Light Thickens

Dame Ngaio Marsh is remembered as the author of 32 classic detective novels featuring Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. She was known as one of the four "Queens of Crime" for her monumental contribution to crime fiction in the 1920s and '30s. Crime novels were her bread and butter but her true love was the theater; after spending her early years as an actress she had a huge influence in the development of professional theater in her native New Zealand. Shakespearean productions were her passion. Light Thickens was her final novel, published in the year of her death, 1982. It has all the hallmarks of the genre while depending for much of its interest on its mise-en-scene: a production of Macbeth at the Dolphin Theater in London. The book opens in the Dolphin where owner Peregrine Jay is assembling his cast for the first meeting. The scene works well in the introduction of the characters and Jay's vision for the production. Marsh's books generally involve a lot of story before the crime manifests itself, and this one is no exception. The old superstitions about the play's unluckiness weave through the first half of the book as the rehearsals take shape. Stagecraft details are authoritative and fascinating; the costumes are suggestive of clan tartan, the witches are played for maximum evil, the closely choreographed sword fights are rehearsed with huge Scottish claymores to the pounding beat of Verdi's Anvil Chorus. Since this IS after all a detective novel, it won't spoil your fun if I tell you that there are accidents involving fake dripping heads, culminating in a REAL dripping head on a pike on opening night. Enter Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Investigation. Resolution. Curtain. There are better detective books by Dame Ngaio Marsh; my own favorite is Clutch of Constables (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries). None does a better job, though, of blending the two fields in which her skill was unquestioned: theater and the crime novel. That's the element that endears Light Thickens to so many readers. A passing knowledge of the Scottish Play may add to your enjoyment but if you don't know it, you can get what you need from Peregrine Jay's production notes. As to the superstition, you'll have to decide for yourself whether you dare to speak the name MACBETH. Linda Bulger, 2008

I enjoyed this Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) entry a great deal, albeit it's not representative of her very best works such as False Scent (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries), which is yet another theatrical murder mystery, also featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Marsh, a New Zealander, was herself a director of theater so in this instance she naturally established an extensive wallpaper of details before she got around to knocking off her victim. I didn't mind this at all since her background for the mystery was so competently conveyed. The story is essentially that Theater Director Peregrine Jay is putting on a top-notch production of "Macbeth," a play which reputedly brings bad luck to its principals. An apparent Herculean swing by some unknown cast or crew member's huge sword (a "Claymore" which has a difficult Scottish pronunciation and which is additionally said to have powers of its own!) brings the impending fear of doom to a head. And even though Inspector Alleyn was in the audience watching the play when the murder occurred, he still has a tough time sorting this one out. I think that it would probably have been nice to have had just a little more of Inspector Alleyn and slightly less of the theater director, but it is what it is. I highly recommend this one for any enthusiast of Ngaio Marsh or, for British cozy murder mystery fans in general.

This is the first Ngaio Marsh I've bought for my personal library, having read most of the Inspector Lynley series written by Elizabeth George, and I have to say that James Saxon's narration makes this an enjoyable piece of work, so I certainly have plans to purchase more titles in the future!

This is the last book written by The Queen of Classic Mystery Ngaio Marsh. I is beautifully written and dramatic.

"Light Thickens" is Ngaio Marsh's last novel and one of her best. The mystery centers around a production of "Macbeth" at the Dolphin Theatre in London. Most of those involved in the play are superstitious to varying degrees about the bad-luck curse traditionally associated with "Macbeth." Even to say the play's name is considered dangerous, so it's referred to as "the Scots play." During rehearsals someone starts playing gruesome practical jokes. And somebody is sending out anonymous messages about a likable and talented child actor whose father is the Hampstead Chopper, a notorious serial killer confined in the Broadmoor asylum. One night, during a performance attended by Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, a grisly murder involving a ceremonial sword occurs just before the final curtain. If you like traditional British cozies with mostly pleasant characters, you'll probably enjoy this mystery, and if you're also a Shakespeare aficionado, you'll enjoy it even more.