Alison Gordon. The Dead Pull Hitter (1989)

     Alison Gordon. The Dead Pull Hitter (1989) Gordon was the first woman sportswriter allowed into the locker rooms. She loves baseball. Setting a murder story in Toronto, with the “Titans” as the team to watch, must have seemed like a good idea at the time, and she certainly knows how to plot the puzzle, and describe ball games. But her characterisation is thin. Despite nicely done sketches of the players, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. Gordon hasn’t the knack of differentiating characters’ speech. Not a keeper. *½ (2007)

Ngaio Marsh. Final Curtain (1947)

 

    Ngaio Marsh. Final Curtain (1947) Troy is asked to paint the portrait of a Grand Old Man of the theatre, a vain family tyrant. She accepts the commission to help pass the time waiting for Rory to return from his stint in the antipodes. The old man dies, and an anonymous letter hints at murder. Alleyn, just returned, must do the honours, with Troy as one of his chief witnesses. It was murder, the motive was money, for the Old Man has altered his will in favour of his mistress and soon-to-be wife, a bimbo several decades younger than himself. His daughter-in-law killed him not realising he had done so, and trying to preserve some of the inheritance for her son, a ghastly number. The characters are a nice collection of nasties, normals, and sturdy retainers. This was Marsh’s first post-war book, and she apparently decided to treat the Alleyns’ relationship more seriously. Their marriage demonstrates Marsh’s ideals, and in some ways rebukes Sayers’ impossibly perfect picture of the Wimsey’s marriage. Nicely done, as always. Marsh’s world is one I like to enter. **½ (2007)

Ngaio Marsh. Died in the Wool (1944)

 

      Ngaio Marsh. Died in the Wool (1945) Another spy story, I guess every mystery writer at the time tried their hand at this genre. But this is just another domestic murder with a spy as the perpetrator. Alleyn is called in because of the spy angle, and he works by listening to the family discuss the dead woman, who was by all accounts a bundle of energy and ambition, and not nearly as pleasant as she no doubt fancied herself to be. She sussed out who the spy was, a lethal discovery. Alleyn works out the puzzle from the smattering of facts scattered among the piles of personal reminiscences and assessments. This technique gives Marsh another opportunity to do what she does best, create character. A pleasant entertainment, with no pretense at police procedural (which Marsh never completely describes anyhow, no doubt as bored with mind-numbing detail as her readers would have been.) **½ (2007)

Simon Schama. Scribble, Scribble. Scribble (2010)

     Simon Schama. Scribble, Scribble. Scribble (2010) Schama‘s TV series impressed me hugely, so I couldn’t resist buying this book. He’s passionate and personal about his subjects, supporting his insights and judgments with thorough scholarship. These occasional pieces for the most part deal with non-scholarly subjects such as cooking, travel, politics, and ice cream. He’s one of those foodies who makes you believe you can cook, at least while reading the essay. Even his most casual investigations entail historical and cultural research. He’s a scholar no matter what, especially when he’s discussing art, which changes the way you look at pictures. He tells us enough about his life and family that we believe his more focussed responses to what he’s talking about.
     And “talk” is the word. Even if you hadn’t heard him on TV, I think you’d hear a voice here. The voice of a man who’s found what he likes, what he wants, what matters to him, and can share his intellectual and emotional engagement. The essay from the beginning was personal. The charm of Montaigne is our sense that we are in his company when we read him. This goes for Schama, too, and exhilarating company it is. ****

Ngaio Marsh. Death and the Dancing Footman (1942)

 

     Ngaio Marsh. Death and the Dancing Footman (1942) Jonathan Royal assembles a group of guests who all have reason to hate each other, just to see what will develop. What develops is murder, done to gain a fortune and thereby the hand of a femme fatale. Along the way Marsh indulges her taste for comedy and satire, and does a very neat job of scattering red herrings about. The romantic lead and the ingenue fall in love as expected, the host is struck by pangs of conscience, and several other people come to their moral senses. The conventions of melodrama are thus respected, and a very pleasant four or so hours of reading provided. *** (2007)

Sue Grafton. F is for Fugitive (1989)

     Sue Grafton. F is for Fugitive (1989) A dying man, father of a fugitive convicted murderer, hires Kinsey to find the real murderer of a school girl 17 years after the fact. The setting is a small town, which means there are open secrets that no one acknowledges, and secrets that no one knows. The murderer is the fugitive’s sister, a school counsellor who has a lunatic crush on her principal and suffers from pathological jealousy. Kinsey’s investigations provide fuel for her jealousy, and prompt more murders. Grafton, like so many women crime writers, is a good satirist, and in her characters presents us with a number of acid comments on human frailty and vanity. A pleasant entertainment, but lacking the tension and edge of earlier books. **½ (2007)

Guy Williams. The World of Model Railways (1970)

     Guy Williams. The World of Model Railways (1970) It’s difficult to decide what audience Williams had in mind for this book. He tries to include everything: a brief history of railways, the development of railway modelling as an adjunct to design, then the appearance of toy trains, and the slow but steady growth of true-to-scale modelling. His technical discussions vary from accurate to simplified and thereby misleading. Errors abound (many mere typos, the kind that galley proofing should have caught.) He devotes chapters to layouts, track, rolling stock, buildings, scenery, etc, but deals with none of them in a way that would help a beginner to design and build his own layout, nor how to select commercial offerings.
      The book also displays the weaknesses of Williams’ sources. He doesn’t have a wide enough knowledge of “the world of model railways” himself, so he relies on others to fill in the gaps. That’s done in a haphazard fashion, for example, New Zealand gets more ink that the USA, although well over half of all model railroaders in the world are located in North America. There is no way for the naive reader to judge the relative importance or accuracy of the information Williams provides, while the knowledgeable fan sees many distortions and misleading emphases. The black and white photos are poorly reproduced, but the colour plates are sharp and clear. Some captions refer to the “realistic” scenery, which is somewhat too kind a description. All in all, a hodgepodge which satisfies neither the beginner nor the seasoned modeller. (2007)

Lynn Truss. Talk to the Hand (2005)

     Lynn Truss. Talk to the Hand (2005) Truss discusses the ways in which manners have changed for the worse, with occasional acknowledgments of improvements. I agree with her. Civility and good manners may be the least of moral issues, but like all moral issues, they deal with the fundamentals, here how we deal with each other in public. Good manners is the most basic realisation of the golden rule: Deal with other as you would like them to deal with you. The word Truss invokes is “respect.” Respect is acting out the assumption that the other person is as important as yourself. That’s all. Easy to understand, isn’t it? So why is it so hard to do? ***½ (2007)

E. O. Parrott. The Dogsbody Papers (1988)

      E. O. Parrott. The Dogsbody Papers (1988) I gave the is book to Jon in 1994. As expected, it showed no signs of use: Jon can read a book without leaving a trace, not even smudges from dirty thumbs.
     The title describes the contents, but not the angles taken by the several contributors. Apparently many of the most significant events in history were caused by misunderstood comments or instructions, sometimes issued by, and sometimes to, a Dogsbody. Dogsbodies had relatives in other countries, too. In Normandy, there were the Corps du Chien, for example. But wherever they lived, they derailed, redirected, or otherwise changed history in unexpected ways. These records unfortunately confirm that it made no real difference. Human chicanery, lust, greed, hypocrisy, and bloodymindedness inevitably triumph. Bah! **½ (2007)

Ngaio Marsh. Colour Scheme (1943)

 

     Ngaio Marsh. Colour Scheme (1943) A war book, in many ways a propaganda book. Spying happens at a badly run resort in southern New Zealand. Then there’s a murder. Alleyn, who’s spending a good part of the war assisting the New Zealanders on security matters, presents himself as a guest, solves the puzzle, and quietly melts into the background. The book focusses on the hapless British middle-class expats, the Maoris (somewhat sentimentalised to modern sensibilities, but not at all so conceived or perceived in 1943), the temperaments of actors, the clash of sensibilities, the effects of shyness, and so on. Social comedy, in other words, and well done. The murder and its solution are almost perfunctory, and for the most part are used to further illuminate character, and so comment on the society they form. Thoroughly enjoyable. **½ (2007)

Ngaio Marsh. Artists in Crime (1938)

      Ngaio Marsh. Artists in Crime (1938) This is the book in which Alleyn meets Troy. They are sailing from Suva on the same ship, and he surprises her painting the dock as the ship moves out. He likes what he sees, but she misunderstands his interest, and bristles, so Alleyn misunderstands. When a few weeks later Alleyn must attend a spectacularly gruesome and ingenious murder at Troy’s class for painters, the misunderstandings multiply. Alleyn solves the puzzle, with the usual help from Fox, Bailey, and Thompson. We meet his mother, too, and get several scenes showing what a marvellous mum she is, as well as a very smart lady. She approves of Troy, in part because Alleyn bought her portrait of himself which she had painted on the ship.
     Marsh’s penchant for social comedy appears more strongly here than in earlier books. The opening act, the journey from Suva, includes a nicely sharp-clawed portrait of a spoiled and self-centred Hollywood actress, and seems to have been written as much to make satiric points about such females as to introduce us to Troy, and Alleyn’s sudden (and beautifully rendered) love for her. The case itself affords more opportunities to show Alleyn and Troy’s progressive entanglement with each other, each afraid that the other will mistake motives and emotions, and so each unable to trust their perceptions. The story ends happily for them, but one does wonder (briefly) what the effects of the murder will be on the other people involved.
     The murderer is another self-centred woman, but not a silly one. While the actress was merely vain, the painter is a psychopath. The puzzle is well done and fairly presented: an alert reader could solve it. I’m not an alert reader, I’m more interested in characters and atmosphere than clues. All the same, I often divine the culprit, though I can’t give a coherent proof of guilt. In this case, I spotted the murderer just before Alleyn unmasked her. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. *** (2007)

Ngaio Marsh. Killer Dolphin (1966)

    

  Ngaio Marsh. Killer Dolphin (1966) US title of Death at the Dolphin, with internal evidence of some textual changes, for example, “torch” printed in italics: it looks like the typesetter didn’t replace that word with “flashlight.”
    
Most of the book is about the Theatre, specifically The Dolphin, a derelict building that almost kills playwright-director Peregrine Jay when he goes to view it. A mysterious stranger who rescues him turns out to be the owner, who then agrees to renovate the old building and underwrite its operation. A glove, allegedly made by John Shakespeare for his grandson Hamnet, and a couple of documents (one of them in W. S.’s own hand) that attest to its authenticity figure in the plot. Jay writes a play about W. S., which opens the new Dolphin, and is a huge success. An attempt at stealing the relics goes awry, an elderly watchman dies, and an obnoxious child actor barely survives being tossed over the balcony rail.
     Alleyn is brought in early to “advise” on the security arrangements around the display of
the Shakespearean relics, and appears briefly to solve the puzzle, but as in many of Marsh’s later books, the police work and detecting are there for formula’s sake only. She loved the theatre, was an accomplished playwright herself, and was damed for her services to the New Zealand theatre. Over half the book deals with the realisation of Peregrine’s vision, the casting and directing of the play, and the workings of show business. Nicely done, and very entertaining. ***  (2007)