Enter a Murderer by Ngaio Marsh: A Review

On the stage in the last act of the play The Rat and the Beaver, Felix Gardner is supposed to shoot Arthur Surbonadier. Of course, there is not a real bullet, and the sound of the gun shot is produced off stage. It is all a theatrical illusion. Except on this evening of June 14, the bullet is real and Arthur Subonadier is dead in front of a shocked audience which includes Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn and his friend journalist Nigel Bathgate.

It must be admitted that nobody really mourned the death of Arthur. He was an obnoxious and egotistical person.  His uncle Joseph Saint owned the theater and produced the play. It was suspected that Arthur blackmailed him to get a good part. Felix Gardner was upset that he had fired the fatal shot, but he also suspected that Arthur really wanted his part. The actor J. Barclay Crammer disliked him because Arthur had taken his part, and Crammer now had a less important role. Arthur had had a relationship with leading lady Stephanie Vaughan, but she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Arthur was also disliked by the rest of the cast, the props manager, and the dressers.

This is Ngaio Marsh's second book which was written in 1935. Her writing would improve with time and many more books. The crime and its solution are well presented. Her background in the theater assures that the theater details are accurate. Alleyn is assisted in his investigation by Nigel Bathgate who seems to go where no journalist would really be allowed to go. Inspector Fox assists in a minor role. Alleyn is given to throwing off Shakespearean quotes to demonstrate his education. He is also quite taken with Stephanie Vaughn. Perhaps more so than a police inspector should be.
This is a good book, but Marsh would go on to write better ones.