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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
‘Faithful to the hallowed conventions of English detection… a fine swansong.’
Observer
‘As always she writes most elegantly.’
Daily Telegraph
‘Still, quite simply, the greatest exponent of the classical English detective story.’
Daily Telegraph
Product Description
The complete series of Ngaio Marsh reissues concludes with the re-publication of this 20th anniversary edition of this, her final novel.
Peregrine Jay, owner of the Dolphin Theatre, is putting on a magnificent production of Macbeth, the play that, superstition says, always brings bad luck.
But one night the claymore swings and the dummy’s head is more than real: murder behind the scene.
Luckily, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is in the audience…
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoy the Allen mysteries. However, though I found this readable it was little more than a guide to producing a version of 'Macbeth' liberally padded with quotations from the play
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
9 reviews
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
For cozy fans and Shakespeareans
8 May 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
"Light Thickens" is Ngaio Marsh's last novel and one of her best. The mystery centers around a production of "Macbeth" at the Dolphin Theatre in London. Most of those involved in the play are superstitious to varying degrees about the bad-luck curse traditionally associated with "Macbeth." Even to say the play's name is considered dangerous, so it's referred to as "the Scots play." During rehearsals someone starts playing gruesome practical jokes. And somebody is sending out anonymous messages about a likable and talented child actor whose father is the Hampstead Chopper, a notorious serial killer confined in the Broadmoor asylum. One night, during a performance attended by Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, a grisly murder involving a ceremonial sword occurs just before the final curtain. If you like traditional British cozies with mostly pleasant characters, you'll probably enjoy this mystery, and if you're also a Shakespeare aficionado, you'll enjoy it even more.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Strong on theatrical detail, weak on mystery plot
27 April 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I have enjoyed Ngaio Marsh mysteries in the past, and I am interested in Macbeth, so I was looking forward to this book. Unfortunately, as a mystery it was disappointing. The lead in to the murder took the first two-thirds of this confusingly over-populated book, with the murder itself almost an afterthought. The plot centered around the production of Macbeth, and not the victim or criminal. I cannot reveal the weakness of the plot without also revealing the ending, but the solution was so excessively convenient that I wound up very frustrated. The identity of both the murderer and the victim seemed largely a matter of coincidence and not of fate.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A murder mystery associated with Shakespeare's Macbeth
28 Sep 2008
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed this Ngaio Marsh (1895-1982) entry a great deal, albeit it's not representative of her very best works such as False Scent (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries), which is yet another theatrical murder mystery, also featuring Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn.
Marsh, a New Zealander, was herself a director of theater so in this instance she naturally established an extensive wallpaper of details before she got around to knocking off her victim. I didn't mind this at all since her background for the mystery was so competently conveyed.
The story is essentially that Theater Director Peregrine Jay is putting on a top-notch production of "Macbeth," a play which reputedly brings bad luck to its principals. An apparent Herculean swing by some unknown cast or crew member's huge sword (a "Claymore" which has a difficult Scottish pronunciation and which is additionally said to have powers of its own!) brings the impending fear of doom to a head. And even though Inspector Alleyn was in the audience watching the play when the murder occurred, he still has a tough time sorting this one out.
I think that it would probably have been nice to have had just a little more of Inspector Alleyn and slightly less of the theater director, but it is what it is. I highly recommend this one for any enthusiast of Ngaio Marsh or, for British cozy murder mystery fans in general.
Marsh, a New Zealander, was herself a director of theater so in this instance she naturally established an extensive wallpaper of details before she got around to knocking off her victim. I didn't mind this at all since her background for the mystery was so competently conveyed.
The story is essentially that Theater Director Peregrine Jay is putting on a top-notch production of "Macbeth," a play which reputedly brings bad luck to its principals. An apparent Herculean swing by some unknown cast or crew member's huge sword (a "Claymore" which has a difficult Scottish pronunciation and which is additionally said to have powers of its own!) brings the impending fear of doom to a head. And even though Inspector Alleyn was in the audience watching the play when the murder occurred, he still has a tough time sorting this one out.
I think that it would probably have been nice to have had just a little more of Inspector Alleyn and slightly less of the theater director, but it is what it is. I highly recommend this one for any enthusiast of Ngaio Marsh or, for British cozy murder mystery fans in general.
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