Every detective ought to have a tame halfwit.

A Man Lay Dead is a classic detective novel set in a remote country house location with a limited number at cast characters assembled for a weekend house party. Written in 1934, so a little dated though this in no way detracts from the pleasure of the who-dun-it, this was the author's first book and also introduced inspector. Roderick Alleyn who featured in all of her subsequent books.
I read my first Ngaio Marsh !harsh novel some sixty plus years ago and was thrilled by the ingenuity of her plottings. Her characterizations, too, are sparse but still convey a real feeling for her people nevertheless. And it all started with this book.

Combined with the fun of the assembled guests at the house party, and the mystery death itself, comes the excellent narration of Philip Franks. His performance is perfectly in keeping with the settings of the novel,with individual appropriate voicing for each character and a clear , well modulated reading of the text. A delight.

Perfect for anyone who enjoys Agatha Christie or Marjorie Allingham, (though in my opinion better than both), or any classic style whodunit, and highly recommended

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Surprising A good listen

This is my first Ngaio Marsh listen, it will not be my last Phillip Franks was an excellent Narrator.
The story kept me listening with all its twisted and turns. Written with wit as well as a who done it. A good listen.

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Quite enjoyable, not my cup of tea though

If you enjoy a classic whodunnit kinda story, then I highly recommend this book.

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A truly brilliant narration by Philip Franks

For 20ties 30ties escapist comfort reading you can't beat Ngaio Marsh. They are well written and there is much in the attitudes of the main characters to help overcome any squeamishness at the inequality and snobbery of the background.

Philips Franks is one of the few truly brilliant narrators. Wonderful at all the voices and accents, and he is able to make the female characters sound female and not like a man being camp.. I wish he'd narrated more of the early Marsh's.

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Classic crime

Enjoyable for the period, characters and narration probably even more than for the crime plot.

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excellent as always

wonderful narration, excellent story. What more could you want from old school classic detection fiction.

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16 people found this helpful

Enthralling!

An interesting introduction to Ngaio Marsh’s Inspector Alleyn. The added Russian element added frisson to the story line, which, however, was seemingly a little protracted at times. Nevertheless, an enjoyable listen.

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Murder with added Russians…

Nigel Bathgate has been invited to a house party at Frantock Hall, the home of Sir Hubert Handesley. It is his first visit, made in the company of his older cousin Charles Rankin who is a long-time friend and regular guest of Sir Hubert. Likewise, the other guests are regulars too, so they all share an intricate web of relationships, friendships, affairs and jealousies. Sir Hubert has planned for this to be a murder weekend, where one guest will be appointed murderer and choose a victim, with the other guests playing detective. But after the lights go out as planned to signal the murder, the guests are shocked to find one of their number, truly dead, lying at the bottom of the stairs with a dagger through the heart. Enter Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn of the Yard…

This is an entertaining romp that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and nor must the reader! It’s always interesting to get a glimpse of how a long-running detective series starts out. Sometimes the detective springs fully formed onto the stage. Sometimes it takes a book or three for the author to settle into a style. This is one of the latter. While Alleyn is fundamentally the same man as in the later books, here he’s relentlessly light-hearted, always with a smart quip even when it seems entirely inappropriate, and horribly smug about his own superior mental prowess – not in an endearing-Poirot way, more in an I-want-to-punch-him way.

Inspector Fox, Alleyn’s right-hand man in most of the series, hasn’t yet been created, and Nigel Bathgate is given the role of sidekick instead. Nigel is a very young journalist whom Alleyn doesn’t know prior to this case, so it’s extremely odd that Alleyn takes him into his confidence when he has an entire police force of subordinates available to him, but never mind! Nigel is quite fun and promptly falls in love with fellow guest, Angela North, who is a modern young woman in the style of Tuppence Beresford. Nigel himself is not entirely unlike Tommy Beresford, and his role vis-a-vis Alleyn is reminiscent of the role a certain Captain Hastings plays elsewhere. I think it’s reasonably easy to see where Marsh’s early influences came from! In reality, Nigel’s role is to allow Alleyn to explain his thought processes for the sake of the reader, and it works despite the unlikeliness of it. The books do feel more realistic later in the series, however, once this sidekick role is handed over to Fox, a fellow police officer, although Bathgate continues to pop up quite often throughout the series if I remember rightly.

The plot! Hmm, well, let’s be kind and call it fun. The victim (whom I won’t name since it takes a while before the murder happens and we don’t know who will die) turns out not to have been a very nice person, so lots of people have motives, be it ill-treated lovers or jealous spouses of said lovers, or people who hope to inherit either money or some of the precious objects in the victim’s collection of rarities. And does the presence of not just one sinister Russian, but two, portend some kind of secret society with strange reasons for grudges? Of course it does! But is their grudge against the victim or are they up to something equally nefarious but coincidental? It always makes me laugh how often sinister Russians appear in Golden Age mysteries – they are responsible for a lot of the more preposterous plots of the time. I fear in this one the whole Russian strand was more like a comedy sketch than an actual plot, and became a little wearing in the number of clichés packed into it. Talking of preposterous brings me to the murder method. I wouldn’t say it’s the most unlikely way to kill someone I’ve ever read – the Golden Agers were inventive, after all – but it’s high up the list.

I always feel a lot of leeway has to be given to the first in a series, especially when it’s also the author’s first novel. If it persuades a reader to come back for the second book, it has basically done its job, and happily the entertainment level in this one is high enough to make the reader willing to overlook some of the less polished aspects and leave her wanting more. And we’re in the happy position of knowing that Alleyn and Marsh went on to have a successful and highly regarded partnership. I’m enjoying revisiting this old favourite series and look forward to seeing Marsh’s style develop over the next few books. 3½ stars for me, so rounded up.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Philip Franks, who does a fine job for the most part, although his Angela sounded a little too much like Lady Bracknell or Aunt Dahlia for my taste. But he did the comedy Russians well!

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Great story telling

Really enjoyed the twists and turns in each chapter a book of its time with language that reflected the period very well read

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Alleyn catches his man!

I loved it, and it had me guessing right until the big reveal l! Phillip Franks did a wonderful job narrating, I could imagine all of the parts with ease. It was thoroughly enjoyable!

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1 person found this helpful