Roderick Alleyn mysteries

"A policeman in the audience sees an all-too-real death scene on a London stage: "Good enough to satisfy the most critical reader of detective stories." -- The New York Times Inspector Roderick Alleyn has been invited to an opening night, a new play in which two characters quarrel and then struggle for a gun, with predictably sad results. Even sadder, the gun was not, in fact, loaded with blanks. And when it comes to interviewing witnesses, actors...

"Tainted wine sends a member of a religious sect to meet her maker in a witty mystery marked by "quiet, intelligent deduction" ( Kirkus Reviews ). Did lovely Cara Quoyne get a whiff of the bitter almonds as she raised the goblet to her lips? We'll never know: With a single sip of prussic acid she transported herself to the Hereafter. Now Inspector Alleyn must investigate a murder at the House of the Sacred Flame, a rather quirky little religious...

"A model is murdered in this "first-rate" detective story by the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master ( Kirkus Reviews ). On a ship traveling back to England, Miss Agatha Troy finds Inspector Roderick Alleyn tedious and dull; he thinks she's a bohemian cliché. They may be destined for romance, but there's a murder in the way: No sooner has Alleyn settled in to his mother's house, eager for a relaxing end to his vacation, than he gets a call...

"A local busybody is silenced for good in this tale by "a peerless practitioner of the slightly surreal, English-village comedy-mystery" ( Kirkus Reviews ). In their Dorset village, neither Miss Campanula nor her friend Miss Prentice are known as lovable little old ladies. They're waspish, gossiping snobby little old ladies, passionate only about their amateur theatrical productions, their narrowly defined opinions about how everyone else should behave...

During World War II, Colonel Claire-a tremendously nice fellow and a disastrously bad businessman-runs a mud-baths resort in rural New Zealand. But the place is on the brink of being taken over by a local blowhard who may be a Nazi spy. Inspector Alleyn has been sent in to sort things out-and don a disguise in order to blend in the resort's motley cast of characters-in this classic tale of detection from the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master....

"A delicious and classic country-house mystery. Well, country-castle. The lord of the manor is Sir Henry Ancred, a celebrated Shakespearian actor (and pompous bore), who has arranged to have his portrait painted by none other than Agatha Troy, wife of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. She's rather glad to be stepping out of Alleyn's shadow, so much so that when Ancred is killed at his own birthday party, Troy at first tries sleuthing on her own. But she's...

"A shabby, fourth-rate theater, the Vulcan is not where Martyn Tarne hoped to work, when she moved from New Zealand to London in hope of a glittering acting career. But a girl has to eat, so Martyn takes a job as dresser to the Vulcan's leading lady. This provides her with a ringside seat to the backstage circus: the aging alcoholic actor, the waspish playwright, the ingénue on the make, the surprisingly gracious grande dame. There is, of course,...

"An aristocrat dies under fishy circumstances in this tale by "the finest writer in the English language of the pure, classical puzzle whodunnit" ( The Sun ). In an almost unspeakably charming little English village, one of the local aristocrats turns up dead next to the local trout-stream with, in fact, a trout at his side. Everyone is dreadfully upset, of course, but really, just a tad irritated as well-murder is so awfully messy. Inspector Alleyn...

"It's foul play on a freighter: "Enthralling...keeps the reader on tenterhooks until the dramatic finale." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The good ship Cape Farewell is steaming out to sea, with a passenger-list and crew fairly littered with the shifty, the twitchy, the peculiar, and the up-to-no-good. Arguably the up-to-no-goodest is a strangler with a romantic streak: He likes to leave his ladies with a flower and a charming little song. The...

A deadly dull man is now just plain dead in this novel by "a peerless practitioner of the slightly surreal, English-village comedy-mystery." -- Kirkus Reviews One has to admit that the timing was peculiar. No one could doubt that Mr. Percival Pyke Period was genuinely distraught to hear that his neighbor, Harry Cartell, had turned up dead in a ditch. But how is it that Mr. Percival Pyke came to write the letter of condolence before the body was found?...

"Miss Marsh works her characteristic storyteller's magic with the elements of theater and suspense." -- Kirkus Reviews The impresario Peregrine Jay has fulfilled a long-cherished dream: Thanks to a very generous gift, he now owns the Dolphin Theatre, and has restored it to its former glory. To celebrate the reopening, a no-expenses-spared production of The Glove , a new play about the discovery of a true Shakespearean accessory, is performed. London's...

A group of well-to-do tourists is visiting Italy's magnificent churches, but they've found themselves stumbling into an unholy web of blackmail and drug-smuggling-and, in the depths of a Roman basilica, murder. Fortunately Inspector Roderick Alleyn is among the group as part of an undercover assignment, and prepared to extract a confession ...

"A visiting dignitary in London asks for security -- and gets extra help from a clever feline -- in a novel starring "the nonpareil among criminal investigators" ( The New York Times ). Superintendent Alleyn's old school chum, nicknamed the "Boomer," has become the president of the newly emerged African nation of Ng'ombwana, newly emerged in the wake of colonialism. Old school ties being what they are, his friend -- making an official visit to London...

Sybil Foster lives the sort of little English village that is home mostly to the very rich and the servants who make their lives delightful. But Sybil Foster's life is not delightful, even if she does have an extremely talented gardener. Exhausted from her various family stresses-a daughter, for instance, who wants to marry a man without a title!-Sybil takes herself off to a local hotel that specializes in soothing shattered nerves. When she's killed,...

Among theater folk, "the Scottish play" is considered unlucky, so much so that tradition requires anyone who utters its proper name backstage to leave the building, spin around, spit, curse, and then request permission to re-enter. As director Peregrine Jay directs a production of Shakespeare's great work at the Dolphin Theater, misfortune does indeed abound, including some ugly practical jokes-and a grisly death for the leading man. It's up to Roderick...