Ngaio Marsh’s DCI Alleyn’s Series

I was introduced to Dame (Edith) Ngaio Marsh 19 years ago during my first Christmas in the Mystery Book Club at Manchester Library. The book was appropriately, Tied Up in Tinsel, the 27th book in Marsh’s Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn series. Her first book was in 1934 and her last, the year of her death, was in 1982.

Alleyn presents as a British “gentleman detective” – schooled at Eton, graduated from Oxford around 1915, served in the army for three years in the First World War, then spent a year (1919-1920) in the British Foreign Service. He finally joined the Metropolitan Police as a constable in about 1920 or 1921. When the series opens in 1934, Alleyn is aged about 40 and is already a DCI in the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) at Scotland Yard. Although Alleyn plays down his upper-class background, his older, apparently less intelligent brother, is a baronet. The early books introduce Agatha Troy, a successful portrait artist, as an intelligent and competent woman to whom he is attracted. Later, they marry and have a son.

Alleyn is on Amazon Prime

My reason for posting here about DCI Allyne is my discovery today that a reasonably good video series was produced based on the Alleyn books by Marsh. I recommend watching this series, especially if you like similar series like that of DCI Adam Dalgleish (the poet detective) and DCI Endeavor Morse (the detective from Oxford who loves opera). [See my list of other fictional British police procedurals.]

The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries were originally broadcast on BBC1, with a pilot episode shown in 1990– well done, I thought. Two series followed in 1993 and 1994, also well done but the Alleyn role is played by a different actor than the one in the pilot.

Again, now available on Amazon Prime Video. Search for “Inspector Alleyn Mysteries.”

My Reaction

It was partly as a result of reading Tied Up in Tinsel way back in 2004, that I came to the realization that I don’t particularly like writing from the so-called “Golden Age of Detection Fiction.” A typical device used in these books is called the “Locked Room” or “Country House” setting. This was true of Tied Up in Tinsel where Agatha Troy accepts a commission to do a portrait at a country estate which is also hosting a Christmas party. A snowstorm basically isolates everyone attending when it becomes apparent someone has gone missing. Not only is the trope forced, it often has other bizarre circumstances; in this case, six of the hired servants are ex-cons from a nearby prison. Who does that?

A lot of these books, which I personally find tiresome, can be, in moderation, quite entertaining when made into a high quality video series or movies. And so it is with the aforementioned Alleyn series on Amazon Prime.

Understanding Crime Fiction History

No matter what I think, these books outsell all others. The Golden Age may have ended at the end of the 1930s, but new writers emulate all the time. So I am willing to dig around, sample this and that, to understand what has been written, how many variations there are, and what I like and do not like and why.

Ngaio Marsh. Back in 2004, I read one book and tried to decide about my reactions. But I never realized the author was a woman and that she wrote 33 books about a British detective chief inspector even though New Zealand was her home country. In reading a bit more today, I learned how much she has contributed to the life of the theater in New Zealand.

Much of this article is from various pages in Wikipedia

Some cozies build on genuine human frustrations…