This book is titled Killer Dolphin in the US and was first published in 1967, I bought it in a second-hand bookshop in Worcester and it cost me all of £1 – not bad when you consider that the original 1967 price was 18s. 0d. Remember, there were 20 shillings in each pound sterling.
Anyway, I haven’t read anything by Ngaio Marsh for years, so long that I couldn’t even tell you what I have read, but I seem to remember that they were just a teeny wee bit racist in language, always a bit off putting even when books were written in the 1930s. However by 1967 her language seemed to have improved and I must say that I really did enjoy this one, despite it having quite a modern setting, the 1930s are really my favourite vintage crime era.
Peregrine Jay is a young playwright living in London and having a reasonably successful career but when he sees a derelict theatre languishing unloved near his flat, he is determined to bring it back to life. The Dolphin Theatre is his dream project and with the help of Mr Conducis, a rich businessman, the theatre reopens. Then there’s a murder which is investigated by Inspector Alleyn of Scotland Yard and his sidekick ‘Bre’r’ Fox. The whole theatre company is under suspicion.
If you like reading books with a theatre company setting then you’ll probably enjoy this one. Other books with a theatrical setting which I’ve enjoyed are :
The Good Companions by J.B. Priestley
An Awfully Big Adventure by Beryl Bainbridge
Of the 32 books in this series, I read (re-read) the first 15 several years ago. So I haven’t gotten to this one yet. My copy (a more recent paperback, I think) does not have this wonderful cover with the skull.
Your review encourages me to get back to rereading the series.
I had some problems with getting email posts from you for a while (at my end, they were being seen as spam), but now I have that fixed. I enjoyed all the pictures of your travels.
Tracy,
Peggy had the same problem with me being spammed, so maybe it was my fault but I’m not very technical, so it’s a bit of a mystery. I’ll definitely be looking out for more by Ngaio Marsh. I’m glad you enjoyed the travel posts as I have quite a lot more to do.
I read tons of Ngaio March when I was a teen, but I seem to have lost my liking for her books. Someone donated a bunch to my library a few months ago and I was almost tempted to buy them…almost. I just knew I probably wouldn’t read them all.
BTW, I found out yesterday that I do have Scottish blood in me! My great-great-great grandmother, Jeanette Goudie, was from Edinburgh!
Aha, I knew it, and Goudie is a very old Scottish name. It’s a corruption of the name Goldie. Do you think this might be your great-great-great granny? http://records.ancestry.com/Jeanette_Goudie_records.ashx?pid=55525149
I’ll read some more by Ngaio Marsh, if I fall over them, I didn’t realise that she was writing for so long and I’d be interested to read some of her later books.
Yes, that is her! And her daughter, Emma, settled in Arizona in the town where my grandparents still live. So fascinating! Now I really must visit Edinburgh!
I think you asked me in an email a while back if I am LDS and I forgot to answer, but, yes, I am a Mormon. Jeanette probably joined the church in the UK and then immigrated to Utah to be with the ‘Saints’.
Anbolyn,
That’s amazing, I had no idea that Mormons had been in Britain for so long. I had a look at this site http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/daily/history/british.html – but you probably know all about it. It seems that Dickens wrote some essays about LDS emigrants. The LDS ancestry website is great but I have no interest in organised religion, it seems to me that they are all in the business of keeping women down! What a culture shock it must have been for your granny, poor soul, she must have suffered in the heat. I hope you do manage to get to Edinburgh, maybe for the book fair one year!
Katrina, I’m planning a trip over next September and am going to see if I can work Scotland into the plan! To be honest, I don’t attend church very often. I guess you could say I am not a devout Mormon, though I am proud of my LDS heritage. My dad is not Mormon so I was raised half-and-half 😉
Anbolyn,
It would be great to meet up if you do manage to get to Scotland. You should write a book set around your granny’s experiences, do you know where she lived in Edinburgh? I think ‘mixed marriages’ are often good for the children because they don’t only get one side of a religious upbringing!