Night at the Vulcan

Of course, Dame Ngaio is British only by dint of her birth within the Empire and her adoption by the homeland. I have nothing to add to previous reviews except a note of appreciation from one who has been reading and re-reading her since Colour Scheme during WW11, which was the choice of some book club of which I was a member then. From the very beginning to the very end of her writing career she maintained a standard in her detective stories of which only the best of those who write in series can achieve. Some books are better than others, parts of most run a little dry, but overall there is satisfaction for the reader. While having series characters helps enormously by creating an anchor for the book, if the character is as well-rounded as Alleyn or Poirot and Miss Marple, there is still that need to give him (or her) something interesting to do, something interesting to be part of, and not let any part of ones own boredom at times reflect to the reader. A series writer must be professional, that is, responsive to the need to produce books whether or not he or she is prepared to write, no waiting upon inspiration or for the need for self expression, writing must be taken as a job. Having heard all of her books via audio book, in addition to having read them, but being now dependent much more on my ears than my eyes, I find her to have been quite fortunate in the readers for the unabridged versions. This reader is nothing less than first rate in every aspect of every character. For fans and for newcomers this should prove an interesting as well as entertaining visit to the back stage of a theater much like those the author has spent so much time in. The young actress, with whose self-conscious monologue begins as she searches for work in London, is an admirable character for whose problems it is easy to become concerned. The other backstage and on-stage characters are neatly characterized as well. If this will be your first Ngaio Marsh, I envy you the many more that you likely will want to read for the first time.

This is my first Ngaio Marsh novel. It is in many respects similar to an Agatha Christie in that the suspects are interviewed one at a time and then gathered for the final denoument. I guessed wrongly whodunnit, but the murderer and motive make sense when revealed. However, the murder doesn't take place until well into the book, and I got caught up with Martyn's story. The suspense for me was whether she would get the role and attain her dream of stardom. Ms. Marsh must have known a lot about the theater since there is a lot of detail about sets and actors. For a contemporary "closed set" murder mystery also based in England, I would recommend Christmas is Murder: A Rex Graves Mystery by C.S. Challinor.

Like many struggling young actresses before her, Martyn Tarne has a private fantasy of stepping in for a leading lady taken ill. In true Ngaio Marsh style, Martyn's dream is made a reality, in a twisted way; having just missed an audition at the Vulcan, Martyn wangles a job involved with another show set to open in a few days - as the leading lady's dresser, since Helena Hamilton's regular dresser just went into hospital. Martyn, a New Zealander who was robbed upon arriving in England, is alone and broke, and thankful to get *any* job until she can get on her feet - even at the Vulcan, where her mother's immensely famous cousin Adam Poole is both leading man and director. The small cast and other Vulcan personnel involved in the production feature quite a few mirror images and parallels in their situations and their relationships with each other. In several scenes, actual reflecting surfaces underline this - shop windows as Martyn trudges to a late audition, a picture under glass of one character that reflects another, and so on. Martyn doesn't want to establish herself on the London stage solely on the strength of her relationship with Poole - but she's ideally suited for a supporting role in the play requiring a woman who strongly resembles the lead. By contrast, Gay Gainsford, cast for the part on her uncle's insistence, requires heavy makeup and acting skills outside her scope, and is as prone to hysterical outbursts about her loathing for the play even as Martyn tries to fade into the woodwork and hang onto her job. Both women's relationships with older men in the company result in protective and sometimes over-protective reactions as clashes occur in the high-pressure atmosphere of the last few rehearsals and opening night. As for the men associated with the Vulcan, Clark Bennington, Gay's uncle, is a once-fine actor now in a supporting role as an alcoholic both on stage and in life. On a particularly galling note, he seems to be playing second fiddle to Adam Poole in his marriage as well as his career - Helena Hamilton, the leading lady, has a career that eclipses Bennington's and tends to inspire devotion in most men, though she seems to collect only the young and artistic variety. Most of the other men on the scene apparently don't qualify, being either too old (her devoted admirer Jacques, the director's assistant; Gay's admirer Darcey, supporting player; the crabby playwright Dr. Rutherford) or ambiguous. All the men except Jacques and Poole do their bit to make the situation worse - even the playwright, whose "helpful" feedback is loaded with unprofessional attacks on the junior members of the cast, driving them almost to the point of breakdown when he isn't tactfully headed off. The story plays out in a very compressed space and timeframe, set almost entirely within the walls of the Vulcan and mostly upon the opening night of THUS TO REVISIT, whose first performance ends with the discovery of the body of a member of the company;

Night at the Vulcan has everything; sympathetic (and endearing) characters, lots of Shakespearean quotes, realistic dialogue, two very different (but equally satisfying) love stories, gorgeous prose...all of the things I read Ngaio for. The character of Martyn Tarne is one I wish Ngaio had re-used in a later book (like she did with some characters from "Death of a Peer" and "Killer Dolphin."). Ngaio Marsh is my favorite author, and Night at the Vulcan is my favorite Ngaio Marsh. 'Nuff said.