Proof that lawyers shouldn't drink.... (Death at the Bar - Ngaio Marsh)

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	Death at the Bar - Ngaio Marsh
Date:	08/05/07 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Good plot, entertaining read

Disadvantages: A bit old-fashioned

Luke Watchman, a London lawyer, is on his way to meet his friends in a small seaside town where they plan to spend a few weeks on holiday. When someone unexpectedly crashes into the side of his car, he is surprised to find that he finds the person familiar, but cannot place him. When he later discovers that the man, who is called Robert Legge, is staying at the same pub as he is, he slowly begins to remember where he has seen him before.

When Watchman is poisoned a few days later, suspicion immediately falls on Legge, but there seems to be no way that he could have committed the crime. With a pub full of people at the time, it seems that the murderer, whoever he or she is, has got away with the deed. Then New Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn, and his sidekick, Fox, are invited by the local police force to investigate. Can they solve the seemingly unsolvable mystery before more murders are committed?

Ngaio Marsh is well known as one of the Queens of Crime Fiction, along with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L Sayers. Her books all star Roderick Alleyn, detective extraordinaire, and the various murders that he manages to stumble across, usually while on holiday. As a detective, Alleyn is not one of my favourites; he is fairly bland, a bit too smart for his own good and has never really made much of an impact on me anyway. In this book though, he does appear quite a lot softer and more human than in other books. For a start, he makes his feelings for his colleague, Fox, very clear when Fox’s life is put into danger. This made me warm to him much more than usual.

There is not a great deal of time committed to other characters, but the information we are given is very descriptive and really brought the characters to life. There is Sebastian Parish, cousin of the murdered man, an actor with exaggerated mannerisms. Then their friend, Norman Cubitt, who is much quieter, but has hidden depths. The Pomeroys, Abel and Will, who run the pub in which the friends are staying are well portrayed as well. Abel is elderly and committed to his clients, whereas Will is a communist and, at times, is rude to the guests. He is in love with Decima Moore, the love interest of the book, who is also a communist and very vibrant and alive with it. All these characters bring much colour to the book and help make the plot all the more convincing and compelling.

The plot is strong and well described. The murder is seemingly fool-proof, but bit by bit, we are fed information that makes it possible to understand how the murderer committed the crime. One thing I like about Ngaio Marsh’s plots is that she keeps them fairly short so that there is not too much technical detail in them. This keeps the reader’s interest going right through to the end, unlike some modern writers who seem to want to impress every aspect of every angle and end up boring me rigid.

Ngaio Marsh was very involved with the theatre in her native New Zealand , and it is clear from her work that she has long been involved with cultural activities. Her language is pithy, but very precise and helps to keep the plot ticking along at a good pace.

Probably the only criticism that I can find about this book is that the language is very old-fashioned. I personally don’t think that this is a problem – I like detective novels from the earlier part of the 20th century, when the skill in crime was much more straightforward and easier to understand than it is these days. However, it does mean that many, particularly younger readers, will find it hard to associate with and may lose interest quickly. This is why I believe that Ngaio Marsh’s work has lost popularity over the years, whereas Agatha Christie’s has increased. Christie kept her language simple and therefore more translatable to the present day, whereas Marsh’s work just seems a little difficult to read.

This is the second time that I have read this book, which is testament to how much I enjoyed it. I do think it is one of Marsh’s better books, although all of them are worth a read. If you enjoy crime fiction, you’ll probably enjoy this, although be prepared for the old-fashioned air it has about it. Recommended.

The book is available from play.com for £5.49. Published by HarperCollins, it has 288 pages. ISBN: 9780006512356

Summary: One of my favourite authors