Light Thickens
Light Thickens book cover

Light Thickens

Hardcover – September 1, 1982

Price
$26.95
Format
Hardcover
Pages
189
Publisher
Amereon Ltd
Publication Date
ISBN-13
978-0848805791
Dimensions
5.75 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
Weight
12.8 ounces

Description

'Faithful to the hallowed conventions of English detection... a fine swansong.' Observer 'As always she writes most elegantly.' Daily Telegraph 'Still, quite simply, the greatest exponent of the classical English detective story.' Daily Telegraph --Observer"It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." -- New York magazine "One of her very best...No playwright could devise a better curtain!" -- Los Angeles Times "It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." -- New York magazine "One of her very best...No playwright could devise a better curtain!" -- Los Angeles Times Dame Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand in 1895 and died in February 1982. She wrote over 30 detective novels and many of her stories have theatrical settings, for Ngaio Marsh's real passion was the theatre. She was both actress and producer and almost single-handedly revived the New Zealand public's interest in the theatre. It was for this work that the received what she called her 'damery' in 1966.

Features & Highlights

  • Peregrine Jay, owner of the Dolphin Theatre, is putting on a magnificent production of Macbeth, the play that, superstition says, always brings bad luck. But one night the claymore swings and the dummy's head is more than real: murder behind the scene. Luckily, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is in the audience...

Customer Reviews

Rating Breakdown

★★★★★
30%
(188)
★★★★
25%
(157)
★★★
15%
(94)
★★
7%
(44)
23%
(143)

Most Helpful Reviews

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A murder mystery associated with Shakespeare's Macbeth

I enjoyed this Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) entry a great deal, albeit it's not representative of her very best works such as [[ASIN:0312968981 False Scent (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)]], which is yet another theatrical murder mystery, also featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn.

Marsh, a New Zealander, was herself a director of theater so in this instance she naturally established an extensive wallpaper of details before she got around to knocking off her victim. I didn't mind this at all since her background for the mystery was so competently conveyed.

The story is essentially that Theater Director Peregrine Jay is putting on a top-notch production of "Macbeth," a play which reputedly brings bad luck to its principals. An apparent Herculean swing by some unknown cast or crew member's huge sword (a "Claymore" which has a difficult Scottish pronunciation and which is additionally said to have powers of its own!) brings the impending fear of doom to a head. And even though Inspector Alleyn was in the audience watching the play when the murder occurred, he still has a tough time sorting this one out.

I think that it would probably have been nice to have had just a little more of Inspector Alleyn and slightly less of the theater director, but it is what it is. I highly recommend this one for any enthusiast of Ngaio Marsh or, for British cozy murder mystery fans in general.
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