Night at the Vulcan by Ngaio Marsh

Night At The Vulcan
by Ngaio Marsh
Rating: ★★★★
Series: Inspector Alleyn #16
Publication Date: December 1, 1951
Genre: mystery
Pages: 236
Project: a century of women

A London actor was dying for a star billing...

From the leading lady's liaison to the harassment of an aging juvenile lead-there's never a dull moment, darling, at the Vulcan Theatre. But vanity and hysterics, suspicion and superstition, brandy and jealousy, are upstaged by a death on opening night. Was it really suicide? Or a macabre encore to a long-ago murder in the same backstage room? Scotland Yard's cast of suspects for the final curtain.

This was the third in a trifecta of Ngaio Marsh theatrical mysteries that I read this month. I likd all of them a lot – I don’t think I could pick a favorite.

One thing that I have noticed about Marsh over the course of a few books is that she takes her time setting up both her murders and the entry of Inspector Alleyn. I don’t mind this, although it might be a deal breaker for some readers.

Night at the Vulcan is set in the Vulcan theater, which has reopened after being closed for several years after being the site of a murder. The book opens with Martyn Tarne, a 19 year old woman from New Zealand who has taken a job as dresser for the star of the play, Helena Hamilton. Martyn is distantly related to the owner/manager of the refurbished theater, Adrian Poole, who is also Ms. Hamilton’s erstwhile lover.

There are lots of seething undercurrents between all of the actors, playwright and producers as they prepare for the opening night of a new play. On opening night, the leading man, Clark Bennington, declining actor and husband to Ms. Hamilton, seems to commit suicide within minutes after the play concludes to great acclaim.

The book itself occurs over the course of about 4 days, with the setting basically confined to the theater, with a few scenes happening at the home of one of the characters who takes Martyn in and allows her to stay at his house because she is dead broke. It would have been terrific adapted to the theater. Overall, 4 stars.