By Ngaio Marsh; reviewed by Jeannette Hartman
When the weather outside is frightful, there’s nothing quite so delightful as a manor house murder mystery.
There are roaring fires, a savory banquet dinner, a shimmering Christmas tree and the arrival of Father Christmas bearing gaily wrapped presents for all.
And there’s murder.
With a handful of unlikely suspects, Ngaio Marsh gives you a perfect puzzle to test your wits against the skills of Inspector Roderick Alleyn in solving the mystery first.
Hilary Bill-Tasman was rescued from a life of poverty and ignorance by his uncle and aunt Colonel and Mrs. Forrester. He never lost touch with his father, whose family fortune collapsed causing him to become a junk collector who eventually become a wealthy antiques dealer. The son grew up to join his father and a business associate, Bert Smith, in business.
Now Hilary is renovating a wreck of a house on the moors, Halberds Manor, that he intends to make his home. With Christmas coming, he invites the Forresters; their ward, Cressida Tottenham, whom he plans to propose to; “Uncle” Bert; and Troy Alleyn, an artist who is painting his portrait. Moult, Col. Forrester’s former batman now manservant, is also present.
(Troy’s husband, police Supt. Roderick Alleyn, has been sent to Australia to collect a prisoner.)
Hilary has solved the problem of getting affordable servants for an isolated country estate by hiring murderers recently released from their sentences. All committed their crimes in a moment of passion, impulse or accident and are believed to be unlikely to kill again. They were well-qualified for the jobs they hold at Halberd.
No love is lost between the house servants and Moult. When he goes missing after acting as Father Christmas, the ex-con house servants are obvious suspects.
It takes the skills of Supt. Alleyn to solve this mystery. He makes an early and timely return from Australia and is reluctantly dragged in when the local constabulatory is overwhelmed by other local crimes.
The setting and the plot may be familiar, but this novel is enlivened by Marsh’s eccentric, well-portrayed characters. Moult’s murder and disappearance are unexpected and puzzling
TIED UP IN TINSEL was published in 1972 and was her 27th Roderick Alleyn mystery series.
If manor house mysteries delight you, check out the first Inspector Alleyn mystery, A MAN LAYS DEAD; or these: MURDER FOR CHRISTMAS, MYSTERY IN WHITE, MURDER AT MELROSE COURT, THE SANTA KLAUS MURDER or PORTRAIT OF A MURDERER.
If a holiday murder mystery of the more modern sort better suits you, check out SNOW or THE DARKEST EVENING.
The Author: Ngaio Marsh (1895 – 1982)
New Zealand mystery writer and theater director Ngaio Marsh is ranked among the Queens of Crime from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham.
She wrote her first book, A MAN LAY DEAD, between 1928 to 1932 while living in London and running a handicraft shop called Touch and Go.
She is best known for her 32 Inspector Alleyn detective novels published between 1934 and 1982. Most are set in England, but four are set in New Zealand with Alleyn being sent on assignment or vacationing there. One novel, COLOUR SCHEME, includes Maori people among its characters.
Ms. Marsh was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966.
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