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melissa_who_reads's review against another edition
3.0
Listened on audiobook to this favorite. Marsh is kind to actors, often while exposing their faults, but she doesn't seem to like jazz musicians much. The story's characters are for the main part big and broad, egotistical, and a little thing like murder is just one more piece of the game.
tarshka's review against another edition
2.0
I don't remember very much. It was a pretty average Ngaio Marsh I think?
cimorene1558's review against another edition
3.0
Clearly I am becoming more sensitized. I found I was much more bothered by the casual classism and other unpleasant isms of this book. Some of it is intentional and about the characters and not the author, but some of it is just the "this is an older book. Things were different" problem. There's a lot of "he's from South America, of course he's a dirt bag" in this book. Don't get me wrong, said character is a dirt bag, but still, he shouldn't be assumed to be just because he's Hispanic.
michael5000's review against another edition
2.0
This is pretty silly stuff, even more formulaic than usual with Marsh and with an uncomfortably screwball aspect that doesn't mesh well with the good inspector's serious mentality. The take on jazz is terrifically uninformed.
Did the British used to call a drum kit a "timpani," or is that just Marsh? Until you figure out what she means, it makes the band seem even more ludicrous then it is.
Did the British used to call a drum kit a "timpani," or is that just Marsh? Until you figure out what she means, it makes the band seem even more ludicrous then it is.
naluju's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
mysterious
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
v_maftei's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
3.0
dlmoldovan's review against another edition
4.0
One of my favourite Marsh mysteries. Mainly because of all the times I laughed out loud while reading this. I love Marsh's descriptions, her quirky cast of characters, the overall mystery. Yes, I do acknowledge that this mystery was not really believable, and neither were the characters, but the main reason I read is for the enjoyment factor. I don't expect mysteries to make me laugh out loud, unless I'm reading Georgette Heyer, but this one did, therefore it gets high points in my opinion. I also like the fact that Alleyn's presence was felt all the way from the beginning.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
A Wreath for Rivera (1st pub as Swing Brother Swing; 1949) by Ngaio Marsh finds Lord Pastern & Bagott, the very model of eccentric British aristocracy taking up jazz drumming (or becoming a tympanist, according to Marsh). His eccentric nature has reminded Curtis at the Passing Tramp of real-life eccentric Lord Berners and he (Curtis) makes a good case for Marsh using Lord Berners as a model*. Lord Pastern--to use the abbreviated form--has in the past been involved with Indian yogis, VooDoo, and nudism to name a few of his eclectic pursuits. He has forced his wife to share her home with members of an esoteric Central European sect. She has, by turns, indulged him (initially), threatened to divorce him, generally lived separately, and more recently reunited with him. She found that once the Central Europeans vacated Duke's Gate (where she had lived apart from Lord Pastern) that she could not endure the quiet. So, when her husband decided to bang away at drums, she welcomed the noise and him to Duke's Gate.
His latest passion is to perform with an actual jazz band and he convinces Breezy Bellairs to let him join Breezy Bellairs' Boys for a feature number at the Metronome club. He's even written a little song and devised a pretty little skit to go along with the number. He'll bang away at the drums and then Carlos Rivera, Breezy's star piano-accordionist, will come out and get shot (with blanks). It will be a real show stopper. Of course, Rivera is a quite unsuitable young man who has gotten entangled with Lord Pastern's step-daughter Félicité (Fée)and Lady Pastern wants the relationship quashed at all costs. When somebody loads the gun with something more deadly than blanks, she gets her wish. In spades.
Naturally, it winds up that all sorts of people might have wanted Rivera out of the way. He was putting pressure on Breezy. Other members of the band were a bit fed up with him. He flirted incessantly with Lord Pastern's niece Carlisle much to Félicité's annoyance (intended) as well as to Ned (Edward) Manx's--who has just discovered that he loves Lisle. But who hated or feared him enough to kill?
Luckily, Inspector Roderick Alleyn is in the audience when Lord Pastern's "Hot Guy" number produces one very cold corpse. He and Fox will have to wade through musicians' jealousies, a traces of drug-dealing, a hint of blackmail, and a side-issue of the real identity of a famous agony columnist before they collar the murderer.
I think what I enjoyed most about this was the eccentricity. It may seem a bit over-the-top viewing it from today--but Lord Pastern's mad fads, Lady Pastern's holding on to her aristocratic roots in the post-war era, the silliness of the "Hot Guy" number (as proposed--not how it transpired) all create a certain atmosphere that could only take place in this book. I was glad that despite the fact that I know I must have read this back in the mists of time (when I was making my through every Marsh book my hometown library had on offer), I remembered nothing of the plot. So--although I spotted one portion of the solution I couldn't quite see how it had been managed.
One out-of-the-way thing that struck me--particularly because I've been listening to Sayers' Whose Body on audio while roaming about in the car--is that calling one's friends and colleagues by odd little endearments must have been quite a thing in Golden Age/classic mysteries. At one point, when Fox says this case may be like the "Purloined Letter," Alleyn responds with: "Fox, my cabbage, my rare edition, my objet d'art, my own special bit of bijouterie, be damned if I don't think you've caught an idea." Lord Peter throws such things about when addressing Parker and Bunter at various points. Now, if I can remember, I'm going to have to pay attention when I read others and see if this is a pattern beyond Alleyn and Wimsey....
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
His latest passion is to perform with an actual jazz band and he convinces Breezy Bellairs to let him join Breezy Bellairs' Boys for a feature number at the Metronome club. He's even written a little song and devised a pretty little skit to go along with the number. He'll bang away at the drums and then Carlos Rivera, Breezy's star piano-accordionist, will come out and get shot (with blanks). It will be a real show stopper. Of course, Rivera is a quite unsuitable young man who has gotten entangled with Lord Pastern's step-daughter Félicité (Fée)and Lady Pastern wants the relationship quashed at all costs. When somebody loads the gun with something more deadly than blanks, she gets her wish. In spades.
Naturally, it winds up that all sorts of people might have wanted Rivera out of the way. He was putting pressure on Breezy. Other members of the band were a bit fed up with him. He flirted incessantly with Lord Pastern's niece Carlisle much to Félicité's annoyance (intended) as well as to Ned (Edward) Manx's--who has just discovered that he loves Lisle. But who hated or feared him enough to kill?
Luckily, Inspector Roderick Alleyn is in the audience when Lord Pastern's "Hot Guy" number produces one very cold corpse. He and Fox will have to wade through musicians' jealousies, a traces of drug-dealing, a hint of blackmail, and a side-issue of the real identity of a famous agony columnist before they collar the murderer.
I think what I enjoyed most about this was the eccentricity. It may seem a bit over-the-top viewing it from today--but Lord Pastern's mad fads, Lady Pastern's holding on to her aristocratic roots in the post-war era, the silliness of the "Hot Guy" number (as proposed--not how it transpired) all create a certain atmosphere that could only take place in this book. I was glad that despite the fact that I know I must have read this back in the mists of time (when I was making my through every Marsh book my hometown library had on offer), I remembered nothing of the plot. So--although I spotted one portion of the solution
Spoiler
--the use of the duplicate gun--One out-of-the-way thing that struck me--particularly because I've been listening to Sayers' Whose Body on audio while roaming about in the car--is that calling one's friends and colleagues by odd little endearments must have been quite a thing in Golden Age/classic mysteries. At one point, when Fox says this case may be like the "Purloined Letter," Alleyn responds with: "Fox, my cabbage, my rare edition, my objet d'art, my own special bit of bijouterie, be damned if I don't think you've caught an idea." Lord Peter throws such things about when addressing Parker and Bunter at various points. Now, if I can remember, I'm going to have to pay attention when I read others and see if this is a pattern beyond Alleyn and Wimsey....
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
thereadingbel's review against another edition
3.0
Lord George Pastern, renowned for extreme eccentricity, seems to have finally lost his sanity when he builds up a murder case against himself. Lord Pastern has gotten into jazz and playing the drums convincing Breezy Bellair to let him do a special piece with Bellair’s famous jazz band. They do a musical number in which they intend to use a revolver and blanks. However, neither Lord Pastern nor Carlos Rivera, the villainous accordionist star of the band who has given an ultimatum to George’s step-daughter, Felicite, to announce their engagement, can agree on who will pretend to fall over dead. At the time of the performance, Rivera unexpectedly falls over despite the group’s decision to do the other routine. When Bellair bends over the musician as part of the act, he looks concerned and gets the ushers to carry Rivera out, only for the man to die before the doctor in the audience can reach him. Inspector Alleyn and Fox encounter jazz, drugs and a gossip magazine clashing with a dysfunctional society family.
guardian's review against another edition
1.0
Terribly boring. Gave up as I didn't care about anyone in the story. The narrator, whom I typically like, didn't fit this book.