Waterstones Vintage Murder / Death in Ecstasy / Artists in Crime
357 ratings
TO EXPLORE MORE
Price: £16.99
Brand: Waterstones
Description: Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime's first book, the second volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries. DEATH IN ECSTASY Who slipped cyanide into the ceremonial wine of ecstasy at the House of the Sacred Flame? The other initiates and the High Priest claim to be above earthly passions. But Roderick Alleyn discovers that the victim had provoked lust and jealousy, and he suspects that more evil still lurks behind the Sign of the Sacred Flame.VINTAGE MURDER New Zealand theatrical manager Alfred Meyer is planning a surprise for his wife's birthday - a jeroboam of champagne descending gently onto the stage after the performance. But, as Roderick Alleyn witnesses, something goes horribly wrong. Is the death the product of Maori superstitions - or something more down to earth?ARTISTS IN CRIME It starts as an art exercise - the knife under the drape, the pose outlined in chalk. But when Agatha Troy returns to her class, the scene has been re-enacted: the model is dead, fixed in the most dramatic pose Troy has ever seen. It's a difficult case for Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn. Is the woman he loves really a murderess.?. Waterstones Vintage Murder / Death in Ecstasy / Artists in Crime - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: Waterstones
Product ID: 9780007328703
Delivery cost: 2.99
ISBN: 9780007328703
My website utilises affiliate links when you click my 'Get the best deal now' buttons. If you buy something through one of these links, I may earn a little commission, at no extra cost to you.
I have relationships with many of the top online retailers (purchasing, shipping and returns will be handled directly by them) which enables me to offer the best deal online for the Waterstones Vintage Murder / Death in Ecstasy / Artists in Crime and many other similar products - which will appear below, to enhance your online shopping experience.
For even more great deals on Waterstones Books, click the link.
Author: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5
Review: A good read from a favourite author
Author: Allan DB
Rating: 3
Review: The first Ngaio Marsh novel featuring Inspector Alleyn was a country house murder. The following five books, including the three in the present ómnibus edition are in the same tradition - a closed community with a limited number of suspects, i.e. a theatre, a hospital operating theatre, a church, a theatre again and an artist's studio. The formula is identical in almost every book. The stories are well plotted and written, the language very much of its time and the books were presumably aimed at the same audience as AC, MA and DLS. The second story here is the worst of the six, set in New Zealand, "Vintage Murder" is the only one not to feature Alleyn's usual sidekicks, Inspector Fox and Bathgate, the hack from Grub Street. The story doesn't take off and there is too much repetition of question and answer of the witnesses. The NZ background is interesting but the use of such colonial expressions such as corking, good-oh, crook etc. becomes tiresome - I'm not sure if NM is gently mocking them or not. Interestingly, the book includes the mind boggles and rubbernecking. In the third book of this collection, Alleyn meets Miss Agatha Troy,RA, Academy, not Artillery. If I like these books, why only 3 stars? The answer is Roderick Alleyn, MA(Oxon), Gentleman Policeman. Many years ago I read a later NM and enjoyed it but I find the early Alleyn difficult to like, he is simply too fastidious to be a policeman and should have stuck with the Foreign Office. His scenes with Miss Agatha Troy are ludicrous. In the first chapter of Artists in Crime we meet an American actress, or rather a grotesque parody of one, described as the success of the ship. One of the female artists is repeatedly described as a nymphomaniac. I wonder if the meaning of the word has changed over 80 years. I shall persevere with Alleyn and hope his charácter improves with age.
