This article needs an improved plot summary. (April 2024) |
Hand in Glove is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-second novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1962.[1] The story concerns a high-society treasure-hunt party at which a murder takes place.
 First edition | |
| Author | Ngaio Marsh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Roderick Alleyn |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
Publication date | 1962 |
| Media type | Print () |
| Preceded by | False Scent |
| Followed by | Dead Water |
Reception edit
Anthony Boucher, reviewing in The New York Times, felt that though "highly readable and entertaining" the novel was not Marsh's best: "The genteel dissection of levels of snobbery in the English country gentry is, to me at least, less interesting than her usual themes, and Superintendent Roderick Alleyn has handled more cleanly defined murder puzzles. But even minor Marsh is an evening of perfectly polished professionalism."[2]
Jacques Barzun was likewise disappointed, calling the book "pleasant enough; there is clarity and humor; but the people and the props are a bit tired, especially Roderick Alleyn, who may be said to mumble his way from clue to clue around the countryside".[3]
British reviewers were more positive. Julian Symons in The Sunday Times called Hand in Glove "neat, dexterous... Miss Marsh's freshest and most enjoyable performance for years".[4] In a capsule review for The Sunday Telegraph, Cecil Day-Lewis under his crime-fiction pseudonym "Nicholas Blake" summed the book up as "Clever and cosy."[5] Francis Iles in The Guardian called it "Light, entertaining and disastrously readable: that is, if you have anything else you ought to be doing", praising the "easy, natural dialogue and gentle humour".[6]
Television adaptation edit
BBC One broadcast an adaptation for the television series The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries, with John Gielgud guest-starring, on 11 January 1994.[7]
References edit
- ^ McDorman, Kathryne Slate (1991). Ngaio Marsh. Boston: Twayne. pp. xiii–xiv. ISBN 0-8057-6999-4.
- ^ Boucher, Anthony (1 July 1962). "Criminals at Large". The New York Times Book Review. p. 18. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ^ Barzun, Jacques (Autumn 1962). "A Briefbag of Felonies". The American Scholar. 31 (4): 628–636. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
- ^ Symons, Julian (9 September 1962). "Criminal Records". The Sunday Times. No. 7269. p. 25.
- ^ Blake, Nicholas (16 September 1962). "Poisonous Affairs". The Sunday Telegraph. No. 85. p. 7.
- ^ Iles, Francis (5 October 1962). "Criminal records". The Guardian. p. 15.
- ^ Banks-Smith, Nancy (11 January 1994). "To Croydon with fish". The Guardian. p. A4.
External links edit
 | This article about a crime novel of the 1960s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. See guidelines for writing about novels. Further suggestions might be found on the article's talk page. |