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A Man Lay Dead (Medical Intelligence Unit)
by Ngaio Marsh (Narrator: James Saxon)
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Audio Partners (2000-09-13)
ISBN: 1572701692
EAN: 9781572701694
UPC: 601531116941
Dewy Decimal #: 823
Audio Cassette
Edition: Unabridged
SKU: 08030061
Condition: Very Good Very Good
Comments: Four audio tapes in very good condition with no visible flaws. Original packaging in very good condition with clear text and nice artwork and plastic insert protecting tapes.
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
Ngaio Marsh's first book introduces Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard, the central character in all her subsequent mysteries. When a party at the country house of Sir Hubert Handesley gathers for the uproarious parlor game Murder, the lights come up on an actual corpse. Inspector Alleyn finds the butler missing, alibis for all the suspects, and an intricate puzzle of betrayal. Without ado, he determines to find the key to this deadly game. "It is time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." - New York Magazine
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Customer Reviews
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"Perhaps the butler did it."
Rating  (4)
Date: 2007-10-31
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
(3.5 stars) Taking place at an English country estate during a house party weekend, Ngaio Marsh's first Roderick Alleyn mystery, written in 1934, forecasts the later success of her successful thirty-two book Alleyn series. Invited to the home of Sir Hubert Handesley, where they will participate in a "murder" game, the houseguests know that one of them will be chosen to be the "murderer" and that s/he will select and "murder" one of the other guests. In this case, however, when the gong sounds and the lights come on, they discover that one of the guests has actually been murdered.
Written in the tradition of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham, this "closed room" mystery draws Inspector Alleyn of Scotland Yard into the case. A character who, at this point, has yet to achieve the unique characteristics which eventually makes him such a popular detective, Alleyn interviews the guests and staff, and, surprisingly, draws guest Nigel Bathgate, the cousin of the victim, into the investigation of the murder. As Alleyn and Bathgate investigate, subplots involving an antique Oriental dagger, an anarchist Russian secret society, a grisly murder in London, and the romantic attachments of the victim unfold.
No more realistic than other mysteries of the period, this one, like those, follows a formula, with surprising discoveries which strain credulity, at the same time that the author is tempting the reader to solve the case. Much is made of the floor plan of the estate and the alibis of the guests, but ultimately, the solution depends not on logic, but on information which the author does not give her readers until the conclusion, making logical deduction impossible here. Still the novel is fun to read as a period piece, a mystery which calls to mind a long-lost way of life with all its superficial pleasures and amusements. n Mary Whipple
Vintage Murder (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)
Night at the Vulcan (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)
Black As He's Painted (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)
False Scent (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)
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Series
Rating  (5)
Date: 2006-03-13
This is a book which is part of one of my favorite series. Ngaio Marsh is an excellent writer. I always enjoy her books.
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The first Alleyn mystery, but not a representative start
Rating  (2)
Date: 2006-01-01
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
When beginning to read a series that unfolds various episodes in the lives of a group of characters, even in mystery series where the individual books are stand-alone works, one often wants to begin at the beginning. A MAN LAY DEAD, however, is an instance of a book not only at the beginning of a series, but at the beginning of its author's career, when Marsh was still experimenting with the craft of writing mysteries as well as working out how best to deploy her chief investigative character, Alleyn of Scotland Yard. (His rank varies over the course of the series, but here he's already rather distinguished and in his very late thirties or early forties. He's a character who will not age much over the next fifty years of his career.)
The basic plot of A MAN LAY DEAD is fairly simple - Nigel Bathgate, a young reporter, is accompanying his well-off cousin Charles Rankin to a country house party, wherein the main entertainment of the weekend is to be a Murder Game (which, of course, features a real corpse sooner rather than later). Since the local police force is fairly small and has a few people off sick, they promptly turn the case over to the Yard, and Alleyn takes over the investigation. (The fact that some of the chief suspects ordinarily live in London doesn't seem to be a factor.) Bathgate is essentially the viewpoint character throughout, without use of Alleyn's point of view as in later books, and Marsh introduces some rather strained bits of business at times to ensure that Bathgate can be an eyewitness to parts of the investigation that realistically he should never have been allowed to see, let alone participate in. Alleyn is an interesting but rather remote figure in this story.
The country house setting has about a dozen servants looking after a household whose official residents total two, as far as I can tell: Sir Hubert (a fanatical weapons collector with a hobby of giving parties) and his niece Angela, who is Bathgate's romantic interest. She's a demonic driver, and looks very good indeed compared to the female guests, who are both hangers-on of Nigel's cousin in one way or another. The other members of the house party generally give an impression of being stuffy and/or affected at first sight, while few of the servants have many scenes. Marsh in later years tended to develop supporting players more than she does here.
Considered as a puzzle, the story has at least one weakness, which is that Alleyn has information about the motives of some of the suspects that isn't given to the reader. However, since the evidence about *how* the crime was committed and of the characters' movements is provided, the reader has enough to work with to attempt a solution.
Considered in terms of portraying a police investigation, I don't think Marsh has been particularly realistic. On the one hand, Alleyn effectively puts the entire house party under house arrest by instructing them not to leave the house until the inquest (not, for example, just making themselves appropriately available), while on the other hand, the house isn't properly locked down and one of the servants manages to get away completely (and doesn't seem to face any consequences for having fled the scene once he *is* located). Alleyn messes around with forensic work rather than letting his fingerprint expert just do his job and *ask* for everyone's fingerprints, but on the other hand abets some illegal search and seizure at another point. As well as the standard reenactment of the crime/confront the murderer scene, Alleyn involves civilians unnecessarily in another bit of hunting with live bait that goes badly wrong.
In terms of human interest that turns this into a story rather than a simple puzzle - and supplies red herrings where necessary - I *had* thought Marsh's second book, ENTER A MURDERER, was overly melodramatic in spots. I spoke without having completed *this* book, which combines some fairly believable personal relationships with incidents that try the reader's credulity. One amazing subplot - "amazing" as a descriptive, not a compliment - is that the murder weapon is a symbolic weapon of a Russian secret society. The reason I'm not being complimentary about this is that the society is introduced without really being made to earn its way - it could've been really interesting and colourful but fell flat. Marsh doesn't seem to have put much effort into consistently working out what she *did* use with it - it's a "Russian" society, but uses Mongolian weaponry and the first member of the society we learn about is Polish, without any sense of how all those elements are supposed to fit together. This kind of undeveloped gimmick isn't at all typical of what I've read of Marsh's later work, so if a reader began with this book, the reader might get a very inaccurate impression of her typical style.
Drive-in totals:
- Three love affairs, at least one including the viewpoint character.
- One secret society with ceremonial sacred weapons and some torture.
- One kidnapping episode.
- Some rather prejudiced attitudes among the characters (mostly anti-foreign sentiment), with one noticeable ethnic slur.
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A good start to a great series
Rating (4)
Date: 2005-09-04
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
This is a great introduction to a delightful series set in the classic English manor house.. Marsh takes her reader along not letting one know the "how" and "who" under the last few pages. It's the beginning of a wonderful friendship between Alleyn and journalist Nigel Bathgate. The series definitely improves over time, but I always like to begin at the beginning. Personally, I prefer Marsh to Christie; maybe because I'm a procedurals fan. Whatever your preference, there are interesting characters, effective red herrings, the classic reveal all of which result in a very satisfying read.
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A beginner's classic cozy
Rating  (3)
Date: 2003-12-07
3 out of 4 customers found this reveiw helpful
Until now, I had never read anything by New Zealander Ngaio Marsh. Shall I ever again? Well, yes, especially when I feel in the mood for a `classic cozy'; and I mean that quite literally. This is Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn's first mystery. He has to be the most shrewdly charismatic of all the sleuths created during the Golden Era of mystery. In its most classic sense, "A man lay dead" takes place at an English country house. A party of five guests arrives for a weekend at Frantock, Sir Hubert Handesley's residence. Quite the tycoon, Handesley distinguishes himself in party planning and antique weapon collecting. One of his guests, Charles Rankin, brings with him not only his dull journalist cousin; but also a very old (and priceless) dagger of Mongolian origin. Upon perusal by Sir Handesley and the other guests during cocktails, the weapon appears to have a bloody past: it is believed to have been savagely used by some secret Russian organizations during the time of the Bolshevik revolts. Needless to say, after seeing the specimen Sir Hubert's mouth waters, his Russian butler disappears mysteriously, his only Russian guest, a Dr. Tokareff, starts acting weirdly then ever; and... Charles Rankin is stabbed in the back with the weapon during `The Murder Game', which was supposed to be the entertainment of the weekend. Thus, the innocently planned party becomes quite eerie, its guests more tense than ever; even though they all appear to have cast-iron alibis.This first novel is somewhat general at times, but two thirds into it, I couldn't put it down. I found ingenious the way Marsh would not give away whodunit right up to the last two or three pages in the book. Alleyn keeps everyone on their toes during a constant guessing game, and even though at times he may appear disconcerting to everyone else involved - including the reader - he is very much in control of his ideas, suave as ever. I did find, however, that the Russian element in the story was pushed a bit too much. Even though the dagger does have a bloody past, it has really nothing to do in the end with the actual solving of the crime. In bringing on a complicated background of Russian espionage, Marsh confuses the reader with so many new characters and plot twists. In the end, it all goes back to the beginning - literally - to Frantock, where Alleyn, in a most dramatic display of his powers of persuasion, taunts the murderer into self discovery. I very much enjoyed reading the descriptions of the English country settings and the way the game is planned - perhaps I shall try it for my next party? No dagger, mind you - and I look forward to more Inspector Alleyn mysteries, where, due to Marsh's love of the theater; everything has quite a dramatic development.
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