 First edition | |
| Author | Ngaio Marsh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Roderick Alleyn |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Geoffrey Bles |
Publication date | 1938 |
| Media type | Print () |
| Preceded by | Artists in Crime |
| Followed by | Overture to Death |
Death in a White Tie is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. It is the seventh novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of a British lord after a party.
Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is on the hunt for Colombo Dmitri, a well-known London caterer who blackmails his wealthy clients. Mrs. Halcut-Hackett tells Alleyn about her "friend" who is being blackmailed and has been instructed to leave a purse full of money in a sofa at a concert hall. Alleyn sends his friend, Lord Robert "Bunchy" Gospell to keep an eye on the purse in order to secure the evidence against Dmitri. However, Bunchy falls asleep and misses the pickup and Mrs. Halcut-Hackett begins to suspect Bunchy is the blackmailer.
Evelyn, Lady Carrados, throws a debutante ball for her daughter from her first marriage, Bridget O'Brien, with many of London's elite in attendance including painter Agatha Troy, Alleyn's mother and niece, physician Sir Daniel Davidson, Bunchy and the Halcut-Hacketts. The affair is catered by Dmitri. Lady Carrados is also being blackmailed and is instructed to leave a purse full of money in the upstairs sitting room. She does so and, much to her horror, Bridget returns the bag to her believing she left it behind by mistake. Bunchy warns Lady Carrados not to return the bag but she does. Dmitri returns the empty bag to her later in the evening.
Bunchy telephones Alleyn at Scotland Yard to update him on what he witnessed. A furious Bunchy confirms it's the "cakes-and-ale feller" and that he "might as well mix his damn' brews with poison". Someone interrupts the phone call at the moment and Bunchy hangs up. After the party, Bunchy takes a cab to Scotland Yard but is murdered along the way. The cab driver said he picked up Bunchy and another person, probably a man, but the other man got out earlier. Alleyn suspects Bunchy was stunned by a blow to the head then suffocated with his now-missing cloak.
Alleyn attempts to determine who walked in on Bunchy's phone call as that person must know Bunchy is on the path of the blackmailer. However, Dmitri has a solid alibi enforced by Sir Herbert Carrados and others. Alleyn investigates Donald Potter, Bunchy's nephew and heir who is heavily indebted to a Captain Withers who runs an illegal gambling den. But that leads to nothing but dead ends.
Alleyn has mild successes from Mrs. Halcut-Hackett and Lady Carrados about their blackmail letters. Mrs. Halcut-Hackett is having an affair with Captain Withers and Lady Carrados was never legally married to her first husband Paddy. Paddy had a wife in an Australian insane asylum and thus could not divorce her. Paddy and Evelyn pretended to be married and had Bridget. Paddy died in a car accident apparently with a letter in his pocket about his wife's passing. The letter went missing nearly eighteen years earlier.
Bridget tells Alleyn about an antique desk in her home that has a secret compartment. One evening, she found the compartment and a letter inside it. She did not read the letter, but her stepfather was furious and injured her arm, an act witnessed by Sir Daniel who treated the wound. Alleyn and Fox located the vicarage who tended to Paddy for he was transported to the hospital. The retired vicar and his wife tell them they found the letter and had their niece forward the letter to the hospital. The niece is Violet Harris who was recently hired as Lady Carrados' secretary. Miss Harris said she gave the letter to a man in a car who is actually Sir Herbert Carrados who drove Evelyn to the hospital.
Sir Herbert kept the letter all these years to use against his wife who never loved him as much as she loved Paddy. However, Sir Herbert is innocent of murder. The actual murderer is Sir Daniel Davidson. Davidson was in the blackmailing scheme with Dmitri. As a physician, he had access to many people's secrets which he used to blackmail them. Dmitri was the one to collect the money and do the leg work. Bunchy did not know of Davidson's involvement in the scheme. However Bunchy mentioned "mixing his brews with poison", Sir Daniel panicked believing Bunchy was actually referencing the physician's liquid medicine and not the caterer's cocktails. He followed Bunchy out of the party, stunned him with the cigarette case and suffocated him with his cloak which he then mailed to a hospital mission in China.
The book concludes with Alleyn and Troy continuing their tense relationship and sharing an awkward kiss and vague plans for the future.
It was adapted for television in a 1993 episode of The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries , a BBC production. The director was John Woods, the screenwriter Ken Jones, and Alleyn was played by Patrick Malahide. [1]
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Roderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published in 1982.
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A Man Lay Dead is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the first novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1934. The plot concerns a murder committed during a detective game of murder at a weekend party in a country house.
Enter a Murderer is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. This is her second novel to feature Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1935. The novel is the first of the theatrical novels for which Marsh was to become famous, taking its title from a line of stage direction in Macbeth. The plot concerns the on-stage murder of an actor who has managed to antagonize nearly every member of the cast and crew. By chance, Inspector Alleyn is in the audience.
Artists in Crime is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the sixth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of an artists' model; Alleyn's love interest Agatha Troy is introduced.
Overture to Death is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the eighth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1939. The plot concerns a murder during an amateur theatrical performance in a Dorset village, which Alleyn and his colleague Fox are dispatched from Scotland Yard to investigate and duly solve.
Surfeit of Lampreys is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the tenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1941. The novel was published as Death of a Peer in the United States.
Colour Scheme is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twelfth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1943 by Collins Crime Club. The novel takes place in the Northland region of New Zealand during World War II; the plot involves suspected espionage activity at a hot springs resort on the coast of New Zealand's Northland region.
Swing, Brother, Swing is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the fifteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1949 in the UK. The novel was published as A Wreath for Rivera in the United States. The plot concerns the murder of a big band accordionist in London.
Scales of Justice is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. it is the eighteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1955.
Last Ditch is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-ninth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1977. The plot concerns drug smuggling in the Channel Islands, and features Alleyn's son, Ricky, in a central role.
Grave Mistake is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the thirtieth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1978. The plot concerns the supposed suicide of a wealthy widow in a chic rest spa, and involves a rare and famous postage stamp.
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