Ngaio Marsh. Death in Ecstasy (1936) Bathgate, bored, walks in on a murder in a weird sect. Alleyn (pre-Troy) and the imperturbable Fox tease out the threads of truth, discover the usual almost-impossible method of murder, and find the murderer. A classic puzzle from the classic period of English puzzle mysteries. Marsh, like Christie, moves her story forward by means of dialogue; unlike Christie, she invents characters with some substance to them, but she sticks pretty close to formula all the same. In later books, she exploits the social comedy aspects of crime fiction, and develops her characters in some depth; here, she is still finding out what she can do with the mystery form. Aunt Rosemary gave me this book to fill out my collection; it was printed in 1941, on cheap newsprint that has held up remarkably well, and the author’s note indicates she had written only half a dozen or so of the series that later earned her a comfortable income and enabled her to devote herself to fostering theatre in New Zealand. **½ (2004)
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