I loved the cricket match. Lenox taking a break from his detective duties and Parliament and everything just to play cricket! Somehow it spoke to me in my soul.
Polite Illusion Evisceration is the best term for Ngaio Marsh's specialty. It's so so true.
Also I am pretty sure that Alleyn does go into Detective Stasis (as does Troy), and his son is just not mentioned very often.
It was so great! I'm glad Finch-Lenox appreciates the value of relaxation, for characters and readers alike. He's found a good niche, I think.
Now I'm imagining tragic Silmarillion-esque scenarios in which a character in Detective Stasis marries a real-time native who elects to stay in real time. Their son inherits the DS gene, but his timeline is different from either of his parents, so they hardly ever see him after he joins the CID. Angst and misunderstandings abound.
I'm not a big reader of mysteries in general, but I read a lot of them, including a fair amount of Marsh, as a teenager because that was my mother's preferred genre and there were always a lot of them around the house. (Also, our public library was small, so in the seven years I lived there, I read a lot of things I wouldn't have touched if I'd had other options that I liked better.)
I think my favorite Marsh is Light Thickens, and Alleyn is hardly in that at all. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the crime and solution part of the book. I just adored all of the theater stuff. The plot centers around a production of Macbeth, and there's a lot more theater than mystery.
I haven't gotten to Light Thickens yet (I think it's one of the later ones) but Marsh was a director and her books set in the theatre are always full of great shop talk and insider detail. I look forward to reading it!
(I never read mysteries until last year, and then I got sucked in. Now I can't seem to stop).
My public library growing up was tiny -- but I didn't realize how tiny until I went back as an adult. At the time, it was this magical wonderbox: books on every wall! Books everywhere that anyone can read!
I am pretty sure Alleyn and Troy are never not at least a bit awkward and things - even after they get together.
And Alleyn does go into detective stasis, but it's a bit hard to say, because stuff happens and changes and his son grows up and things, but it's definitely not as much time as went by the real world (because that was like 50 years and Alleyn would be 80-90). On the other hand, I'm trying to remember if any the 70s/80s ones specifically date themselves as some of the others do (like the ones set during WWII), whereas Poirot clearly has thoughts on the 60s, despite having retired sometime around WWI.
That is heartening news! Long may the light of their awkwardness shine. <3
The latest book I've read in the series is A Wreath for Rivera, which is 1949, so -- no Thoughts on the Sixties, but some (slightly labored) contemporaneity and I don't think Alleyn is meant to be much older than he was in the Thirties -- though it's hard to tell with Alleyn. We'll see what happens!
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Polite Illusion Evisceration is the best term for Ngaio Marsh's specialty. It's so so true.
Also I am pretty sure that Alleyn does go into Detective Stasis (as does Troy), and his son is just not mentioned very often.
Reply
Now I'm imagining tragic Silmarillion-esque scenarios in which a character in Detective Stasis marries a real-time native who elects to stay in real time. Their son inherits the DS gene, but his timeline is different from either of his parents, so they hardly ever see him after he joins the CID. Angst and misunderstandings abound.
Reply
I think my favorite Marsh is Light Thickens, and Alleyn is hardly in that at all. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the crime and solution part of the book. I just adored all of the theater stuff. The plot centers around a production of Macbeth, and there's a lot more theater than mystery.
Reply
(I never read mysteries until last year, and then I got sucked in. Now I can't seem to stop).
My public library growing up was tiny -- but I didn't realize how tiny until I went back as an adult. At the time, it was this magical wonderbox: books on every wall! Books everywhere that anyone can read!
Reply
And Alleyn does go into detective stasis, but it's a bit hard to say, because stuff happens and changes and his son grows up and things, but it's definitely not as much time as went by the real world (because that was like 50 years and Alleyn would be 80-90). On the other hand, I'm trying to remember if any the 70s/80s ones specifically date themselves as some of the others do (like the ones set during WWII), whereas Poirot clearly has thoughts on the 60s, despite having retired sometime around WWI.
Reply
The latest book I've read in the series is A Wreath for Rivera, which is 1949, so -- no Thoughts on the Sixties, but some (slightly labored) contemporaneity and I don't think Alleyn is meant to be much older than he was in the Thirties -- though it's hard to tell with Alleyn. We'll see what happens!
Reply
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