I liked that there were a bunch of clues that I could figure out, and I solved what is sort of the first mystery before it was revealed, but even with just a few minutes left to go on audio I wasn't sure what the answer to the whole mystery was. And when I heard the answer, I wasn't like, what. I was like, "Ohhhhhhh, iiiiiiinteresting."
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A strange and wonderful mystery.

The first few pages of this were glorious, but then it settled into what I thought was a pretty run of the mill murder mystery except that it was all vaguely incomprehensible because it assumed I understood literally anything about Morris dancing, which I do not, and is apparently enormously silly.

Also, I can't believe this book from the 50s can have a "queer bi-sexual hat" and not have a picture, much less even otherwise describe it.

Still with the reenactment as a way to catch the criminal.

Another comfortable investigation of a conventional murder-mystery novel by the unflappable Inspector Alleyn and his even less flappable sidekick Fox. This one takes a bit of a hit from the fact that I'm reading it after having read a lot of its shelfmates, and I'm at the point where the Marsh formula is starting to wear a little thin. Alleyn has had an AMAZING number of cases in which someone is killed during some kind of performance. He has found fit an AMAZING number of times to have the crime recreated by all of the people who were present at the scene. It's a pretty good way to structure a detective story, but it's not a great way to structure ~all~ of your detective stories. In short: enjoy Marsh a lot, and, I should lay off her for a while.

I think this is my first time reading this author, as august a writer as she is held...I think I will give her one more try, starting earlier in the series when it doesn't feel as 'phoned in' as it did to me. And maybe it was written in a time when it was fine to continue to use the same word over and over for someone saying something in a loud voice. Maybe no Thesaurus were available or the editor was resting on the author's laurels.
The story was decent, a bit convoluted for me but someone else might like it.

I find that I sometimes have a hard time following Marsh's writing - for example, I just could not visualize much at all based on the descriptions of the mumming costumes and performance. that means I didn't understand a lot of what I was reading about. I also find the phonetic accents jarring. having said that, the writing is very clearly from another era and it can be nice to step back and out of time to spend time this series.

This is the first Marsh book I've 'read' completely - Death in White Tie was abridged (although well-read by Cumberbatch). Up to now I had been thinking of Marsh as a lesser competitor of Allingham and Sayers, and I misjudged her. Inspector Alleyne may not be as fully developed a character, internally, as Lord Peter, but the story that Marsh weaves is complex and lovely.

The story involves British folk traditions, a small village, an outsider folk enthusiast, class-consciousness and reverse snobbery, and a thoroughly confusing murder. I found the plot engaging and fun, a very good companion to a long drive. There were parts where I laughed out loud. I may in fact pick up a copy of the book, to re-read the parts where the mythologic background of the mummers and morrises are discussed, particularly in relation to Lear.