Reading the Detectives discussion

Ngaio Marsh is one of the 'Big Four,' Golden Age authors, who include Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Margery Allingham.

In 2018 we intend to read the first 12 of her mystery novels, featuring her detective, Roderick Alleyn. Ngaio Marsh is not as well known to many of us, as perhaps Christie or Sayers, so it will be nice to discover (for some of us) a new series. The books, in order, will be:

Roderick Alleyn
January: A Man Lay Dead (1934)
February: Enter a Murderer (1935)
March: The Nursing Home Murder (1935)
April: Death in Ecstasy (1936)
May: Vintage Murder (1937)
June: Artists in Crime (1938)
July: Death in a White Tie (1938)
August: Overture to Death (1939)
September: Death at the Bar (1940)
October: Death of a Peer (aka Surfeit of Lampreys) (1940)
November: Death and the Dancing Footman (1941)
December: Colour Scheme (1943)

Please note that this is NOT the entire series, as Marsh published the last book in 1982! However, these are the first 12 books, in order, and are a good introduction to her writing.

As always, everyone is welcome to join in with as many books as you wish - or to join the discussions even if you haven't read a particular book! Happy Reading Everyone!

Judy, Susan, Lesley and Sandy

Thank you for setting this all up, Susan!

I’m looking forward to this challenge!

I am going to read at least the first few. If I really like them as I suspect I will, I'll read all 12 :)

I'm looking forward to this challenge, as well! I've got my books ready. And I'm waiting for my turn to read the first book. YAY!

Looking forward to it too. I have read the first couple, but I definitely haven't read many of them.

Quite a few of us read the first book here as a group read, and that definitely whetted my appetite for more by this author. Reading them as a group pushes them to the top of a an ever growing list of books I mean to read.

That's true, Jill. So many books I mean to read and only get to when we read them together.

That sounds like fun - it's been a while since I've read most of these. I'd like to join, if I may!

You certainly may, Tracey! Everyone is very welcome :)

Include me in on this challenge please. I've already been scouring the local used bookstores for these titles. Looking forward to it.

Good to hear, Doug. Everyone can sign up to the challenge from 1st Jan, 2018.

I'm in for this!

Hilary S wrote: "I'm in for this!"

Hurrah! Welcome on board, Hilary :)

Here is some biographical information about Ngaio Marsh, to whet your appetite:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/...

http://www.classiccrimefiction.com/ma...

All my books have arrived so once I finish Miss Marple's final cases I shall be raring to go. Bring it on 👍

Christmas came early then, Adrian :) We shall have some good reading to look forward to next year.

Susan wrote " Christmas came early then, Adrian :) "

Ha ha , yes it did, great to get presents you really want, far easier to buy them oneself 😏

Thank you for organising this. I have my books ready! I've previously only read one book by Ngaio Marsh, Died in the wool. Am looking forward to exploring more of her work.

Tracey wrote: "Thank you for organising this. I have my books ready! I've previously only read one book by Ngaio Marsh, Died in the wool. Am looking forward to exploring more of her work."

Good to hear, Tracey. We're looking forward to it too :)

First book is ordered and should be here on Friday. I just need to finish my Miss Marple challenge. I have 3 more days.

You'll be fine, Sandy :) I started to re-read the first Ngaio Marsh and then realised it won't count towards my new challenge if I finish it this year, so have left the last few chapters for the new year...

I'm another one who's never read any of Marsh, so sure, count me in. For the first one, at least... :-)

Susan wrote: "You'll be fine, Sandy :) I started to re-read the first Ngaio Marsh and then realised it won't count towards my new challenge if I finish it this year, so have left the last few chapters for the ne..."

Very sneaky (but good advice as I plan to start very soon). I would just 'neglect' to update Goodreads.

I learnt my lesson last year, Sandy, when I did exactly the same thing with Miss Marple!

I picked up my copy of A Man Lay Dead in my local library yesterday - and was quite chuffed to find it as a collection of the first three of her mysteries. If I'm lucky I'll be able to keep it long enough to get to March in the challenge!

Sue wrote: "I picked up my copy of A Man Lay Dead in my local library yesterday - and was quite chuffed to find it as a collection of the first three of her mysteries. If I'm lucky I'll be able to keep it long..."

Sounds like a plan, Sue :)

That's great, Sue. I've just received that same collection of the first 3 mysteries as a Christmas present, and am looking forward to reading it! :)

I'm on board! I actually finished a re-read of the first, just yesterday. I like to get the book done before the discussion, so I can go confidently into the spoilers section.

Mark Pghfan wrote: "I'm on board! I actually finished a re-read of the first, just yesterday. I like to get the book done before the discussion, so I can go confidently into the spoilers section."

Good point Mark, I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps I'll dip into this one this evening then.

I have just noticed that all of the books in our challenge were published within a ten year period (more or less). That's pretty impressive!

Just to put her in perspective, her first mystery was published in 1934, whereas Christie's first novel was published in 1920, Sayers in 1923 and Allingham in 1929. That makes her the last of the Big Four major GA crime authors to be in print and the only one not published in the 1920's (even if Allingham only just made the decade).

In a way, that is a testament to how good she was, because she came into a marketplace which already had major authors in the genre, she wasn't from the UK, even though she lived her on and off throughout her life, and she still managed to be considered one of the greatest crime writers of her generation.

Looking forward to this challenge and to reading alongside you all in 2018!

Good morning and Happy New Year, everyone! If you want to sign up for the Ngaio Marsh Challenge, there is a link just under the challenge details on the home page.

You will be asked how many books you want to read. That is up to you, of course, but if you want to complete the whole challenge, there are 12 books in all - one for each month of the year:

January: A Man Lay Dead (1934)
February: Enter a Murderer (1935)
March: The Nursing Home Murder (1935)
April: Death in Ecstasy (1936)
May: Vintage Murder (1937)
June: Artists in Crime (1938)
July: Death in a White Tie (1938)
August: Overture to Death (1939)
September: Death at the Bar (1940)
October: Death of a Peer (aka Surfeit of Lampreys) (1940)
November: Death and the Dancing Footman (1941)
December: Colour Scheme (1943)

You also need to enter a name for your Challenge Shelf - such as 'Ngaio Marsh Challenge'. When you read a book for this challenge, make sure you tick that box in your shelf option and the book will count towards your challenge.

If you are unsure about anything, or have any questions, please post here and we will do our best to help you. Hope you enjoy the challenge this year.

Happy New Year!

Thanks for the information on the challenge. I've opted for the full 12 books as I have been meaning to read some of her books for a really long time. I started the first book this morning and so far thoroughly enjoying it! I won't be venturing into the spoiler section until I'm finished though, just in case! :)

Thanks for all the info Susan
All sorted and done,let’s go 🙂

Excellent - hope you enjoy the challenge, Laura and Adrian :)

I'm getting ready to dive into A Man Lay Dead. Can't wait to start re-reading Marsh after all these years.

Bev wrote: "I'm getting ready to dive into A Man Lay Dead. Can't wait to start re-reading Marsh after all these years."

Good to hear, Bev :)

Oh oh now I have to push A Man Lay Dead aaaall the way to the top of my TBR, I guess. I bought the first "omnibus" with the first 3 novels when the group read had occured, but I never get to it. I will try and read the first two or the first three, depending on... a lot of things ^^

Elinor wrote: "Oh oh now I have to push A Man Lay Dead aaaall the way to the top of my TBR, I guess. I bought the first "omnibus" with the first 3 novels when the group read had occured, but I never get to it. I ..."

Don't worry, Elinor. We all have huge reading mountains to climb! The first book is fairly short, if that helps :)

I'm not much of a challenge person as I really don't know when I would feel like reading (or not reading) which book! But I would like to add a general observation. I have read five of Marsh's Roderick Alleyn novels and one of her short story collections. One thing I have noticed about my relationship with her books is that I enjoy them when they are in audio book format. Print format, not so much. I cannot find any reason behind this preference of mine but there it is.

I really enjoyed reading this book, Unfortunately I did not know many writers in the mystery except for Agatha Christie, I am very excited to read the second book of the collection.

Don't worry, True.magic, I am sure we can introduce you to lots of 'new' authors :)

I've just been offered, and have taken, a review copy of a continuation of Marsh's final unfinished novel: Money in the Morgue: An Inspector Alleyn Mystery - it's continued by Stella Duffy, a good author in her own right but not one I would associate with crime.

Having only read the one Marsh, I wonder if I'll take to this modern continuation better than those of Christie or Sayers?

Roman Clodia wrote: "I've just been offered, and have taken, a review copy of a continuation of Marsh's final unfinished novel: Money in the Morgue: An Inspector Alleyn Mystery - it's continued by [auth..."

Probably a different perspective, having tasted Alleyn but not fully immersed. Enjoy the experience.

There are also Campion continuations, aren't there? I await your thoughts with interest, RC, but, like Sandy, I need to read the original series before possibly continuing.

Haha - yes, I'm not really a completist, happy to jump around in a series!

That's good in many ways, but I am quite anal about book order!

Allingham's husband, Youngman Carter, wrote a couple of continuations - I believe I've read that he assisted with her books anyway so they may not seem all that different from the Allingham ones, though I haven't read his books. More recently Mike Ripley has also written Campion sequels.

P.S., I haven't tried the Ripley ones yet either...

Susan wrote: "That's good in many ways, but I am quite anal about book order!"

😊 Perhaps there's a difference between a serial where there are overarching story strands that stretch between books and which make order important (the Wimsey-Vane relationship in Sayers, for example), and a series like Poirot or Marple where little is lost in jumping in anywhere?