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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2018 1:58:58 GMT
I read her first novel and it was OK despite a ludicrous solution. Does the series get any better?
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 18, 2018 4:50:44 GMT
Yes, indeedy, @nxnwrocks. Marsh is one of the [very] few Golden Age mystery writers whose work actually got better, not worse, as time went on. A Man Lay Dead is by far one of the worse books she did, so know that she does improve. The one caveat, though, is that I feel her strengths lay in everything except puzzle-plotting; in many ways, writing detective-stories didn’t play to her talents, which were considerable. As critic Mike Grost wrote, "Marsh was not at all ashamed of being a mystery writer. She just wasn’t very good at it. At least much of the time.”
Those “not much of the time” books (IMO, of course) that I’ve read, by the way…
Death in a White Tie—an expansive book with a huge cast of characters; the mystery plotting’s not great, but the book’s fun to read and very well-written. As critic Nick Fuller put it, “…the inquiries into [the suspects’] movements are as carefully orchestrated as the steps of a dance…” Well-done.
Overture to Death—great opening and ending, somewhat slow middle, but it’s made up for by the murder method (exploding piano!) and one of the greatest clues in the genre—that onion!
Death at the Bar—one of the best: well-told and amusing. The murderer is not too difficult to spot, but the method is ingenious—“…ingeniously simple, and hence convincing,” as Nick put it.
Final Curtain—her masterpiece. Characterization (particularly of heroine Troy Alleyn, the best character she ever did), writing, and setting are perfect, great least-likely suspect and method. Superb.
I should also note that I haven’t yet read Death and the Dancing Footman, supposed to be one of her best.
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Post by Nalkarj on Jan 23, 2018 3:06:37 GMT
@nxnwrocks
At the risk of dragging in something irrelevant (me? Do that? Never!), if you like Marsh after these books, I recommend that you try finding some works of Helen McCloy—one of the greatest little known mystery writers of them all.
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