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A review by cardica
Money in the Morgue by Ngaio Marsh, Stella Duffy
4.0
In fifth place for our 2020 recommendations on Death of the Reader comes the wonderful Money in the Morgue. This one was conceived by the late [a:Ngaio Marsh|68144|Ngaio Marsh|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1237946649p2/68144.jpg] but continued and completed by [a:Stella Duffy|43223|Stella Duffy|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1356001503p2/43223.jpg], who we had the absolute pleasure of interrogating about the process recently on Death of the Reader.
The story takes place in the New Zealand wilderness, as a storm approaches and threatens to seal off a military hospital camp from the outside world, we are challenged by the combined wits of Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy to penetrate this closed circle of suspects when a murder most foul is committed within the camp walls. It’s a classic muder mystery setup but what really elevates this story above the rest is the characters, and as someone who cares about nothing but characters, this was a perfect story to flick through at a slow and steady pace. Duffy has made it no secret that the plot is based off [b:A Midsummer Night's Dream|1622|A Midsummer Night's Dream|William Shakespeare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327874534l/1622._SY75_.jpg|894834] by [a:William Shakespeare|947|William Shakespeare|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1586700347p2/947.jpg], and as such there are not only a diverse cast of characters, including the old and grouchy Mr Glossop, placed in charge of the camp’s treasury which also disappears during the night, the secretaries and nurses you would expect to see running the camp from behind the scenes and going under appreciated, but also the soldiers themselves, who represent the Maori culture of New Zealand and each and every group of this story adds a little piece to the puzzle, the mystery encouraging us to categorise them but then slowly take apart each of the smaller groups in an attempt to find the killer of the story and to ascertain the broader scope of the tale.
This part of the story is clued in to us via the detective themself, Roderick Alleyn. Reimagined for this role they are a far cry from the needlessly testosterone fueled idol of masculinity that we’re familiar with but rather takes a softer approach and throughout the second act as we gather clues and motivations sifting through the events of the night (which unfortunately does involve some time-based puzzles but I suppose we can’t have everything) and just as we sit down with each of the characters Alleyn does his best to coach them into cooperating with him, acting not just as a detective but almost as psychologist as many of the characters are suffering from heartbreak or the loss of a loved one or both through the story and it’s up to Alleyn not just to put the pieces together and save the day but to determine whether every mystery being hidden is worth exposing to the outside world, and he approaches the story and the individual mysteries with a care and love rarely seen in murder mystery canon.
Truthfully Money in The Morgue’s biggest downfall is also its greatest strength. It’s just too much fun. The story builds a promise of international espionage and real estate dealings and bottomless cave-pits which are really just a metaphor for the depths of the sin of the criminals in this tale. But with all that setup a large part of the story is bumbled through right at the last minute. Flex and I both agree that it works as comedy gold and that the strong structure and nuanced characters of the novel carry the story through to the finish line, but the whole thing turns into something reminiscent of a Simpsons caper right as the curtain is preparing to drop and if you’re not expecting this it can throw you for a loop. It’s a bit like if Good Murder had just been a regular murder mystery novel but kept its farcical end chapter because the author just thought it was funny. This is a book you read for entertainment and a good story above all else, and of course if you want an excellent example of how to reimagine an older detective with all his flaws for a modern audience. Stella Duffy has put forward tremendous effort and passion to bring Roderick Alleyn and Ngaio Marsh’s strong spirit into a modern murder mystery. And it is clear that she has a great love for the source material and for the works that turned Marsh into the queen of crime we know her as. For that alone I think it is worth your time.
You can hear our full thoughts and our discussion with Stella Duffy about this book up on the Death of the Reader podcast. Thanks to Stella for joining us on the show!
The story takes place in the New Zealand wilderness, as a storm approaches and threatens to seal off a military hospital camp from the outside world, we are challenged by the combined wits of Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy to penetrate this closed circle of suspects when a murder most foul is committed within the camp walls. It’s a classic muder mystery setup but what really elevates this story above the rest is the characters, and as someone who cares about nothing but characters, this was a perfect story to flick through at a slow and steady pace. Duffy has made it no secret that the plot is based off [b:A Midsummer Night's Dream|1622|A Midsummer Night's Dream|William Shakespeare|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327874534l/1622._SY75_.jpg|894834] by [a:William Shakespeare|947|William Shakespeare|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1586700347p2/947.jpg], and as such there are not only a diverse cast of characters, including the old and grouchy Mr Glossop, placed in charge of the camp’s treasury which also disappears during the night, the secretaries and nurses you would expect to see running the camp from behind the scenes and going under appreciated, but also the soldiers themselves, who represent the Maori culture of New Zealand and each and every group of this story adds a little piece to the puzzle, the mystery encouraging us to categorise them but then slowly take apart each of the smaller groups in an attempt to find the killer of the story and to ascertain the broader scope of the tale.
This part of the story is clued in to us via the detective themself, Roderick Alleyn. Reimagined for this role they are a far cry from the needlessly testosterone fueled idol of masculinity that we’re familiar with but rather takes a softer approach and throughout the second act as we gather clues and motivations sifting through the events of the night (which unfortunately does involve some time-based puzzles but I suppose we can’t have everything) and just as we sit down with each of the characters Alleyn does his best to coach them into cooperating with him, acting not just as a detective but almost as psychologist as many of the characters are suffering from heartbreak or the loss of a loved one or both through the story and it’s up to Alleyn not just to put the pieces together and save the day but to determine whether every mystery being hidden is worth exposing to the outside world, and he approaches the story and the individual mysteries with a care and love rarely seen in murder mystery canon.
Truthfully Money in The Morgue’s biggest downfall is also its greatest strength. It’s just too much fun. The story builds a promise of international espionage and real estate dealings and bottomless cave-pits which are really just a metaphor for the depths of the sin of the criminals in this tale. But with all that setup a large part of the story is bumbled through right at the last minute. Flex and I both agree that it works as comedy gold and that the strong structure and nuanced characters of the novel carry the story through to the finish line, but the whole thing turns into something reminiscent of a Simpsons caper right as the curtain is preparing to drop and if you’re not expecting this it can throw you for a loop. It’s a bit like if Good Murder had just been a regular murder mystery novel but kept its farcical end chapter because the author just thought it was funny. This is a book you read for entertainment and a good story above all else, and of course if you want an excellent example of how to reimagine an older detective with all his flaws for a modern audience. Stella Duffy has put forward tremendous effort and passion to bring Roderick Alleyn and Ngaio Marsh’s strong spirit into a modern murder mystery. And it is clear that she has a great love for the source material and for the works that turned Marsh into the queen of crime we know her as. For that alone I think it is worth your time.
You can hear our full thoughts and our discussion with Stella Duffy about this book up on the Death of the Reader podcast. Thanks to Stella for joining us on the show!