Let's Discuss: Ngaio Marsh

New Zealand crime novelist Dame Ngaio Marsh is often considered to be one of the four "Queens of Crime" along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers and Margery Allingham. She is most famous for her Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn (pronounced "Allen").

In keeping with my sidekick syndrome, my favorite character of the series is Alleyn's sidekick, Nigel Bathgate, a young journalist who often argues with Alleyn about what he can and cannot publish in his newspaper regarding the cases they are "working on together". Nigel is quite happy-go-lucky and makes an interesting contrast to the more serious Alleyn, providing a sort of Watson/Hastings character  (even though the books are not told in first person). Sadly, Nigel stopped appearing in the later novels (which I suspect is part of the reason I find them slightly dry). *sniff*

Roderick Alleyn is oddly similar to Sayers' Lord Peter. Both come from privileged backgrounds, both have older brothers, both have served in WWI. Lord Peter marries a writer; Roderick Alleyn marries an artist. Lord Peter has Bunter; Roderick Alleyn has Fox. The major difference being that while Lord Peter is somewhat nervy due to his war experiences, Roderick Alleyn seems to be made of sterner stuff and his war record is rarely mentioned.

Besides writing, Ngaio Marsh was also a well-known actress, and her books frequently feature actors or theaters. I feel like her plots aren't as thrilling as Agatha Christie's (although that's not to say that they don't have their moments), but they are definitely interesting reads, especially if there is bantering going on between Alleyn and Nigel (why did you leave, Nigel? Why? *sobs*)

Let’s Discuss: The Rumpole Books

Possibly the most famous character ever to fall from the pen of John Mortimer, there is no doubt that Rumpole always provides a delightful and enjoyable read. Most of the books are in short story form, but there are one or two that are of novel or novella length.

It’s hard to put a genre on the books. If I had to, “law mystery” is probably the one I’d go for. Unusually for a detective, Rumpole, the main character, is a barrister in his sixties, is married, and has a son. In his own words, Rumpole is “an Old Bailey hack” He smokes endless small cigars (hmmm….remind you of anyone?), can talk for hours about bloodstains, loves to quote poetry, and has only one motto: “Never plead guilty”.

Image links to Amazon

The stories mostly talk about the cases he’s working on, but there are side plots detailing the interaction between him and his fellow barristers and various events that go on in his chambers. I think the stories are mostly set in the 80s or 90s, through the later books seem to have moved into this century: you can see computers and cell phones being used, and even some personal problems stemming from confusion over modern technology.

If you haven’t read the books before, you’re truly missing out on something wonderful. The books are fantastically written. I sometimes get one of them down from the shelf thinking I’ll just read one of the short stories and go do something else…and I always end up reading the whole book through from beginning to end. The mystery element is interesting, but Rumpole himself is just too hilarious for words. I like that he has principles and lives by his own “don’t plead guilty” code of honor. Nowadays we tend to think of lawyers (or anyone associated with the law) as sleazy or greedy, so it’s nice to imagine that there are people like Rumpole out there who really do work to uphold some form of justice.

Forever Rumpole
(The Best of the Rumpole Stories)
Image links to Amazon

The books were later made into a TV series starring Leo McKern as the title character.  

Let’s Discuss: Enid Blyton

Enid Blyton is, possibly, the most productive children’s writer in the world. Her book genres range from mystery (Secret Seven, Famous Five, Five Find-Outers and Dog), school stories (St. Clare’s, Malory Towers, Naughtiest Girl), and even fantasy (Magic Faraway Tree, Noddy, Amelia Jane). According to British quiz show QI, Enid Blyton wrote on average 37 books a year. (I know that some of the books for younger readers had very few pages, but still! That’s a lot of books to write!)

Generally speaking I find Blyton’s books enjoyable reads, but most of the ones I purchase nowadays come from the bargain bins of secondhand bookstores. This is mostly because my local bookstores, for some reason only known to themselves, only stock Famous Five books, and said books cost about 8 pounds each (for paperbacks!)

The plots are mostly simple, which is to be expected since she was writing for children. I do find, however, that Blyton’s characters tend to blend together; it’s hard to get any sense of personality and in some books (such as the Secret Seven series), it’s possible to substitute a character’s name with any other character’s name in the book without causing any noticeable difference.

I also find it slightly annoying when the author’s voice slips in and does a spot of “preaching” (more noticeable in the school stories, and can occasionally be found in other authors’ writings, for example in some of E. Nesbit’s work) during the course of a story; it has the similar unstettling effect of an unseen audience going “Oooooh” when a sitcom character does something wrong.

School Stories

I feel bad saying this, but to be honest, I feel like once you’ve read a Blyton school story, you really have read them all. Every term there’s a midnight feast of sorts, a spoilt/boastful/deceitful girl who reforms halfway through the book, tricks played on the French teacher, and so on.

The Twins at St. Clare's
Image links to Amazon

That said, I do occasionally find myself getting out a Blyton school story every once in a while, when I want a spot of light entertainment. I’ve got a mild preference for the St. Clare’s stories over the Malory Towers ones, although I’d be hard put to find an exact explanation of why that is. I don’t really like the Naughtiest Girl stories so much—the protagonist strikes me as being too strong-minded and rebellious for her own good.

All three series (St. Clare’s, Malory Towers, and Naughtiest Girl) have spawned spin-off series written by Pamela Cox (St. Clare’s, Malory Towers) and Trebizon author Anne Digby (Naughtiest Girl). I haven’t read any of the spin-offs, but in general they seem to have positive reviews.

Mystery Series

Somehow I can’t help feeling that the characters in Blyton’s mysteries have the worst luck in the world. Wherever they go camping, that’ll be where someone decides to hide a bag of stolen jewels; whenever they stay somewhere by the coast, that’ll be where the smugglers are; and if they hear a “suspicious noise”, it will turn out to be some escaped prisoner hiding in the attic.

I mean, really, how is it possible that all these things happen on a regular basis to these kids? You’d think that some point some adult would say, “Okay. Right. You are NOT going to go on a hike, because I know what’ll happen to you.”

I also find it hilarious that at the beginning of every book someone always says, “This isn’t going to be another adventure/mystery, is it?” And someone else always goes, “No. Of course not.”

And I always think, you idiots. You’ve done it now.

The Secret Seven series is my least favorite of all the mystery series. Although I can understand the appeal of wanting to be a member of a secret society and having passwords and society badges (which seem somewhat pointless since it effectively tells everyone that you’re a member of a secret society, which somewhat defeats the purpose), there are just too many characters, and the plots are too overly simple for me. I’m not sure if this is because this is a series written for a younger audience than the other mysteries. The stories usually end with the society leader, Peter, going to his parents, or reporting the results of the society’s investigations to an authority figure such as “the big inspector”.

Five on a Treasure Island
Image links to Amazon

The Famous Five series are perhaps Blyton’s most famous series. Twenty-one books in all, the series follows the adventures of three siblings, Julian, Dick, and Anne, and their cousin Georgina (known as George because she wants to be a boy and not a girl), and her dog Timmy. My favorite character is probably the (occasionally) witty Dick, although I also have a soft spot for Julian. Like most of Blyton’s characters, none of the Five age throughout the series, and they seem to have multiple holidays each term, all stretching on for quite long periods of time. Plot-wise, the mysteries (referred to as “adventures” by the characters) are better set up than the Secret Seven books, though some of them still hang by pretty slim threads.

Possibly my favorite of Blyton’s mysteries are the Five Find-Outers and Dog series (she does seem to like the number five, doesn’t she?), although there are times when I want to strangle the main character, Frederick “Fatty” Trotteville, who fancies himself as a sort of young Sherlock. The mystery element is quite strong in this series, which makes it more enjoyable for me.

The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage
Image links to Amazon

But again the town the “Find-Outers” live in appears to have the highest crime rate of any town in Britain. Nearly every book opens with the characters lamenting on the lack of a mystery, and Fatty telling everyone to keep their eyes and ears open. And then what happens? Yes—a mystery shows up, the team find a number of clues, eliminate suspects, realize they have no more suspects, and then inevitably, Fatty gets a brainwave and solves the whole thing and phones up the local Superintendent of police, who happens to be a friend of his, to come and take care of everything.

I know that Enid Blyton has other mystery series, the Barney mysteries, for example, that I haven’t commented on because I haven’t read any of the books in the series (they’ve never shown up in the bargain bins, sadly), but if anyone’s read them and thinks they’re good, or if there is some book in the series I've talked about above that breaks the mold in a remarkable manner, please let me know in the comments section below!