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For her third Inspector Roderick Alleyn title, The Nursing Home Murder published in 1935, Ngaio Marsh creates a cunning puzzle. The British Home Secretary has been receiving threatening letters, from the Soviet-inspired socialists ... and from a women he dallied with and the man that women loves. When appendicitis strikes suddenly, the Home Secretary is operated on by the doctor who is the jilted women's lover, and the woman herself, a nurse, is in the operating theatre. But the anesthetist, the Home Secretary's own sister, and two others in the operating room are also suspect. Death, it seems, was from the poison hyoscine -- administered during the operation or shortly before. It could even have been suicide ...
It's a great set-up but it didn't flow as smoothly as her previous book, Enter a Murderer. This third installment was entertaining but perhaps 3.5 stars instead of the 4.5-5 that the earlier work deserved.
More satisfying, and clicking along at a different speed, is Robert B Parker's third Spenser novel, Mortal Stakes published in 1975. The Boston PI gets hired on a private tour of duty by the Red Sox GM to check up on his star pitcher, Marty Rabb, of whom he's heard whisperings ... Rabb might be blowing an inning or a whole game, here and there ... is he not playing ball? Spenser encounters Rabb's mysterious wife, Linda, who is not entirely what the team's bio says; and Maynard, a loud mouthed telecaster who works for the team but can make or break careers; and Frank Doerr, who may be behind blackmail with the muscle of the mob behind him.
Parker's prose is economical, witty, engaging and though there is violence, nothing is ever gratuitous. Spenser's character continues to be fleshed out with each installment; he's no cardboard single dimension figure that some PIs are portrayed ... his job costs him in a very personal way. He follows his instincts, uses his brain and sometimes throws a punch. Parker's craft is in every line; you'll find yourself wanting to underline the often surprisingly memorable bits of spoken dialogue or, more likely, Spenser's inner musings, especially the off-the-wall funny ones. Recommended strongly.
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