Reading the Detectives discussion

Welcome to the 27th Roderick Alleyn mystery, published in 1972.

Christmas time in an isolated country house and, following a flaming row in the kitchen, there's murder inside. When a much disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after giving presents to the local children, foul play is at once suspected -- and foul play it proves to be. Only suspicion falls not on the staff but on the guests - among whom is Troy, painting a portrait of the house's owner. When Superintendent Roderick Alleyn returns unexpectedly from a trip to Australia, it is to find his beloved wife in the thick of an intriguing mystery...

Please do not post spoilers in this thread. Thank you.

Opening up this thread. This is one of two Christmas-themed buddy reads this month, together with Monk's Hood by Ellis Peters.

Who is reading this Marsh mystery? I last read it in the early days of the group as a festive buddy read, and remember enjoying it - nice to have Troy playing a leading role again. I don't remember all that much though and do intend to reread.

I will have a look in a minute and find the previous thread to link to.

I read this when I was looking for a holiday read before any other Alleyns. The synopsis sounds a bit familiar and I will be rereading soon. I expect to enjoy it more now that I know Roderick and Troy.

I wasn't really enamoured by this one, even though I've enjoyed the previous couple.

I just started this one last night. Only read the first chapter so far, so don't even have all the characters introduced yet.

I've started this now, on audio. It is officially a reread but I remember nothing! Its a shame I only have the audio as I do better keeping the characters straight if I have a print version as well.

I've just belatedly found the old thread for this from our previous buddy read discussion at Christmas 2016 (it was before we started separate spoiler threads). Sorry I forgot to do it when I said I would!

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

I'm listening to this and the narrator tries to get the 'y' in Alleyn into her pronunciation. And, I assumed Bill was a nickname for Hilary but found out in the GR description that it is part of his hyphenated last name. Not sure which is stranger.

Sandy wrote: "I'm listening to this and the narrator tries to get the 'y' in Alleyn into her pronunciation. And, I assumed Bill was a nickname for Hilary but found out in the GR description that it is part of hi..."

lol, Sandy!

I reread this in December. I must admit that while I usually like the ones that feature Troy, this one isn't one of my favorites. The whole household setup is too weird for me!

I've belatedly started rereading this - it took me a bit longer than I thought it would to finish the Caroline Graham! Another one with a good start, as Troy discovers the weird set-up at the house where she is working.

I bought the Kindle book of this, but had forgotten that I already had the audible version from our read 4 years ago! So I am able to go to and fro with "whispersync", which I don't think I've tried before.

I really enjoy Uncle Flea and Aunt Bed (brilliantly done by the reader of the audible version, James Saxon) - also Cressida is very funny, if annoying!