Spinsters in Jeopardy: 70th Anniversary Retrospective

My review of Ngaio Marsh's 1953 thriller novel "Spinsters in Jeopardy" starring Inspector Roderick Alleyn and family.

[@stardustmemory000083]

I've been reading Marsh's works this year as a project and initially passed over this one as it was a lower-rated thriller in contrast to her other novels. Thank you for the video--it provided me with the inspiration to go back. I definitely agree that SiJ did not lead with her strengths. Very Reefer Madness-coded, as with other Marsh novels concerning drugs. Maybe the biggest missed opportunity was the pittance of description of the southeast of France. Such an evocative setting and yet most of the tone of the novel stems from the French language rather than the environs. Ricky also felt awkward; linguistically more like 10 or so, but emotionally closer to 5 or 6. We almost got more instances of "lavish" here than "Levantine" in Josephine Tey's The Man in the Queue.

[@summationgathering]

I just finished reading the Man in the Queue and I almost started a game over how often the word Levantine was used. I thought the description of southern France was fine but it wasn't used well in the novel. Marsh, when writing about New Zealand, does such a good job of using the landscape in the plot and she didn't here.

[@DaleRibbons]

I have a crazy theory about this book: the Alleyns weren't originally supposed to be in it. It's a thriller rather than the whodunnits they usually appeared in, and they acted out of character. Maybe when Ngaio Marsh started it, the main characters were going to be one-time characters. Maybe someone suggested it would sell better if it was an Alleyn novel? Maybe Ngaio got stuck while writing it and putting the familiar Alleyns in it helped her finish it? Just a crazy idea I had. Looking forward to next week. I'm unfamiliar with the Harley Quin character (not even sure if I spelled his name right) so it'll be interesting to get to know him better.

[@summationgathering]

That's an interesting thought for sure. Marsh did not write novels that didn't feature Alleyn but it wouldn't be unusual for a writer to experiment outside the norm. She did write non Alleyn short stories. I hope you'll take up Mr. Quin. Fourteen short stories and they are quick reads. He's definitely one of Christie's lesser known main characters.

[@nethansingbeil356]

This was actually the first Ngaio Marsh novel I read, and I have continued to read her books. So, in the grand scheme of things, I don't think it's a bad book, but I feel it is very weak in comparison to the rest of her novels. I much prefer her straight-mystery books, although that might be my narrow-mindedness stopping me from enjoying other types of stories.

[@summationgathering]

Interesting you kept reading because I would not recommend this as a first novel to read. This might be one of the worst to start with despite how much fun it is.

[@nethansingbeil356]

@@summationgathering I agree that it isn't a great place to start at all, but I enjoyed it enough to try out her other books. The next one I read was "Artists in Crime", and we all know how great that one is.

[@summationgathering]

@@nethansingbeil356 That's the one I would recommend starting with

[@prolifik5]

Fun fact before I watch this review: this is the book that initially caused me to give up on Ngaio Marsh many years ago. 😂 I think at that time I was more taken with the "quirkier" detectives like Holmes, Poirot, Marple, Fell, etc. and wasn't enjoying the Alleyn mysteries as much. The fact that this one started out as more of a thriller, and my annoyance with Ricky as a character in general, made it pretty much the last straw. I abandoned ship sometime after he got kidnapped. Having just finished the audiobook, suffice it to say it's a good thing I appreciate Alleyn a lot more these days, or I would probably have dropped these books again...

[@summationgathering]

Marsh intentionally created Alleyn to be more of a straight man amongst those other quirkier detectives.

[@prolifik5]

SPOILERS BELOW: Not sure if I'm misunderstanding you and you already stated this, but I thought it was pretty clear that Oberon was supposed to have sex with Ginny, which is why Robin and Garbel were so hysterical about what was to happen during the "ceremony" (which involves Oberon being completely naked and Ginny only wearing a robe which is supposed to be removed). When Raoul asked Alleyn if Oberon was trading in women, Alleyn responds to the effect that the sexual element is for Oberon's private amusement rather than part of the business. Dupont also suggests that the real Grizel Locke might have been concerned about being supplanted by Ginny as Oberon's mistress. Anyway, suffice to say you had a much more positive experience with this one than I did!

[@summationgathering]

My opinion of this book went down on this reread for sure. I think what was going on with Oberon and sex is that Oberon is not engaging in human trafficking in the sense that he is not bringing in and selling women. He's definitely using intimidation and control to have sex with them. So its "consensual" in the sense that Ginny and the others agree to it but that agreement is made under duress, force, intimidation. It is not entirely of their free will so therefore it is not consensual. I think it is also implied that Oberon is also having sex with the men of his cult as well.

[@karengustafson7666]

This has to be the worst of Marsh’s books.

[@summationgathering]

I wouldn't say that but I certainly understand the sentiment. This is not what one expects or wants from Ngaio Marsh.