What: Ngaio Marsh was not just one of the best authors during the Golden Age of detective fiction --- she was also an artist and an actor. In her native New Zealand, she was mostly known as a theatrical producer and director. All that theater and art inevitably seeps through into her books, and Night at the Vulcan (original, non-U.S. title: Opening Night) is a prime example.
The first half follows young Martyn Tarne (an inadvertent and benign Eve Harrington) through the weeks leading up to the opening of a new play. Her stage debut is so surreal for her that it takes a bit before she truly realizes someone she knows has been killed. That's where Inspector Alleyn comes in.
Representative quote: "At six o'clock the persons in the play began to move towards the theatre. In their lodgings and flats they bestirred themselves after their several fashions: to drink tea or black coffee, choke down pieces of bread and butter that tasted like sawdust, or swallow aspirin and alcohol."
You might not like it if: You're annoyed because Marsh accurately portrays actors as being unappealingly self-absorbed.
How to get it: A library or used bookseller is probably your best bet. The audio version is available on Amazon, but I can't vouch for it since I haven't heard it.
Connection to previous Wreckage: I previously recommended Marsh's Death and the Dancing Footman (Rec. #37), and I noted that it wasn't even one of my top-three books by Marsh. In case you're wondering, Night at the Vulcan isn't one of my top-three, either, although I do heartily enjoy it. We will get to my tops, I promise.
It's also worthwhile to point out that Night at the Vulcan has wonderfully subtle callbacks to earlier Marsh works. One point of reference is the short story "I Can Find My Way Out." Another is Death of a Peer (the original title might give you a clue to the connection: A Surfeit of Lampreys).
Representative quote: "At six o'clock the persons in the play began to move towards the theatre. In their lodgings and flats they bestirred themselves after their several fashions: to drink tea or black coffee, choke down pieces of bread and butter that tasted like sawdust, or swallow aspirin and alcohol."
You might not like it if: You're annoyed because Marsh accurately portrays actors as being unappealingly self-absorbed.
How to get it: A library or used bookseller is probably your best bet. The audio version is available on Amazon, but I can't vouch for it since I haven't heard it.
Connection to previous Wreckage: I previously recommended Marsh's Death and the Dancing Footman (Rec. #37), and I noted that it wasn't even one of my top-three books by Marsh. In case you're wondering, Night at the Vulcan isn't one of my top-three, either, although I do heartily enjoy it. We will get to my tops, I promise.
It's also worthwhile to point out that Night at the Vulcan has wonderfully subtle callbacks to earlier Marsh works. One point of reference is the short story "I Can Find My Way Out." Another is Death of a Peer (the original title might give you a clue to the connection: A Surfeit of Lampreys).
[Originally posted 4/12/11.]
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