Surfeit of Lampreys by Ngaio Marsh

Surfeit of Lampreys is the tenth entry in the Roderick Alleyn detective stories. It opens with antics of the Lamprey family who always seem to be on the cusp of financial ruin, but who are marvelously unperturbed by it. They are scatter-brained yet delightful, and everyone (except their creditors) seems to fall under the spell of their charms.  

I kept wondering how Marsh was going to turn this happy-go-lucky tale into a murder mystery, but I needn’t have worried. The murders do happen, and their gruesomeness is in stark contrast to the fun-loving Lampreys. Another welcome contrast to the murderous mayhem is Alleyn’s sidekick, the unflappable Inspector Fox. Shortly after a horrific murder, Fox appears in all his placidness, which is quite a comfort to the reader. With each successive novel, I love him more and more!

I always enjoy the literary references sprinkled throughout Marsh’s books. This one included nods to Dickens, Shakespeare, Hans Christian Anderson, and even Beatrix Potter. She even threw a bone to Charlotte Brontë fans with this conversation between Henry Lamprey and Robin, a young family friend:

“What do you think of us, Robin? You’re such a composed little person with your smooth head and your watchfulness.”

“That sounds smug and beastly.”

“It isn’t meant to. You’ve got a sort of Jane Eyre-ishness about you. You’ll grow up into Jane Eyre, I daresay, if you grow at all….”

And then there is the great writing: From Chapter Nine: Alleyn had been confronted with the Lampreys for only some twenty minutes, but already he had begun to feel a little as though they were handfuls of wet sand which, as fast as he grasped them, were dragged through his fingers by the action of some mysterious undertow.

From chapter Thirteen: Alleyn began to feel as if Tinkerton was a bad cork and himself an inefficient corkscrew, drawing out unimportant fragments, while large lumps of testimony fell into the wine and were lost.

The novel contains a touch of romance and a fair bit of light profanity. Nevertheless, this was one of my favorite entries in the series so far.

Any other Ngaio Marsh fans out there?

Christmas blessings,

Reminscing about Books #7

This will be my last nostalgic post this year because my teaching schedule is lightening up, and soon I'll have the head space for reading and reviewing. I've missed writing about books!

In the year 2014, I wrote my one and only post that went viral (in a modest sort of way). I had discovered Librivox a few years earlier and was able to recommend some of the better readers. That garnered enough interest to get almost 8,000 views (rather than my average of about 50). One responder told me about Adrian Praetzellis who is absolutely remarkable as a narrator, especially for Treasure Island.

Two children's classics bowled me over that year: Charlotte's Web (reviewed here) and C.S. Evans' beautiful version of Sleeping Beauty (reviewed here and here). 

My final gem was David Copperfield by Charles Dickens (reviewed here). I'd been trying to like Dickens for decades, and this book turned me into a devoted fan. 

That was also the year I wrote my personal favorite post on Christian romance novels. I got a lot of suggestions for "better" Christian fiction, but am still not convinced. I devoured Grace Livingston Hill books as a teen, and read other Christian authors until I was about thirty. But when I began to read the classics (especially Trollope), I somehow lost my taste for the fluffier stuff. (I still like an occasional light, fun book, as you know if you've read this blog for any amount of time!)   

Have you found that your reading tastes have changed over the years? 

P.S. Amazon usually has an end-of-the year deal on Kindle Unlimited for 99 cents for three months. I saw it earlier, but couldn't find the link to post here. It would be worth it just to read the first ten Ngaio Marsh novels. But there are also quite a few D.E. Stevenson and Miss Read titles (cozy British village settings).

Blessings,