Death in Ecstasy

Roderick Alleyn #4

by Ngaio Marsh

Ahhh, prussic acid, that hallmark of classic Golden Age mysteries. Did lovely Cara Quoyne get a whiff of the bitter almonds as she raised the goblet to her lips? We’ll never know: With a single sip she transported herself to the Hereafter. At least, that’s the romantic view. But Inspector Roderick Alleyn has little interest in romance; he’s investigating a murder. Cara was a deeply spiritual young woman, a novice with the House of the Sacred Flame. It seems, however, that somebody was operating from very un-spiritual motivations.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Classics, British Literature, Audiobook, Detective

275 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1936

About the author

Dame Ngaio Marsh, born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900, but she was born in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.

Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.

All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.

Series:
* Roderick Alleyn

Reviews

[carol. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Forget comparisons to Christie. But consider instead Marsh's similarity to Janet Evanovitch, or to Oscar Wilde as Detective Alleyn questions a suspect:

"‘No worries over money?'
'Money? No. She was what the world calls rich.'
'What do you call it, sir?'
Father Garnette gave a frank and dreadfully boyish laugh. '
Why, I should call it rich too, Inspector,' he cried gaily.
'An unhappy love affair, do you know?” pursued Alleyn.
Father Garnette did not answer for a moment. Then he said sadly, “Ah, Inspector Alleyn, we speak in different languages.'
'I didn’t realize that, said Alleyn. “Can you translate my question into your own language or would you rather not answer it?”

I admit, I might have rolled my eyes a bit at the beginning, a ceremony by an oddball cult,  infiltrated by Nigel the journalist. But once I  was over the patently obvious setup, it was entertaining, particularly if one keeps in mind the original publication date of 1936. 

“If it is murder,' he said quietly, 'and the trail’s not just all that easy and—aw hell, Chief, I’ve got the dollars and I ain’t paralyzed yet.”
With which cryptic remark Mr. Ogden took himself off.'
Is he real?' asked Nigel, 'or is he a murderer with unbridled histrionic ambitions? Surely no American was ever so American. Surely—'
'Do stop making these exclamatory interjections. You behave for all the world like a journalistic Greek chorus.'"

The detection techniques are bogglingly inappropriate, but honestly, I felt it made it clear it's intended to be a farce. A lot like Stephanie Plum, you can't possibly take most of Alleyn's techniques seriously, although in this book we are finally seeing 'modern' police techniques like looking for fingerprints and searching for forensic evidence (incidentally, there are also jokes about the 'gentlemanly breed' of police detectives).

I think there are some homophobic undertones regarding a pair of initiates into the cult, but I think most of the implied slurs went over my head. There is also, perhaps surprising to some, quite a bit of drug use, although none of it glamorous.

Overall, the mystery was a little bit silly, but the process of getting there was fun. I'll undoubtedly go on to the next.

Three-and-a-half-stars, rounding up

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having a mystery in a series involve a weird religious group or cult isn't as de rigeur as having one with a house party or one with a theatrical performance, but it is pretty common. Instant color! This particular sect is pretty odd, and Marsh never really explains why, since they made the religion up only two years ago, they picked such an odd syncretism. But it doesn't seem to matter much.

Amusing if you can manage to ignore the overt and recurring (and completely irrelevant to the plot) homophobia. Silver lining, fruity friends: you will automatically be dismissed from suspicion of murder because you "wouldn't have the guts".

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fourth Inspector Alleyn novel and was published in 1936. Again, we have the input of Alleyn’s young friend, journalist Nigel Bathgate, who spies people arriving at a nearby building from his apartment. His interest piqued, he ventures out, on the wet and windy evening, and discovers the House of the Sacred Flame, an unorthodox religious group. Intrigued, he gains entrance, and witnesses a religious rite going on inside – with the group crying out the names of pagan gods and passing round a chalice of wine. Unfortunately, the chalice contains something a little more potent and, poisoned, the ‘Chosen Vessel,’ a woman named Cara Quayne, falls to her death, witnessed by Nigel, who immediately calls Alleyn.

This is an unusual setting and an odd cast of suspects. Involved are Jasper Garnette, the officiating priest of the House of the Sacred Flame, plus various initiates. Despite the setting, there are very familiar motives though, including greed and jealousy, as well as the use of drugs and resentment at members handing over their wealth to this group. In a way, this is a little like an early novel about a cult.

Some of the characters are quite stereotypical and may offend modern sensibilities, but I find it difficult to expect political correctness of novels written in the past. Still, there is certainly a fair amount of scorn poured on two young, rather effeminate, acolytes which will jar modern readers. That said, this is an enjoyable mystery. Not perhaps as good as the previous novel in the series, “The Nursing Home Mystery,” but I look forward to reading on.

Rated 3.5

[Adrian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review to follow

And eventually it did follow. :)

I am enjoying this Inspector Alleyn mysteries challenge, although I am still 3 behind where I should be, oh bother.

The characterisations are good and the murders themselves are all so different, so every story is a breath of fresh air and fun (if murder can be fun ??). As with all the rest (well 3 so far) I have given 4 stars, a good read in my rating system, and I look forward to catching up with the rest of the group in the next couple of months (by which time another challenge will be falling by the wayside).

As anyone who reads my reviews ( is there anyone who reads my reviews ?) will know, I very rarely give away any of the plot, because if you want to know about the book, read the blurb on the back, but suffice to say that they never feel dated. So if you do read because you like Christie/Dexter/Sayers/Doyle then I'm guessing you will also enjoy this.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid 3 golden mystery tale. The last paragraph reveals the murderer in the review so do not read further if you want to work out who is the killer.

The wealthy attractive Cara Quayne drops dead after drinking the ritual wine at the House of the Sacred Flame. It’s a shame that nowadays writers and publishers do not do a list of the suspects and a schematic of the scene where the murder took place.

Nigel Bathgate a journalist lives opposite the temple and in a stormy night decides on impulse to attend the service out of curiosity. There he witnesses the horrible and painful death of Cara as she drinks from the goblet during the ceremony.

Enter Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn with the stoic Fox to investigate who from this bizarre cult is the murderer. Drugs, bizarre cult and atmospheric London are all within this mystery.

The suspects are Jasper Garnett the priest in the Temple of the Sacred Flame who is a conman. Or one of the participants in the ceremony. There is
Samuel J. Ogden, Church warden, American businessman & investor in The Temple. The wealthy Frenchman Raoul de Ravigny, Church warden and friend of Cara’s. Janie Jenkins, the youngest of the initiates and in love with Maurice Pringle who has a n addiction problem. Lastly there are Ernestine Wade an elderly spinster and Mrs Candour a jealous woman.

Marsh does not seems to like any of the characters and the homophobia is repellent as is Alleyn spiking one of the suspects drinks! Overall if you follow the money you will figure out the murderer. The atmosphere of 1930s London is captured well.

Ogden has the most to gain and is revealed as the murderer as the Temple’s largest shareholder he had the mist to gain.

[Alan (the Lone Librarian on semi-hiatus)) Teder · Rating 1 out of 5]

Distracted and Ruined
Review of the Felony & Mayhem Press Kindle eBook edition (2013) of the Geoffrey Bles hardcover original (1936)

I found myself completely distracted by the homophobic asides in this now dated 1936 mystery. The number of putdowns was so over the top that I started marking them in my Kindle notes. A sampling here:

"What a loathly, what a nauseating, what an unspeakable little dollop." "that little beast", “Fauntleroy take little Eric", "Gemini, possibly heavenly", "a little pig", "that little animal", "horrible youth", "unattractive", "two hothouse flowers", "perhaps the Greeks had a word for him", "those two queens", "little drip", "a monster'', "that sissy", "the unspeakable", "you two bloody little pansies."

This was accompanied by adjectives and verbs of descriptions and actions which again portrayed the same characters as willowy… glided… fluted… begged… bleated… flounced… etc. as further putdowns. This was by both the investigators and the other suspects.

There were also insults of other nationalities (the French in this case) and one of the classic racist asides observing another character who refrained from saying something because they were “too white to say so.”

It all made the actual mystery seem like an afterthought, perhaps it was misdirection so that you aren’t paying attention to the actual murderer? Otherwise this could have been an interesting investigation, based as it apparently was on an actual cult temple from the 1890s in New Zealand which was led by an American conman. The action takes place in London, England though, as do most of the Roderick Alleyn mysteries. Ngaio Marsh found ways to bring him to her home ground of New Zealand occasionally as well.


Photograph of the 'Temple of Truth' in Christchurch, New Zealand, the rumoured inspiration for the ‘House of the Sacred Flame‘ in ‘Death in Ecstasy’. Image sourced from The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.

I read several of Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyns during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 as I was regularly digging through my old mystery paperbacks for re-read possibilities. I don’t remember any of those having this sort of bigotry.

Cover of the original hardcover edition of ‘Death in Ecstasy’ (1936) as published by Geoffrey Bles. Image sourced from Wikipedia.

I read Death in Ecstasy through a $1.99 Kindle Deal of the Day in 2023 from Amazon thinking that it would be reliable Golden Age Mystery. It seemed instead that the 1930s was a golden age of homophobia and racism.

Trivia and Links
Death in Ecstasy was adapted for television in 1964 as Season 1 Episode 11 of the Detective (1964-1969) series which based its scripts on dozens of crime novels by different authors. I could not find a posting of it on the internet. Although there was a later Alleyn Mysteries TV series (1990-1994), Death in Ecstasy was not included in those adaptations.

Death in Ecstasy was adapted as a BBC radioplay in 1969 and you can hear that audio recording on YouTube here. NOTE: I have not listened to this, but I can’t imagine they would have retained the homophobic and racist elements.

[Tristram Shandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“She may have been in a state of ecstasy but she was undoubtedly dead.”

Thus the narrator’s wry comment when Cara Quayne, initiate to the sesquipedalian eclecticism of The Temple of the Sacred Flame, drops dead in a ceremony in which she figured as the – no pun intended, or maybe yes? – Chosen Vessel of the cult’s leader Jasper Garnette. Luckily, our friend Nigel Bathgate happens to be on the scene, driven by curiosity to slip into the conspicuous temple and witness the ceremony, and so apt measures can be taken, one of which is to immediately call Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn onto the scene of the crime – as a crime it is, the smell of prussic acid being undeniable.

Voilà, we are at the beginning of Ngaio Marsh’s fourth Roderick Alleyn mystery, Death in Ecstasy, which was published in 1936. In order to fully enjoy this book, you have to be able to navigate around two rubs, the first one being an unusual amount of homophobia, both on the narrator’s and the characters’ parts, with regard to Garnette’s two acolytes. The slurs and instances of mockery heaped on Mr. Whitley and Mr. Smith are countless and not even explicable by the usual degree of prejudice attached to homosexuality with which the 1930s were rife because they jump into your face and even infect Roderick Alleyn himself, who normally comes across as an equitable man with a strong sense of fairness. The other rub is less disruptive and consists in the fact that a quaint cult such as the Temple of the Sacred Flame proves so attractive to so many people from different walks of life, which makes the setting as silly as that of an average episode from Midsomer Murders. Nevertheless, when you look at what kind of taradiddle the average person goes for in everyday life, and how successfully even the blandest bit of moonshine can mask as science, sense and sensibility, you can also let it go at that.

All the more so, as the sinister quaintness of the setting as well as the fact that we have a clear-cut circle of suspects who were all on the scene when the death of Miss Quayne took pace, adds to the charm of the book in its quality as an old school mystery. There are also numerous instances of Marsh’s humour which bring a smile on your lips, for example,

”’I am bewildered. I do not understand, as yet, what has happened. What unseen power has struck down this dear soul in the very moment of spiritual ecstasah?’
‘Cyanide potassium I think,’ said Alleyn coolly, ‘but of course that’s not official.’”

“The cook wept, but absent-mindedly and rather as though she felt it incumbent on her as a fat, comfortable woman to do so.”

“’No,’ said Alleyn, ‘she kept his letters. Women keep love letters for as much the same reason as a servant keeps references. They help to preserve […] the amour-propre, and can always be produced on occasion.’”

[Of an old, desiccated Dickensian lawyer] “Mr. Rattisbon suddenly sucked his breath three or four times very rapidly and uttered a little whooping noise. He had laughed.”

There is also a kind of meta-humour, which is very entertaining, as when, in the middle of the book, Nigel Bathgate says,

”’Look here […,] let’s pretend it’s a detective novel. Where would we be by this time? About half-way through, I should think. Well, who’s your pick?’”

and then goes through the list of suspects, telling which one it would be depending on which Golden Era Mystery writer was the writer of the story. It is mainly this kind of humour and Marsh’s abstaining from the rather tedious re-enactment of the crime (unlike in her three first novels) that make Death in Ecstasy my most rewarding Marsh reading experience so far.

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, I guess I'd better give up the disclaimer about what I think of these. They're harmless, easy fun, concerned with setting up a puzzle and then working it out, with lots of red herrings and interesting people along the way. Nothing ground breaking, but comfortable.

This one did give me a little bit of unease because of the swishy, blatantly queer couple who were a walking, talking pair of stereotypes. At least they were harmless, but Marsh wrote about them rather unpleasantly and nobody thought any good of them. At least Alleyn, as I imagine him, wouldn't be an ass to them in person about it, but would respect their relationship (as long as he thought it was real, not just theatrics and melodrama). I suppose I am getting to like him, though I think I'm building on him in my own mind more than Marsh is in the text.

This one only slightly breaks the trend -- there's no reconstruction, though the group do gather together again to talk it over, which is pretty close.

The statement I spotted in another review that Nigel Bathgate does nothing and could he please be murdered now is sadly accurate. The one point I liked was when Alleyn rings up and tells him to act as if he's talking to Angela. That was a bit amusing.

[Bill Kerwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ngaio Marsh's style is always a pleasure, but this tale of mystic rites in a threadbare temple in middle class London is a bit antiquated (even for its time), and the characters--often a Marsh strong point--are rather stereotypical, particularly the American businessman and the two gay "acolytes." Also, the solution to the mystery really wasn't much of a surprise.

[Jan C · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a slow starter for me. But it did pick up. And I wound up enjoying it.

Here Alleyn's reporter friend, Nigel Bathgate, discovers that he is living across the street from a cult-type church. They won't let him in the first time - he was too late. So the next time he makes a point of being early. A suspicious death takes place and he calls in Alleyn.

It was interesting. I was stumped.

[Bev · Rating 3 out of 5]

Death in Ecstasy (1936) by Ngaio Marsh finds Inspector Roderick Alleyn's some-time Watson, Nigel Strangeways, bored on a rainy, blustery London night. He gazes discontentedly out his window and notices a sign glinting in the light as the wind gusts and jostles it about: House of the Sacred Flame. A mysterious-sounding place and as he watches members of the obscure sect enter the sacred portals, he decides that attending the services of a strange religious group is just what he needs to liven up a dull evening. Who knows--there might even be a story in it. Little does he suspect just how much news he's going to find behind the doors.

This particular Sunday night was a special one--a monthly service in which The Chosen Vessel, in this case one Miss Cara Quayne, having been prepared through a month of preparatory sessions with Father Garnette--the founder, reaches a state of Ecstasy through ceremony. Bathgate watches as a sacred chalice is passed among the faithful. There's a bit of chanting, Cara drinks from the cup, and falls down at the feet of the priest.

My friends...My friends, our beloved sister has been vouchsafed the greatest boon of all. She is in ecstasy. Let us sing our hymn to Pan, the God-in-all.

But--as one of the Initiates points out...

It's not. It's not. She's dead. I touched her. She's dead!

Dr. Kasbek, a member of the congregation comes forward and confirms the Initiate's declaration. They are about to clear the House when Nigel suggests that no one should leave just yet and perhaps the police should be called. After all--the woman's mouth and eyes look a bit odd and there's a certain smell. The doctor investigates further and agrees with Nigel that it looks very like poison. The newsman uses the phone to call in his old friend Inspector Alleyn.

Alleyn walks into a place of mystery that is nonetheless full of very familiar worldly motives for murder--greed, jealousy, and lust to name a few. There are seven suspects all with reasons to want the lovely Cara dead--from those who were jealous of her chosen position with Father Garnette to those with a taste for the "special cigarettes" that light the way to ecstasy to those who were greedy for her wealth...either for themselves or to fill the coffers of the Sacred Flame. It's up to Alleyn with the help of Inspector Fox and Nigel to sift the clues and find those that point to the murderer.

Marsh does atmosphere very well in this one. Her theatrical background lends itself to creating the slightly over-the-top trappings of the Sacred Flame. A cult that embraces all the gods of everywhere and every time and the sacred words and chants of them all. And she presents it without it seeming like the incredible mishmash that it is. Alleyn may raise his eyebrows at it, but while the ceremony is in progress, even the worldly journalist Bathgate is swept up in the moment and lulled by the words of the priest. It's easy to see how the Initiates could be wrapped up in the cult.

Well-written with skillful plotting, though not quite as mystifying as her previous work.

First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.

[Deb Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoroughly enjoyable mystery where there is a limited number of suspects for Inspector Alleyn to consider for the poisoning of a woman during a religious cult service. Even so, it takes both the reader and Alleyn to ferret out the perpetrator.

[Orinoco Womble (tidy bag and all) · Rating 3 out of 5]

A wealthy young woman dies of cyanide poisoning in the midst of a faux-communion ceremony. She was the newly Chosen Vessel--but chosen for what, exactly? Seven suspects in search of a motive--jealousy, hatred, or just plain money? Drugs, sex and neopaganism made for a very fast read; the best of the Alleyn series to date. Written in 1936, when table-turning, tarot and all sorts of paganism were enjoying a comeback...rather like today, though if Marsh had been a modern mystery author, instead of being neopagan, the "church" probably would have been on the Evangelical lunatic fringe. Fortunately she has no real axe to grind with religion, so it's just the murder story.

I must admit that when I saw the cast of characters in the front I thought, oh dear--that usually means it's going to be hard to remember who is who. Then there's mention of someone drawing a map of the inside of the "temple", but fortunately said map is not reproduced or even mentioned much. (If I ever find a book with both a cast-list and a map of where it happened, I'll know it's an impossible read.) But perhaps said list was just a publisher's convention, as so far they tend to abound in Marsh's books.

My only complaint is that on p112 of 208 in my edition, Bathgate makes the obligatory comparison between "real life" and detective novels a bit blatant: "Look here, let's pretend it's a detective novel. Where would we be by this time? About halfway through I should think." And of course we are about halfway through. Why did golden-age mystery writers think this lent authenticity? That and Alleyne's penchant for referring to Inspector Fox as "Foxkin"; A. admits he tries too hard to amuse, and sometimes it shows. Wimsey you ain't, sir, even as Wimsey and Christie and Inspector French get a mention.

I did chuckle when they visited the service flat with all mod cons, including "Fyrexo" tempered kitchenware. Pyrex was invented in 1915, according to Google, so it was the latest thing.

A pleasant enough popcorn read with fewer twists and turns and obfuscations than I expected.

[Lemar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ngaio Marsh writes with wit and assurance. Death in Ecstasy centers around a cultish house of worship of which she dryly and accurately observes, "The phoenix of quackery arises again and again from its own ashes. Tonight we slam the door on this bit of hocus-pocus and tomorrow someone else starts a new sideshow for the credulous ." Sadly true.
This mystery came out in 1936 and already she observes what is true today (2016) that young people, "take refuge in irony, a commodity that should be reserved for the middle-aged." As always, the characters are well drawn and the banter delightful while noting at one point the necessity faced by compassionate investigators to include a sense of humor in their otherwise grim jobs.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

This early entry in the Roderick Alleyn series is a bit ridiculous and old-fashioned. It involves a murder within the inner circle of a pagan cult, and we get pretty much every cult cliche there is: pantheism, inappropriate sexual relationships, drugs, financial exploitation, hypnotism, you name it. And while the book may have been written in 1936, I found it a tad unbelievable that characters would be saying things like "I must away," and "Damn your eyes!" There are also some unpleasant attitudes about homosexuals and foreigners, as well as outrageous police tactics like getting a suspect drunk. I generally think of Alleyn as one of the classier detectives, but I guess he was still evolving.

Despite my rant, I think a lot of this is actually intended to be funny, with varying success. Pacing and plotting were both good, and I was entertained.

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dame Agatha Christie and Her Peers
A note on the publishing information page says: "To aid catalogers and collectors, this title is printed in an edition limited to 80 copies. It has been manufactured in the United States to American Library Association standards on permanent, durable, acid-free paper." It seems to me Aeonian Press (Mattituck) spent a lot of money to print only 80 copies. Or did Amereon House publish this? Both publishers are mentioned. Perhaps they each printed 40 copies? Anyway, one must ask: Was it worth the money? Or did they know only 80 or so people would buy it? I checked it out of the local library and $3.09 is written on the inside of the front cover. (And odder still, there is no publication date.)
CAST - 1 star: I like very much that Marsh provides a list of cast members at the beginning of the novel (in the edition I read). Jasper Garnett is the officiating priest of the odd House of the Sacred Flame. Cara Quayne is the Chosen Vessel (and that is never explained). Then there are 2 gay characters: Claude Wheatley and Lionel Smith. Now, I do understand that in the 1920's there was a sort of tumultuous interest in gay entertainers (America and Europe, not sure about Marsh's New Zealand) then a rather vicious backlash in the 1930s. And Marsh must have had some kind of 'derogatory terms for gay folks" thesaurus handy as she disses Claude and Lionel incessantly. They lisp, they mince, the dark one in the purple shirt faints by page 36, wiggling occurs on page 43. On page 45, "Claude...walked with small steps.." and talked "in a sort of feeble scream.." Things get worse:
"Oh," cried Inspector Fox suddenly in a falsetto voice, "oh, Inspector, I think I'm going to be sick....What a loathly, what a nauseating, what an unspeakable little drollop."
"Horrid, wasn't it" agreed Alleyn absently.
And on and on it goes. Yes, I know some people will say "Well, that's just the way people talked about gay folks in the 1930s."
But what do you think about a character saying this: "Ain't dat de truff, Lawd!", as there is an American visiting England, this comment apparently directed toward him.
That said, the first half of this book takes place in this "House" and perhaps, just perhaps, everyone is putting on a show (I'm being generous) and when Alleyn and crew enter, they just play along. 1 star, but only because the author list the cast up front, as one naturally would if preparing a hand-out to stage play attendees. A Playbill of sorts.
ATMOSPHERE -2: The "House" has naked statues and all kinds of 'spiritual'-type set pieces. Altars, engravings, incense, and more. It's not spooky, just sorta silly. Like a cheap first-grade idea of a Halloween horror house. Funny silly.
Plot - 1: Early, there is a murder. It's a rather standard poisoning. And you know it's going to be a woman because, in Marsh's world painted here, the men are all heroic (except for the gay couple, the he-he boys) and certainly aren't going to die. Yea, this book is misogynistic.
INVESTIGATION - 1: Alleyn and gang seem to be fine with the homophobia, or, at best, are just playing along with a staging of a murder. But if you've read any amount of murder mysteries, you'll know it all by page 45 or so.
RESOLUTION - 1: Oh, please. As if it was even worth writing in the first place.
SUMMARY: I'm giving this a generous 1.2 rating. This is homophobic, xenophobic, racist, misogynistic and represents the worst in murder mystery writing. I'm going to assume, then, that this was reprinted with only 80 copies by an American publisher to demonstrate the very worst in penmanship in the 1930s...on a global level and is used as a textbook for classes titled "How NOT to write a novel" or perhaps as a textbook explaining "This is why Agatha Christie is the world's best-selling novelist."

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

1936 publication, just Marsh's 4th Alleyn mystery. Highly dramatic setup full of silliness start to finish. The journalist Nigel Bathgate, friend of Alleyn's, looks out his window and is attracted to a sign across the street he had never noticed before. Of course he hotfoots it over to the House of the Sacred Flame and manages to impose his presence into the gathering where he witnesses one of the members die after drinking from the chalice during their rites.
He calls Alleyn directly and gets the ball rolling on the investigation of this oddball group to uncover who was behind this murder and why it had to be done. The cult is a small group but it takes rather long to cut through the fog.
Entertaining, but much of the humour does not translate well today.

Pristine book from Library, another Felony & Mayhem paperback 273 pp

[Anna]

" 'I receive facts, " said Alleyn, 'as a spider does flies.' "

"People do run true to type. It's an axiom of police investigation. "

world-weary

" 'Look here,' said Nigel suddenly, 'let's pretend it's a detective novel. ... Well, who's your pick.'
'I am invariably gulled by detective novels. No herring so red but I raise my voice and give chase.'
'Don't be ridiculous, ' said Nigel.
'Fact. You see, in real detection herrings are so often out of season.'
'Well, never mind, who's your pick? '
'It depends on the author. If it's Agatha Christie, Miss Wade's occulted guilt drips from every page. Dorothy Sayer's Lord Peter would plump for Pringle ; I fancy. Inspector French would go for Ogden.' ...
'I suspect the whole lot of them. ...'

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ngaio Marsh, where have you been all my life? I had read Agatha Christie over the years, but never Marsh. I love the sense of humor and wry wit, the handling of the characters. The setting in the 1930s era of wacky cults and pseudo religions was a lot of fun. I've seen other writers touch on the subject, but Marsh is so playful with it and yet adds insight as to why someone would join up with one of these groups. Well written and fun. I'm definitely going to check out the library for more Marsh!

[Kathy Davie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fourth in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage detective mystery series and revolving around Alleyn in the London of the 1930s. The focus is on the murder of Cara Quayne.

My Take
A little bit hypnotism, a whole lotta lavish theatricality, gods and goddesses, the Zodiac, and a touch of magic sets the scene in Death in Ecstasy. A tidy little scheme dreamt up by three men.

It's secrets, money and worldly and rapturous desires that fuel the story, which we learn from Alleyn's perspective in third person protagonist point-of-view. It gets more exciting with the dramas of jealousy, rapture, sex, and addiction.

It cracks me up AND makes me hope that we're getting past that idea that Frenchmen are like this and Germans are like that and Italians are this. People everywhere are similar with the same desires, anger, frustrations, family issues, etc.

Inspector Alleyn states what every police novel does, that people are under a moral obligation to help the police. Of course, we don't always know which cop has good morals, as there are so many who simply want to close the case even if they have the wrong person. And who knows which ones will "forgive" a "sin", so I can understand why people may be frightened. Then of course, there're the "personal" issues that people don't like to reveal, as it "couldn't possibly have anything to do with this crime".

"The innocent are safe as long as they stick to the truth."

Janey Jenkins is a bit of a nutjob. She's so insistent about telling Alleyn the truth and then she has hysterics when she actually is asked to speak the truth. She's rather typical of most of the characters. Nutty and inclined to lie.

It's a good example of dialect, a fashion that has gone away today. In this case, today's publishers want to tell you in the dialogue tags how the character is speaking.

Theme-wise, it's the deception of cults, the greed, and all those lies as people try to protect themselves and others. As for prose, Marsh makes use of dialect to indicate social class, a really big deal in England to this day.

It is a bit slow, but then Alleyn has so much to investigate . . . and interview. I picked up the clues along the way, but Marsh has a bad habit of having Alleyn start to explain and then jump to the goodbyes among the group. I hate that, even if it is very effective, lol.

As is typical for a Roderick Alleyn tale, it's mostly words without much action. It's also a tricky case with so few clues, and I'm always impressed by how Alleyn figures it out.

The Story
When Cara Quayne dropped dead to the floor after drinking the ritual wine at the House of the Sacred Flame, she was having a religious experience of a sort unsuspected by the other initiates.

Discovering how the fatal prussic acid got into the bizarre group's wine is but one of the perplexing riddles that confronts Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn when he's called to discover who sent this wealthy cult member to her untimely death.

The Characters
Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn is with CID at Scotland Yard.

Scotland Yard
Alleyn's team includes Inspector Fox, a.k.a. Brer Fox; Detective-Sergeant (DS) Bailey does fingerprints; Mrs Beken is the female officer; DS Watkins; and, Dr Curtis is the divisional surgeon. PC Allison is gigantic.

Sapineau is with the Sûreté.

Nigel Bathgate, a journalist, is a friend of Alleyn's whom he constantly allows to horn in on cases. Angela, from A Man Lay Dead , 1, is his fianc&eacte;e,

The House of the Sacred Flame is . . .
. . . in Knocklatchers Row practically across the street from Bathgate's digs and is the headquarters for a religious cult headed up by the Reverend Jasper Garnette, a.k.a. Odin, with his worldly desires. The redheaded Lionel "Eric" Smith and the black-haired Claude "Fauntleroy" Wheatley are his gay acolytes. The Chosen Vessel is always Frigga.

Congregants include old Miss Ernestine Wade (who worships Garnette); the American (he's really Australian) Samuel J Ogden (who's partnered up with Garnette) deals in gold extraction equipment and owns half of the Ogden-Schultz Gold Refining Company; the wealthy, unhappy, and unpopular Cara Quayne who has urges for exhibitionism; M Raoul Honoré Christophe Jérôme de Ravigne (and in love with Cara) had been a friend of Madame de Verne; Dr Nicholas Kasbek; Janey Jenkins, who is engaged to the excitable Maurice "Blot" Pringle; and, the jealous, lying Dagmar Candour.

Colonel Quayne of Elderbourne Manor in Seveanoaks was Cara's father (killed playing polo in India. Her mother only lived a year longer then Edith took Cara to France). Madame de Verne, Cara's maternal French aunt (who died when Cara was 17 and the Shatter was sold), raised Cara in the Shatter. The extremely religious Edith Hebborn has been with Cara Quayne since she was three years old. Wilson is a parlourmaid. The shrewd Rattisbon is Cara's lawyer. Ethel Parker and May Simes were the latest witnesses of the will.

Mrs Candour's staff includes Rita, a maid, and Mrs Bulsome, who is the cook. They're not impressed with her. Seems no one is impressed with her. Ogden's staff includes the very observant Elsie Prescott, the daughter of the janitor who valets and buttles, and her mother who cooks.

Madame la Comtesse de Barsac is Ravigne's sister and a friend of Cara's. The Theodore Roberts trial was in The Nursing Home Murder , 3. Stanley has a little brother. S.J. Samuels had been convicted of selling drugs in Australia.

The Cover and Title
The cover is consistent with previous covers only the primary color is mauve in a gradation that centers itself vertically as well as horizontally. The scalloped white lines ray out on angles from the bottom framing the mauve chalice against the deep brown-mauve background with the pale pink banner arching across the foot of the jeweled chalice with the series info in the deep mauve. The stretched-out banner is above the chalice in a pale mauve with the author's name in its art deco font incorporating all the shades of mauve. The title is in the upper half in a pink to mauve gradation.

The title is true, for Cara experienced her Death in Ecstasy.

[tortoise dreams · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Inspector Alleyn's fourth appearance, Ngaio Marsh is determined to have fun with a murder mystery set within a small London religious cult. which the Watson of the series, journalist Nigel Bathgate, has stumbled upon. There's lots of slang, jive banter, and odd bits of silliness: Inspector Alleyn repeatedly calls his gruff, hard-bitten Detective-Inspector Fox his "Foxkin." Marsh works hard at being quite "contemporary" for 1936 -- but much of the slang of the time went right over my head. During the investigation, about halfway through the book Bathgate says: "Let's pretend it's a detective novel. Where would we be by this time? About halfway through." Marsh mentions several other mystery authors in the various characters' conversations, including Christie, Van Dine, Sayers, and Freeman Wills Crofts -- lesser known today but the one who the characters think would've correctly identified the perp. For 1936 there's a heavy dose of heroin floating around, including a more sympathetic than expected portrait of an addict. There's some illicit but tame sex thrown in for good measure. Also a generous share of casual and unsympathetic homophobia, which seems odd considering Marsh worked in the theater, which is usually tolerant. The comments add little to the story -- but perhaps again Marsh was trying to be cool and with it. On the whole an entertaining and speedy read in an unusual and exotic setting. [3½★]

[FangirlNation · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nigel Bathgate finds himself bored one rainy Sunday night and crosses his street to the House of the Sacred Flame, a strange cult that has recently moved in near him in Ngaio Marsh’s Death in Ecstasy. Talking his way past the locked doors, Nigel gets introduced to a hypnotic preacher, Father Garnet, who is full of talk of ecstasy, only stirring at the end in time to watch the passing of the sacred vessel among the initiates. Then, it gets handed to the newest initiate, Cara Quayne, who drinks and enters ecstasy, according to Father Garnet, but in reality she dies. Nigel stops the religious leader from dispersing the congregation and insists on calling Chief Detective Inspector Roddick Alleyn, who brings his team to investigate the murder.

Read the rest of this review and other fun, geeky articles at Fangirl Nation

[Daniel Myatt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it but I didn't love it.

Not my favourite Marsh but I still enjoyed its unique location and setting, it took me a while to get use to the way some of the dialogue was written and yes it's dated a little but a good read none the less (although I guessed who did it early on, which so far I've not been able to do)

Still I'm loving Ngaio Marsh very much.

[Dfordoom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Death in Ecstasy was the fourth of Ngaio Marsh’s Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn mysteries, appearing in 1936. The story is set against a background of a rather dubious religious cult.

Journalist Nigel Bathgate is bored, bored and curious. That’s what drives him to the House of the Sacred Flame. This religious cult combines a bit of everything, from Christianity to Norse paganism to eastern mysticism. It attracts the bored and the wealthy, the cynical opportunists and the gullible.

It attracted Cara Quayne, who mysteriously drops dead during one of their ceremonies. Nigel Bathgate knows enough about crime to immediately suspect poison, and he makes a quick phone call to his old friend Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard. Even with the overwhelming odour of incense pervading the temple the characteristic bitter almonds smell of cyanide is hard to miss. And no other poison could have killed its victim so quickly.

Alleyn is not exactly thrilled to find himself saddled with such a case. His distaste for cults is strong and instinctive. Nonetheless he is on the spot within minutes - at least he has the advantage of being called in when the trail is well and truly warm.

The House of the Sacred Flame cult is run by the Reverend Jasper Garnette, and it’s a nice little earner. Several wealthy people have put large sums of money into the cult, including both the deceased and American businessman Samuel J. Ogden. A Frenchman named Raoul de Ravigne, who was once wealthy but suffered considerably from the stock market, also invested a lesser but still not inconsiderable sum.

There are seven Initiates in the cult. Apart from the deceased, de Ravigne and Ogden there are also a Mrs Candour, a Miss Wade, a nervous young woman named Maurice Pringle and his fiancée, Janey Jenkins. They all took part in the fatal ceremony, and are therefore all suspects. As is the officiating priest, the aforementioned Reverend Jasper Garnette, and his Acolytes, two rather fey young men named Claude and Lionel, and a medical practitioner, Doctor Kasbek, who was on the scene within seconds of Cara Quayne’s death. Miss Quayne’s old nurse, who was bitterly opposed to Cara’s membership of this cult, is yet another suspect as she was present as well although her presence was unknown to any of the participants.

So there is an embarrassment of suspects. There is also an embarrassment of motives. This is because the cult was in fact a seething cauldron of repressed sexuality, jealousy and greed. And Alleyn doesn’t take long to notice that Maurice Pringle displays all the symptoms of narcotics abuse. He is a heroin addict, and he is not the only member of the cult who indulges in this vice. No wonder Roderick Alleyn finds this case distasteful.

Ngaio Marsh’s plotting is as skillful as you’d expect from a woman who was one of the big guns in golden age detective fiction. Her style is often tongue-in-cheek and includes the sort of self-referential touches that annoy some readers - halfway through the book one character makes the observation that if this was a detective novel it would be roughly at the halfway point. If you can ignore this sort of thing then her witty style has much to recommend it.

Roderick Alleyn would be in the well-established tradition of gentlemen detectives but for one thing - he is a working policeman rather than an amateur of crime.

Death in Ecstasy is highly entertaining and the cult background adds a good deal of fun. Recommended.

[Ana · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading Ngaio Marsh's charming Inspector Alleyn golden age murder-mysteries chronologically and I must say these have been getting better and better! Death in Ecstasy is a little gem of a book (it definitely shines compared with the previous entries in the series), with lots of witty commentary on the genre and references to other authors. I'm definitely hooked on Marsh now and looking forward to more!

Narrated by James Saxon.
Performance: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

Journalist Nigel Bathgate is looking out of his window on a wet windy night when he spots a number of people making their way into a neighbouring building. Outside is a mysterious sign that looks like a flame rising from a cup. Nigel decides to take a look and manages to slip into the building, where he finds a strange pagan ritual in progress, with a chalice being passed around the group. Suddenly one of the group, Cara Quayle, collapses in an apparent state of ecstasy - but it soon becomes clear she is dead. Bathgate calls his friend, Alleyn of Scotland Yard, and soon an investigation is underway into the strange group of initiates at the House of the Sacred Flame.

This Golden Age mystery has an interesting collection of characters, some neat red herrings and the usual hidden secrets to be uncovered. Bathgate trails around in Alleyn's wake, taking notes and doing odd jobs for the great man, while using his privileged position to gather newspaper copy -this is incomprehensible and bewildering for the modern reader, but the presence of the outsider allows the author to play with theories and ideas. Meanwhile Alleyn interviews his suspects with a mixture of fey detachment and acumen that leaves its observers awestruck.

Marsh has an arch and playful style that both follows and mocks the tropes of GA fiction - at one point the characters even discuss which member of the cult would be the culprit if the book was written by other GA writers! At times the tone becomes slightly irritating but it does keep the reader engaged. Alleyn and Bathgate often reveal their distaste and disapproval for the behaviour of the initiates in a snobbish and judgemental way that can be jarring, but can also demonstrate kindness and sympathy when they feel it is deserved.

This was an entertaining mystery, with bizarre characters and a sound if slightly predictable plot.

[Marisol · Rating 3 out of 5]

El hecho de que Ngaio Marsh aunque inglesa, viviera en Nueva Zelanda, le daba la distancia suficiente para ver más objetivamente a sus compatriotas, y así se refleja en los personajes de sus libros.

En esta historia se centra en un caso descubierto por azar, el periodista Nigel Bathgate se encuentra aburrido en su casa, mientras observa a través de la ventana la lluvia que cae en una tarde soñolienta 💤 de domingo, de repente mira con interés varías personas que llegan a una misma puerta y siente curiosidad, sale a la calle y cruza en frente para entrar por la misteriosa puerta donde lo recibe un templo de lo más exótico y una comunidad de feligreses que conforman La casa de la llama sagrada, movido por el estupor y el morbo, se queda en el servicio, en algún punto el que oficia de líder religioso llama a ciertas personas para que conformen un círculo y realizan un ritual de pasarse una especie de cáliz e ir tomando de el, en algún momento una de las mujeres se desvanece ante el estupor de todos, Nigel se acerca para ver lo ocurrido, y se da cuenta que la mujer ha muerto.

A partir de aquí se inicia la investigación de el inspector Allen, que descubre secretos, excentricidades y juegos retorcidos abajo de una aparente inocente congregación religiosa.

El tono de malicia que está impreso en el relato le da un enfoque oscuro bastante atrayente y que hace más entretenida la lectura, es como estar leyendo algo de cotilleo bien escrito, estarse enterando de secretos inimaginables resguardados debajo de una institución y de personas aparentemente respetables.

He pasado un buen rato y me ha parecido un ejemplo que no pasa de moda, tristemente la soledad y el aburrimiento son males que la sociedad cura de manera errónea, pero bastante diversa, y aquí encontramos varias opciones.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best of the early Marsh books. The plot is bizarre, but in a darkly amusing way, and it is easier to follow the flow of events than in the first three works in this series. Marsh goes into intricate detail about who was where and when, and I just don't make the effort to sort things out, and rolled with the plot. As usual, most of the characters have a motive or opportunity or both, and again as usual, Marsh does not give critical clues which would be needed to guess the perpetrator.

She does have a gift for keeping characters true to form. Almost all of them have individualistic speech patterns, faithfully recorded. Sure, they are cardboard stereotypes without much depth of characterization, but they are somehow fun to read about. Some of these stereotypes are offensive, especially Claude and Lionel, who are impossibly effeminate (and I did not know the word "queer" existed in this sense as far back as 1935), but actually most of the characters are unlikable and would be offensive to people who identified with them. Samuel Ogden, for instance, is repeatedly described as a typical American, but talks in a hard-boiled patois which is hardly typical of most of his countrymen at that time.

As is usual in the early Alleyn books, Nigel Bathgate plays an improperly large role in a Scotland Yard investigation. At least Angela North makes no appearance this time.

No, this is neither great literature nor a brilliant mystery, but it's a diverting read, and that is enough to make the book an enjoyable experience.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

As the title implies, the fourth book in Marsh’s Roderick Alleyn series is more sordid than the previous entries. Although handled discreetly, there are references to cultic rituals, drugs, porn and general hanky panky.

I didn’t enjoy this one so much for the mystery as for the relationship with Inspector Alleyn and his cohorts in crime solving. The reporter Bathgate is supposedly “Watson” to Alleyn’s “Holmes,” but I’m not convinced that that is a good comparison. Alleyn allows Bathgate to accompany him on his investigations, but he is just as likely to consult Fox (a fellow detective) as Bathgate. Frankly, I love his relationship to Fox who is a bit awkward, but extremely observant. There is a running joke about his trying to learn French and Alleyn refers to him often as “Brer Fox” or “Foxkin.” Instead of sounding condescending, this comes off as very brotherly.

All the random quotes from poetry and Shakespeare that Alleyn tosses around are delightful.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marsh is a better writer than Agatha Christie! Smarter sounding, but perhaps a bit above the usual genre conventions for a general public cozy read. Also it is very English, very 1940's, and not a middle-class viewpoint, but more educated upper class. Of course, Chief Inspector Alleyn is a member of the aristocracy. It's a quick read, and an eye-opener if you thought religious cults were new in the 1970's. The dialogue is dated, and interesting for that reason, but I had to google some of the "American" slang. Before my time, this dialogue, a little hard to decipher the 1936-ish cultural references.