Ngaio Marsh. False Scent (1960)

     Ngaio Marsh. False Scent (1960) From the blurb: “Mary Bellamy, ageing darling of the London stage, holds a fiftieth birthday party: a gala where she has assembled everyone who loves her and fears her power....”
     Nevertheless, one of them dislikes her enough to off her, using a scent bottle filled with pesticide. Alleyn solves the puzzle in his usual unorthodox way. The whole action takes place in about 24 hours, making the novel a classic Greek tragedy. The theme is also tragic: the murderer is Bellamy’s husband, who cannot stand the thought that she is becoming something less than the perfection that she embodied when he married her. He dies, too, so all is (tragically) well.
     Some good bits of satire on theatre people, as well as the formulaic romantic subplot: a playwright and a ingenue actress fall in love despite themselves. Marsh does this subplot more than once, which suggests that she (or her audience) likes the idea. Wonder how it relates to her own love life (on which her bios are curiously discreet). Nicely done entertainment. Alleyn, Fox, et al. are as always too good to be true, but that’s what we want from them.**½ (2007)