Public performance and Murder (Marsh's Opening Night & Swing Brother Swing)

 

Ngaio Marsh. Opening Night (1951). Martyn Tarne has come to England to attempt a career in the theatre. She washes up at the Vulcan Theatre, as Dresser to leading lady Helen Hamilton, whose husband Clark Bennington is rapidly declining into a mean drunk. Tensions among the cast and with the author of the play, and Tarne’s uncanny resemblance to leading man and actor-manager Adam Poole stir up a witch’s broth of resentments and suspicions.
     The inevitable murder appears to repeat an earlier one the same premises. Alleyn solved that one and of course solves this one, too. But the investigation, though competently handled, isn’t the focus of the story. This is really a novel about the theatre, and actors, and the ambiance of rehearsal and performance. Worth reading for that alone. For me, it was a reread, and I enjoyed it more than the first read. Recommended. ***

 

Ngaio Marsh. Swing, Brother, Swing (1949) An eccentric and self-centred lord with an overweening notion of his musical talents, his almost equally eccentric family, a band-leader trying to preserve his status as first among equals, a vainglorious but talented accordionist, an unsuitable attachment, drugs, and the desire to maintain family status make for a well-stirred pot of resentments and anxieties. Murder is inevitable. Alleyn and Troy happen to be present when it happens, enjoying a night out. The puzzle is solved fairly, with plausibly distracting facts that have to be cleared away. Marsh has a lot of fun satirising human foibles and vanities. An enjoyable re-read for me. **½