New Zealand-born Ngaio Marsh is often listed as one of the so-called "Crime Queens" of Britain's Golden Age. Between A Man Lay Dead in 1934 and Light Thickens in 1982, Marsh wrote 32 novels featuring her Scotland Yard detective, Roderick Alleyn. As a general rule, I've enjoyed all of her books - some, admittedly, more than others. And that brings me to today's raid on the Classic Mysteries vault, calling your attention to what has been one of my favorites: the book originally published in the U.S. as Death of a Peer, originally titled Surfeit of Lampreys in Britain. When I write about the book, however, I have been surprised to find that a lot of my friends and readers really dislike the book. These are people whose taste and judgement I respect. All I can say is that I disagree with them. I enjoy the characters, find the plot quite intriguing, and I think it's some of Marsh's best writing. With that in mind, I invite you to read the original script for my review of Death of a Peer on the Classic Mysteries podcast - somewhat edited, mostly to clarify how best to find the book in print.
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You would probably enjoy meeting the Lampreys. They’re a noble British family, really delightful people – usually on the verge of one financial crisis or another, but always relying on their charm and luck to pull them through. They’re eccentric, certainly – any mystery reader will find more than enough eccentricity among the British upper classes of the era – but their odd behavior is right in keeping with the rest of their charm. Wouldn’t it be a pity if one of them turned out to be a cold-blooded and vicious killer? That’s exactly the problem that faces Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard in Ngaio Marsh’s mystery, Death of a Peer.
One of the reasons why I enjoy rereading so many of Ngaio Marsh’s wonderful mysteries is her ability to create rounded and appealing characters. I am not talking about just her central characters – Inspector Alleyn, his wonderful wife, Agatha Troy, and his primary assistant, Inspector Fox, but about many characters throughout all of Marsh’s novels. Certainly she created few characters as appealing – and as odd, in so many ways – as the Lampreys, who appeared first in her 1941 novel, Death of a Peer. In fact, the book was originally published in England under the title, Surfeit of Lampreys. They are a noble family. Lord Charles Lamprey is the younger brother of Gabriel, Marquis of Wutherwood and Rune. Lord Charles and his family are thoroughly charming – but financially irresponsible, and perennially down on their luck. They are being visited by a young woman named Roberta Grey, a young woman who became a close friend of the family when they visited her homeland of New Zealand some years earlier – and a parenthetical reminder that New Zealand was also the homeland of Ngaio Marsh.
At any rate, Roberta Grey arrives in England for a visit with the Lampreys just as their luck appears to have run out again. They are in a deep financial crisis, one that could only be solved if Lord Charles’s wealthy older brother will agree to bail the family out with a few thousand pounds.
But the Marquis – or Uncle G, as the Lampreys call him – is fed up with their antics and refuses to help. But then, he is murdered – in a particularly unpleasant and nasty fashion. And so the police will take over, in the person of Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn and his crew. And Alleyn – who finds himself falling under the family’s charm – must fight to keep himself objective in the case – and to determine whether that charm may be masking a murderer.
There are plenty of suspects, including all the members of the Lamprey family, not to mention Uncle G’s peculiar wife, who may very well be mad, and a number of longtime servants of both families. There are other members of the family just off-stage, who make dramatic appearances from time to time and who must be added to the list of suspects. There will also be a budding love affair between Roberta Grey and one of the other characters. There will, ultimately, be another murder as well, and a number of absolutely ghastly details which – speaking as a reader – I’d just as soon not have known. But Alleyn can neither be fooled nor hoodwinked, and he does bring the case and the book to a very satisfying conclusion.
If you haven’t read a lot of books by Ngaio Marsh, this is probably a good way to meet some of her regular characters, and to enjoy quite thoroughly her abilities to manipulate characters – and a writing style that can be absolutely delightful. It is one of my favorites among her novels, and I confess to rereading it every couple of years (once I have forgotten some of the details) just for the sheer pleasure of being introduced again to her characters.
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Editor's note: it would appear that the book is indeed in print from Felony & Mayhem Press, both in paper and as an e-book, but using the British title, Surfeit of Lampreys.
You can listen to the complete original review by clicking here.
Next: Sent to His Account, by Eilís Dillon.
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