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A review by michael5000
When in Rome by Ngaio Marsh
3.0
The elderly Dame Marsh gamely trying to usher the closed-room cozy past its cultural sell-by date, through all the social change of the post-War era, is not without its moments of bathos. A septuagenarian writing about youth culture in 1970 was inevitably going to have a hell of a time of it. Sure, she hits plenty of wrong notes.
So, duh, don't turn to Ngaio Marsh to get a feel for what 1970 felt like to people who were coming of age in that moment. But then, there are vast libraries of books out there that can give you a feel for that. What Marsh has on offer is a glimpse of what it must have felt like to be becoming elderly at that moment in time. She was clearly still plenty sharp, still trying to keep her hand in, not always able to hang with the kids -- but who of us will be? Who of us are?
A competent, enjoyable, forgettable genre mystery.
So, duh, don't turn to Ngaio Marsh to get a feel for what 1970 felt like to people who were coming of age in that moment. But then, there are vast libraries of books out there that can give you a feel for that. What Marsh has on offer is a glimpse of what it must have felt like to be becoming elderly at that moment in time. She was clearly still plenty sharp, still trying to keep her hand in, not always able to hang with the kids -- but who of us will be? Who of us are?
A competent, enjoyable, forgettable genre mystery.