Spinsters in Jeopardy

By: Ngaio Marsh

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 9 hrs and 12 mins

Publisher's summary

It's an exotic end for an English spinster.

En route to a family vacation on the French Riviera, Inspector Roderick Alleyn glimpses from the train a shocking tableau. In a moonlit window, a white-robed figure raises a knife to a woman's shadow. Thus begins his incognito exploration of the Chateau of the Silver Goat... where a jet-set cult's "Way of Life" could spell death for a maiden lady of a certain age, and even for Alleyn's own young son, unless he can unveil its illicit mysteries.

©1954 Ngaio Marsh (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Nadia May brings all her storytelling expertise to the complicated plot, managing to keep the numerous characters distinct and identifiable." (AudioFile)

Marsh not at her best but still enjoyable

Sayers and Christie had difficulties when their sleuths went after drug dealers and Marsh fares no better. This story starts with imbicility by Alleyn and Troy along with easily anticipated complications. Then our hero and a couple of sidekicks catch the dealers. Not Marsh's best but still OK. Well acted by May and included with Audible and therefore recommended.

Mixed Feelings

I had mixed feelings about this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the reading of this book--it was excellent--and I enjoyed all the interplay between the Alleyn family and several other people. I'd rate that a 5. I did not particularly like the plot with the whole cult theme, it seemed a little corny. It was still an enjoyable listen.

Marsh’s CDI Alleyn

Not my favorite Marsh but her personal background contributes to her characters, plots and settings. This time Troy and 6 year old son Ricky are tourists and that’s Alleyn’s cover for undercover work outside of Britain and New Zealand.

Not my favorite Marsh, but any Marsh is great

The Alleyns take a family trip, with Troy and Ricky joining Rory Alleyn in the South of France in Ngaio Marsh's Spinsters in Jeopardy. They find themselves in a situation where Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn gets sent by MI-5 to look into how drugs are entering into England. But also, in Roqueville, near the location of the chateau where Alleyn is to be sent, Troy has an eccentric third cousin once removed, Moinsieur Garbel, who has been sending her strange letters, complete with used train tickets and details of his chemistry work. So the Alleyns determine to break their rule against combining Rory's work with family activities and choose to take the trip to the South of France together.

Early on the morning that they must get off their train, Alleyn looks out the window of his train, which has stopped to be allowed to enter a tunnel, and sees a man getting stabbed. As Troy rushes into Alleyn and Ricky's train compartment, she reveals that she too has witnessed the stabbing.

Shortly before their scheduled stop, the conductor seeks help from the English couple to help communicate with a fellow Englishwoman who is in serious medical distress and speaks no French. The doctor on board diagnoses a perforation of her appendix and says that if Miiss Truebody does not have surgery immediately, it could cost her het life. He recommends an Egyptian Dr. Baradi, who happens to be staying at the chateau, leaving a dose of sodium pentothal he is carrying to give to doctors in need to use as an anesthetic. So the Alleyns get roped into visiting the charteau, with Alleyn serving as assistant and Raul Milano, their official driver and a former military corpsman, serving as anesthetist. This gives Alleyn the entree he needs to gain access inconspicuously to the chateau, where obviously Oberon, the leader who who likes to call himself Ra after the Egyptian god, has created a cult. As Troy describes her observations of Oberon's mix of practices: "Yoga, Nitche, black magic, voodoo, I wouldn't be surprised." Then, when Alleyn gets to the hotel, he discovers a frantic Troy, as Ricky has been kidnapped.

Spinsters in Jeopardy deals with the issues of cults, drugs, and sex. I don't enjoy the general topic of cults, as they usually do seem to involve drugs and sexual issues, frequently, as in this case, with the leader's trying to have sex with each of the women, often in a public ceremony. Marsh's other book about a cult, Death in Ecstasy, deals with similar themes. I did enjoy getting to see Troy and Ricky, the latter of whom shows up in only two books, this one and 1977's Last Ditch, where Ricky is a young man. Troy comes across as a strong woman put in an unbearable situation, that of having her son kidnapped, leaving her frantic for the safety of her son.

Most of the characters from the chateau are fairly flat, with Oberon seeming like a stock character as a typical leader of a cult as seen in similar pieces of literature. Oberon uses drugs to control his followers and combines various writings popular with cult leaders in such books. The cult members seem very typical of drug addicts willing to do what it takes to get their fix.

The narrator of the audiobook, Nadia May, does an excellent job performing this book. She does a lot to make this book seem real and helps to make the book more enjoyable than I imagine reading the book on one's own would be.

I am not a particular fan of Spinsters in Jeopardy, but as a big fan of Ngaio Marsh, I do have an appreciation for this book. The characters don't have Marsh's usual depth, and the cult plot gets tedious. However, the writing gives it a quality that allows the book a certain strength, giving it three stars.

Another great mystery from Ngaio Marsh!

This was a great mystery by one of the greatest mystery writers ever! Nadia May does a wonderful job reading a somewhat different Inspector Allyn story. And for anyone who read the review that said that there was no mystery, they had it wrong. There was a mystery. The identity of the murderer was no big surprise, but several other points had to be resolved in the story.

Ok, but not Marsh’s best plot or mystery

The plot felt contrived, the characters not as fully developed or as interesting as in most other Marsh mysteries. It felt flat in comparison to others of hers that I’ve read.

A solid performance.

Not a who-dunit but lots of fun

Unlike most Ngiao Marshes, you know all along who the criminals are. But the characters are engagingly drawn and the plot suspenseful. The reader has a great sense of the tone of the books and was enjoyable to listen to.

Alleyn Undercover

Led by the title to expect something involving nursing homes, wills, long-lost nieces, and tapioca pudding, instead I got an exotic foreign location and even more exotic criminals. All of which Alleyn navigates undercover, a skill I had no idea he possessed.

Once again, I am reminded that Ngaio Marsh’s other pursuits in painting and theater made her a terrific writer, too. At times her prose can be stunningly vivid, her management of plot and action masterful. And, once again, Nadia May performs Marsh’s story to perfection.

Always a treat

Convoluted plot with an interesting premise. Some tense moments but a good believable typical finale

Pretty fast-paced for Ngaio Marsh!

Nicely done story & well read. I personally like the dry old school writing & so enjoyed it!