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When in Rome
by
Ngaio Marsh
detective mystery, vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Felony & Mayhem Press on May 1, 2015 and has 240 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Dead Water, Killer Dolphin, A Man Lay Dead, Enter a Murderer, The Nursing Home Murder, Death in Ecstasy, Vintage Murder, Artists in Crime, Death in a White Tie, Overture to Death, Death at the Bar, Surfeit of Lampreys, Death and the Dancing Footman, Died in the Wool, Swing, Brother, Swing, Night at the Vulcan, Colour Scheme, Spinsters in Jeopardy, Scales of Justice, The Death of a Fool, Singing in the Shroud, False Scent, Clutch of Constables, Hand in Glove, Tied Up In Tinsel
Twenty-sixth in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage mystery series revolving around a Scotland Yard detective who’s visiting Rome circa 1970 when it was originally published. The focus is on an undercover operation between foreign law enforcement.
My Take
At first, I was bummed that we weren’t in England, but I was quickly absorbed in the tour Mailer took everyone on. I do adore history, and the thought of all those centuries of life in one city . . . sigh . . .
Can you imagine a church buried for fifteen hundred years!?
It’s mostly Alleyn on his own with a brief mention of Fox — another bummer, although It’s definitely third person global subjective point-of-view as we get perspectives from a number of characters.
Ostensibly, the story is about a drug cartel, but it’s really about a blackmailer, all the ways he gathers up his proofs, and how he’s brought down. How so many of them are brought down. Oh well.
It’s all those little “mistakes” that tip Alleyn off. Thank goodness Marsh recaps ’em, as I never noticed them. Oy.
The baron and baroness are like twins in thought and energy. Alleyn discovers even more reason for their twinishness. I’m not quite sure how I feel about this. and it’s emotionally confusing.
The other characters on the tour appear as extremes of their roles. Poor Grant is so miserable when he should be feeling quite proud of himself. The excessive enthusiasm of the baron and baroness is exhausting. As for Lady B and her nephew . . . Such caricatures they are along with the inflated drug encounters.
The Story
It’s an exclusive tour group assembled in Rome that turns out to be even more exclusive than Alleyn could have expected.
The Characters
Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn is with CID at Scotland Yard. Agatha Troy Alleyn is his wife and a famous painter. Sir George Alleyn, a baron and Rory’s older brother, is an ambassador for England. Alleyn’s team in London includes Inspector Fox.
Law enforcement in Rome
Il Questore Valdarno (appears to be the equivalent of a chief constable) is teaming up with Scotland Yard and Interpol. Il Vice-Questore Bergarmi; Alleyn thinks he’s the equivalent of a detective inspector. Agenti di Questura are police agents, similar to English constables. The Squadra Omicidi, a.k.a. Homicide Squad, is called out.
Members of the tour
Barnaby Grant is a writer; Sophy’s firm had just published his bestselling Simon in Latium. Seems there’s a bit of scandal still following Grant around.
Sebastian “Seb” Mailer claims he’s an old Roman hand who’s written a book, Angelo in August — and has an addiction to cocaine. He owns Il Cicerone that provides “enhanced” tours for those who pass his criteria. Signors Pacer and Giovanni Vecchi are employees. The violent, angry Violetta sells postcards.
Gerrit and Mathilde, the oversized Baron and Baroness Van der Veghel who must be of Etruscan descent (and she does descend from the distaff side of the Wittelsbachs), are also in publishing with Gerrit as editor for foreign productions at Adriaan and Welker, a religious publishing firm. They are obsessed with photography on their vacation.
Sophy Jason meant to visit her friend at the Pensione Gallico in Rome. She’s working for a publishing firm, Koster Press, in London and is a children’s author. Her grandpapa, Jason, was a Quaker and a banker.
Sonia, Lady Braceley, is one of a number of siblings of a beer-baron who grew up to be disasters. Sonia has a “certain reputation” for “experiencing everything but poverty”. She’s also Kenneth’s aunt. Kenneth Dorne is something of a twit and a drug addict. Franky and Kenneth broke up. His father, Lord Dorne, had to be, ahem, put away.
Major Hamilton Sweet, a caricature of an Indian army officer and former gunner, is anti-religion.
Father Denys is the Irish Dominican monk in charge of San Tomasso, a basilica, and closes it up at night. Brother Dominic, the sacristan, opens it in the morning.
Marco is a maître d’hôtel at La Giaconda, an exclusive and expensive restaurant. Alfredo is Marco’s secretary. Toni has a party pad where there’ll be a performance of “Keenky Keeks”, a.k.a. “Kinky Kicks“. Otto Ziegfeldt retired to a phony castle in Lebanon. “Feather-fingers” appears to be a pickpocket. Silas J Sebastian claimed to be with an American magazine.
The Cover and Title
The cover has a cafe au lait background with the expected gradation from darker on the top and sides to lighter in the center and bottom of the top half. The title is centered in a gradated white to brown. The angled banner is a brownish pink with the author’s name in its art deco font and dark brown solids and lines surrounded by a white glow. In the bottom third, the graphic is framed by angled rays of dark brown to lighter separated by scalloped white lines. The central graphic is the Colosseum against a blue sky. Below that is a brownish pink arch serving as background for the white of the series info.
I do wonder if the title is meant to be part of that old proverb, When in Rome, that one should follow the culture and customs of the place you’re visiting. But it’s only in the touristy bit that it worked for me.
