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Tied Up In Tinsel
by
Ngaio Marsh
detective mystery, vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Felony & Mayhem Press on May 1, 2015 and has 254 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, When in Rome
Twenty-seventh in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage mystery series revolving around a Scotland Yard detective. The focus is on an isolated estate at Christmas c.1970s. It was originally published in 1972.
My Take
It’s sad and yet eventually happy in that while Hilary’s family lost their home and couldn’t sell it, it came to be rescued with Hilary’s belief in the redemption of staff comprising oncers newly released from prison. He is quite adamant about their trustworthiness. He reckons that the “single-job” man is more well-behaved, citing Charles Dickens and Sir Arthur Wing Pinero.
It’s a limited global subjective point-of-view, mostly bouncing between Troy and Alleyn, but the guests and staff have their own bits in here with some twisty action — and thinking — going on at Halberds.
It’s rather scary, the faith Hilary has in his staff. There is another side to his reasoning — Halberds is far from civilization, and ex-cons are more grateful and easier to employ. Although Cooke makes an excellent point about gratitude, that being expected to constantly be grateful is wearing.
Another bit of scary is that Fox and Alleyn have both been responsible for capturing some of these oncers.
Is interpretation a sort of caricature?
I’m both touched and amused at Hilary’s family’s Christmas traditions. It’s quite eclectic and fun. That snow sculpture of Nigel’s sounds amazing.
That said, I don’t care for their idea of Christmas. The day itself, I mean. The tree goes up on Christmas Eve and comes down Christmas night. What’s the fun in that? I much prefer my family’s idea of Christmas celebrating. Sure, it’s quite the seigneurial gesture to have the local families in for Christmas pageantry, gift-giving, and dinner, but that’s about it for holidaymaking. Too impersonal.
It’s a scary household — not that they’re all ex-cons, but because they each seem to have it in for each other. Moult doesn’t help, as he despises the lot of them. That Nigel is a scary one with his penchant for bursting into tears over his crime. I’d be real careful to be as nun-like as possible around him!
I do like Troy. She’s intelligent with a sense of humor although she’s awfully shy in many ways with certain insecurities. As for Alleyn, I love how unpretentious he is, that he can laugh at himself, and isn’t afraid of doing what makes him happy.
More twistiness is that Uncle Bert. He’s such a Cockney, laying it on thick to ensure that everyone knows his social status. Troy soon rumbles that it’s a put-on, although I must confess that I don’t blame him. As for Cressida . . . Yuck. She’s such a drama queen and makes me think she’s still a teenager with a need to shock the parents.
Lol, Wrayburn is truly distressed at the number of bathrooms at Halberds. Meanwhile, Alleyn is impressed with the colonel’s intelligence, despite his odd domestic arrangements. He’s not kidding about the “odd”. And Aunt Bed reads books backwards!
Tied Up in Tinsel shifts back and forth between a slow and a fast pace as well as action and character. It goes on and on about searching for the missing man and yet it kept my mind revving to learn more about this screwy family.
I do enjoy Marsh’s prose with her blend — or should I say differentiation? — of class accents and intelligence.
Lol, that third from last paragraph was a crack-up! Do NOT peek though, as it’s the story that really makes it work.
The Story
It begins with a history of riches-to-rags-and-back-to-riches. With Rory gone, Troy Alleyn has been commissioned to paint Hilary Bill-Tasman and enjoy the Druid Christmas pageant.
It’s a clever bit of celebrating that enthralls the local children and Hilary’s houseguests enjoy the drama until that drama turns into a man missing, a player who mysteriously disappears into the snowy night.
Did the hired help — each a paroled murderer from the nearby prison — have a deadly hand in this Christmas conundrum?
Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives to join his wife in finding the lost man — and unraveling the glaring truth from the glittering tinsel.
The Characters
Troy Alleyn is a renowned portraitist in great demand. Her husband is Chief Detective Inspector (Chief-Superintendent??) Roderick Alleyn, who is with CID at Scotland Yard. Sir George Alleyn, the baron, is Rory’s older brother whom the colonel knew.
His team includes . . .
Detective-Inspector Fox; Detective Sergeants Bailey and Thompson, the fingerprint and photography experts; and, Sir James Curtis, who is the consultant pathologist to the Yard.
Hilary Bill-Tasman has purchased back his family home, Halberds, which is near the small town of Downlow. His father and “Uncle Bert”, a.k.a., Albert Smith partnered in the scraps-antiques business as Bill-Tasman and Smith Associates and made a fortune as they evolved into the antiquarian trade.
Colonel Frederick Fleaton and Bedelia Forrester, known as Uncle Flea and Aunt Bed, are Hilary’s maternal relations. Fiddle is Bed’s dresser; Alf Moult, a former soldier is the colonel’s valet. Cressida Tottenham, an actress with a preference for Organic-Expressivism, is Hilary’s fiancée. She’s also Uncle Flea’s ward, her biological father having saved Uncle Flea’s life in the war. Zell is the director of Cressida’s theatre group.
Mervyn Cox is the head houseman who had been a sign-writer whose boobytrap killed a burglar, Warty Thompson. Cooke, a.k.a. Kittiwee, is the cook who loves cats. The fussy Cressida is allergic to Slyboots and Smartypants, the cook’s cats. Vincent is the gardener-chauffeur; he had made up an arsenical preparation to control fungi. Blore (a headwaiter who murdered his wife’s lover) is the chief steward. Nigel is the second houseman. (He used to work in waxworks and manufacturing horses for merry-go-rounds, but became a religious fanatic.) Boy, a.k.a. Thomas Appleby, is a farmer’s son temporarily added to the staff for the holidays.
The Vale is . . .
. . . a local prison. Major Jim Marchbanks is its governor as well as a friend of Rory’s.
Downlow PD
Jack Wrayburn is the divisional superintendent of police in Downlow. Buck and Mack are police dogs. Dr Moore is the divisional surgeon.
I think Steptoe and Son were rivals with Bill-Tasman and Smith Associates.
The Cover and Title
The cover is primarily a cheery grass green with the top half in a left-top-and-right gradation from dark to light to focus on the title in its gradation of white-to-darker green. Around the half-way point is the stretched-out banner of pale green with the author’s name in its art deco font with dark green solids and etched lines surrounded by a soft white glow. In the bottom half is the “traditional” angled rays with their individual gradations of dark green to lighter while a white scalloped border separates them. In the center is a deep red background with some evergreen tips protruding from the top, pointing at the blue and white glass ornament. Overlapping the ball ornament is a pale green arch with the series info in white.
The title is the clue, Tied Up In Tinsel, that points them in the right direction.
