That's good to know! I really like the Detective too. I loved his personality! He didn't come off as a 'know it all' but you always knew he was a step ahead and the guests had no clue what he was thinking or doing. It was so funny when he told Nigel and Angela he was going to ride with them in the car. I think he wanted to chaperone. : ) He was supposedly sound asleep until right when Nigel kissed her and he sat up and interrupted them. I thought that was hilarious. They had no clue that he purposely did that. Lol : ) But anyways...did you like the second book? I like to read the books in order
because I feel like I miss too much if I don't so was planning to read it next but there are so many new releases I want to read too. You know how that goes.
The second book is one of her books set in the world of the theatre, which were her particular forte -- she was, first and foremost, quite a famous director in her time, and only wrote mysteries as a sideline (apologies if I'm telling you something you already know). Her Alleyn mysteries set in the theatre are almost all among my favorites of the bunch, because of the amount of inside knowledge, "eye" and "ear" for all things stagecraft at play in them; and "Enter a Murderer" (Roderick Alleyn #2) is an early exponent of those of her books. That said, this is also one of the books that shows it was written in the 1930s -- though probably quite progressive for its time, it must also be read within the context of its time; otherwise it might come across as a bit dated as far as some of the attitudes and social mores expressed are concerned.
I didn't realize she was a well known director. I don't know much about her background at all actually. That's interesting though- thank you! I'm curious to read one of her theater setting mysteries now. : ) I love books set in the 'old days' - sometimes I'm quite envious of their way of life and then other times I think- wow I'm glad we've progressed so far. : )
I'll be interested to see what you make of this one, then. Just remember, even with books 2 and 3 (in fact, I'd say up to approximately book 6 -- "Artists in Crime") she was still cutting her teeth as a mystery writer, so if you find you still don't particularly care for those, you may want to jump ahead to one of her later books to see how you like her writing when she was at the top of her powers (such as, e.g., book 7, "Death in a White Tie" -- by then, she'd definitely hit her stride). Book 6 is a turning point for the series plot- and character-wise, so it should definitely be read (and ideally prior to book 7, too, because there's a key continuity element that starts in book 6 and stays with the series from there on out, until the very end). Everything until books 6 and 7 is of the "nice to have, but not essential" variety, though.
You know I normally don't skip around because it goes against my obssessive compulsive nature : ) plus I like to see how the author's writing develops. Actually I don't think I've ever skipped a book even when I read Agatha Christie's collection years ago I read them all in order of publication, lol... but since this is a long series, for the sake of time and because I'm curious to try her theater setting you mentioned, I'll 'try' : ) jumping ahead to 6 next, then 7. I'll probably start this weekend because I'm sure they'll fit one of the Kill Your Darlings cards I was planning to play.
Yep I just started reading book 6 this morning. : ) I have a question for you? What is a ship's success? It's mentioned several times in the first few pages of the book and I've searched and searched online for a definition and I can not find anything.
Hah! :) I had to dig out my copy of the book because I didn't even remember that. It's got nothing to do with ships at all -- it's just Marsh's dig at that particular (woman) character's positioning herself at the center of the ship's community of passagers ... as a (wannabe) social "success". :D
Oh gotcha- lol! Thank you for clarifying that for me! It takes me a couple chapters to get use the british narrative. Although I had an easier time with it in the 6th book. I really enjoyed it btw about to post my review now ...
because I feel like I miss too much if I don't so was planning to read it next but there are so many new releases I want to read too. You know how that goes.