzzles, and – perhaps even more important – believable and memorable characters, and they are set in fascinating locations.

I like Clutch of Constables for those reasons – and because it is a little different in its focus from most of the Marsh novels: for much of the book, the central character is not Superintendent Alleyn – it is his wife, Agatha Troy Alleyn. I have always been very fond of the books that feature Troy – she is a fascinating character. An artist, and, from the description, clearly one of the most successful and accomplished painters in England, Troy becomes involved in a few of her husband’s cases – always, it must be said, to his absolute horror.

In Clutch of Constables, Troy’s involvement comes about quite innocently. Having just opened a one-woman show of her paintings, she is about to get on a train to go home to London when she sees a hand-printed card in the window of a riverboat cruise line office: a place has become available on a five-day cruise along the river Trent. Listen to how beautifully Marsh sets this up:

She read the card:

M. V. Zodiac. Last-minute cancellation. A single-berth cabin is available for this day’s sailing. Apply within.

Placed about the window were photographs of M.V. Zodiac in transit and of the places she visited. In the background hung a map of the river and the canals that articulated with it: Ramsdyke, Bullsdyke. Crossdyke. A five-day cruise from Norminster to Longminster and back was offered. Passengers slept and ate on board. The countryside, said a pamphlet that lay on the floor, was rich in historical associations. Someone with a taste for fanciful phrases had added “For five days you step out of time.”

She had had a grueling summer working for her one-man show, and was due in a few weeks to see it launched in Paris and afterwards New York. Her husband was in America and her son was taking a course at Grenoble. She thought of the long train journey south, the gritty arrival, the summer stifle of London and the empty stuffy house. It seemed to her, afterwards, that she behaved like a child in a fairytale. She opened the door, and as she did so she heard something say within her head: “For five days I step out of time.”

And so, Marsh sets up Troy Alleyn for this cruise. Her husband, as noted, is in America. Marsh uses a very clever device to keep him involved in the story: she has Superintendent Alleyn using this case as an example in a lecture he is giving to a class of police students. Each chapter opens with a brief portion of the lecture, in which Alleyn sets up what is happening, what he knew and when he knew it, and what he learned in letters from Troy. But it is Troy who will carry the first two-thirds of the book before her husband, back from America, moves in to investigate what, by then, will be horrifying developments.

For Troy quickly discovers that something very peculiar seems to be going on. There are only eight passengers and three crew members, yet Troy feels that something is not quite right – there are undercurrents she does not fully understand. This is most noticeable to her when she makes an offhand remark to her fellow passengers as the ship cruises through countryside made familiar to artists and art lovers by the paintings of John Constable. At one point, as she looks out over a landscape that incorporates many of the features of Constable’s art, she observes, “Oh look! The place is swarming with Constables. Everywhere you look – a perfect clutch of them.”

And suddenly she feels that some of the other passengers – well, at least ONE of them – was completely taken aback by what she had said. And she also felt that her explanation – that she was talking about the artist Constable and not the police constables – seemed to make the situation worse.

From that point, the voyage becomes more and more disturbing to Troy – and eventually to her husband. There are murders. Theft. There may be art forgeries involved as well.

It’s a marvelous book. As I observed earlier, Marsh has a genius for creating believable characters, and her descriptions are usually perfect in giving the reader a good sense of the personalities involved. For example I love the image presented by this introductory description:

The first to alight was an undistinguished man of about forty. Under a belted raincoat he wore a pinstriped suit which, revealed, would surely prove abominable. His shirt was mauve and his tie a brightish pink.

It goes on – but you get the idea. Clutch of Constables is a thoroughly literate, enjoyable romp through the English countryside, in the presence of a fine artist, her police husband, and a curious collection of travelers that includes one particularly unpleasant murderer. I think it is one of Ngaio Marsh’s finest books. And, best of all, it remains in print – so what are you waiting for? Get it and enjoy it.

- 0 -

If you would like to listen to the original podcast, please click here.

Next week: Death and the Chaste Apprentice, by Robert Barnard

Comments

[Yvettespaintbox]

One of my favorite Ngaio Marsh books, Les. I love the title too. And I too am fond of Troy. Another Troy book I love is SPINSTERS IN JEOPARDY which is a bit of nonsense, but features the whole Alleyn family including their little boy who in this book steals the show.

[Les Blatt]

I'm glad we agree on this one, Yvette. I must admit I prefer the stories in which Troy takes an active role, even though her husband hates it. And I agree about "Spinsters in Jeopardy," which is definitely due for a re-read and write-up on my part.