Artists in Crime

By: Ngaio Marsh

Narrated by: Nadia May

When murder upsets the creative tranquility of an artists' colony, Scotland Yard sends in its most famous investigator. And what begins as a routine case turns out to be the most momentous of Roderick Alleyn's career. For before he can corner the killer, his heart is captured by one of the suspects, the flashing-eyed painter Agatha Troy, who has nothing but scorn for the art of detection.©1938 Ngaio Marsh (P)1994 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"Artists in Crime is Miss Marsh's best....Her touch is light, without lapsing into the facetious, her characterization excellent; her plot neat and precise." (Spectator)

They are all "just" painters, or are they?

This happens to be my favorite detective, (at this time) It has been my privilege to read these books. Now I am going to lie back in the hammock, enjoy the beautiful weather, and LISTEN!

Nearly perfect

It has been a real pleasure of listening to this book! The narration was extremely good. The only problem for me was the narrator’s pronunciation of Detective Alleyn’s name as “al-LAIN” instead of “Allen” which the author made clear in other writings is the correct pronunciation. This difference is only a problem for a very few people, and I feel sheepish that it bothered me at all, but it did. Otherwise, the performance was great and included a plethora of accents and an engaging reading style.

The story and characters are deeply “Marsh” and I enjoyed it very much!

Great Classic Mystery

Ngaio Marsh was a better writer than Agatha Christie and created one of the early English aristocratic detectives. Urbane and self-effacing, Roderick Alleyn still stands up well against Elizabeth George's and Martha Grimes' modern examples.
"Artists in Crime" is one of the important series stories, as it introduces the character who will become the inspector's wife. A classic British whodunit from the 1930's, this is an ideal listen for those who appreciate the genre.
Nadia May has the perfect clear, crisp, no-nonsense voice for this kind of book. If you haven't yet discovered Marsh, this is a good place to begin.

Perfect escape during this time

A perfect thing of its kind- lovely British 1930s murder mystery- thought narrator was ideal choice.

Period piece

I didn't realize this was written in the 1930s. Mea culpa. It's vaguely interesting as a period piece, but it's not a great mystery or a great character study. I suppose it's almost good at both.