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Author | Ngaio Marsh |
---|---|
Language | English |
Series | Roderick Alleyn |
Genre | Detective fiction, Theatre-fiction |
Publisher | Collins Crime Club (UK) Little, Brown (US) |
Publication date | 1966 |
Media type | |
Preceded by | Dead Water |
Followed by | Clutch of Constables |
Death at the Dolphin is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. It is the twenty-fourth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1966 as Killer Dolphin in the United States. [1] [2] [3] The plot centres on a glove once owned by Hamnet Shakespeare, on display at a newly renovated theatre called the Dolphin. Several characters from the novel return in Marsh's final book, Light Thickens .
Marsh's biographer Margaret Lewis notes that the renovation of the Dolphin Theatre echoes an incident during her 1949-51 sojourn in London, where she accompanied Tyrone Guthrie on a visit to a bomb-damaged theatre on the banks of the Thames, which Guthrie dreamed of renovating as a venue for Shakespeare performances during the Festival of Britain. [4]
The book was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel of the Year in 1967, losing to Nicholas Freeling's The King of the Rainy Country.
On a whim, rising theatre director Peregrine Jay views a derelict Victorian playhouse, The Dolphin Theatre on London's South Bank. He falls into a wartime bomb crater on the stage and is rescued from drowning by the theatre's owner, the enigmatic multi-millionaire Vassily Conducis. Conducis listens to and finances the young theatre practitioner's vision of a restored Dolphin Theatre. It opens with the premiere of Jay's play 'The Glove", inspired by a cheverel glove that Conducis owns and has shown to Jay, with faded documents suggesting it was made for Shakespeare's only son Hamnet, who died young.
The glove is a public sensation and publicity coup for the new theatre and its opening production. The production is a triumph, despite tensions among Jay's talented but fractious company. During the sold-out run, the glove is stolen and Harry Jobbins, the chirpy cockney nightwatchman is viciously battered to death by one of the two dolphin statues in the theatre foyer, commissioned by Conducis. The obnoxiously precocious child actor playing Hamnet Shakespeare is attacked and all but killed.
Inspector Roderick Alleyn, initially tasked with security arrangements for the glove, is assigned to investigate the murder and identifies the murderer,[ who? ] as well as the history of how Mr Conducis came to own the Shakespearian glove.
The novel's murder plot is set against an engrossing account of how a historic London theatre is rescued from oblivion and a Shakespearian-themed modern play is produced, staged and launched into a solid West End triumph, with accompanying backstage dramas and tensions.
Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966.
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.
Final Curtain is a 1947 crime novel by the New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh, the fourteenth in her series of mysteries featuring Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn. It was published in Britain by Collins and in the USA by Little, Brown. The plot features the world of actors, and Alleyn's wife, the artist Agatha Troy, has a main role in the story.
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.
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.
Spinsters in Jeopardy is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the seventeenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1954. The novel is set in Southern France, where Alleyn, his painter wife Agatha Troy and their young son Ricky are on holiday. Alleyn is tasked by his Scotland Yard superiors with meeting French police colleagues to discuss international drug trafficking through Marseilles.
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.
Off with His Head is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the nineteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn. It was first published in the USA by Little, Brown of Boston in 1956, under the title Death of a Fool, and in the UK by Collins in 1957.
Singing in the Shrouds is a detective novel by New Zealand writer Ngaio Marsh; it is the twentieth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1959. The plot concerns a serial killer who is on a voyage from London to South Africa.
False Scent is a detective novel by New Zealand writer Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-first novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1959, by Collins in the UK and Little, Brown in the USA. The plot concerns the murder of a West End stage actress during her 50th birthday party, and continues Marsh's fascination with the theatre and with acting.
Hand in Glove is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-second novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1962. The story concerns a high-society treasure-hunt party at which a murder takes place.
Dead Water is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-third novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1964.
When in Rome is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-sixth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1970.
Black As He's Painted (1974) is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh, the 28th to feature Roderick Alleyn.
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.
Light Thickens is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the thirty-second, and final, novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1982. The plot concerns the murder of the lead actor in a production of Macbeth in London, and the novel takes its title from a line in the play.