Background and early life Roderick Alleyn

1 background , life

1.1 family background
1.2 32 alleyn novels
1.3 birth, education , career

background , life

roderick alleyn (pronounced allen ) gentleman detective, family , educational background may deduced comments in novels. in brief, alleyn apparently born around 1892-1894, graduated oxford around 1915, served in army 3 years in world war i, spent year (1919–1920) in british foreign service. joined metropolitan police constable in 1920 or 1921.

marsh s 32 novels form chronological series follows alleyn s detective career. when series opens (a man lay dead, 1934), alleyn aged 40 , detective chief-inspector in cid @ scotland yard. series progresses, alleyn marries , has son, , rises rank of chief superintendent.

family background

throughout novels, alleyn member of gentry. younger brother of baronet, , raised in buckinghamshire mother, lady alleyn, continued live. lady alleyn unseen until sixth novel, artists in crime (1938). in surfeit of lampreys (1941) alleyn states mother s maiden name blandish.

from beginning of series, alleyn s father dead: older brother, sir george alleyn, enjoying baronetcy. late father, named george (death in white tie, 1938) implicitly had @ least 1 brother (alleyn s paternal uncle), because first novel (a man lay dead, 1934) mentions cousin, christina alleyn, remains unseen character. christina chemist trained @ newnham college, cambridge. in 1934, christina alleyn in mid-twenties.

alleyn on tolerably terms older brother, sir george alleyn, current baronet, throughout of series unseen character. in artists in crime (1938), mother indicates sir george more conventional , less intelligent detective younger brother. novel death in white tie features sarah alleyn, daughter of sir george, , mentions sir george s wife (alleyn s sister-in-law) named grace , elder lady alleyn called helena (at least, addressed such lady lorrimer). younger brother, sir george entered foreign service: death in white tie implies sir george governor of fiji in late 1930s, writes alleyn government house in suva. in later novel, when in rome (1970), alleyn remarks older brother once british ambassador there. sir george appears in person, briefly, @ embassy function in black s painted (1974).

in earliest 5 novels, alleyn single—and quite attracted actresses, described in both enter murderer (1935) , vintage murder (1937). subsequently, in artists in crime (1938), alleyn meets agatha troy whom later marries. troy famous painter, particularly of portraits, , features in many later novels. have 1 son, named roderick called ricky; ricky plays major roles child in spinsters in jeopardy (1954) , young adult in last ditch (1977).

the 32 alleyn novels

the following descriptions taken acknowledgment rear cover blurbs on harper collins diamond anniversary collection of 2009.

a man lay dead (1934)

sir hubert handesley s extravagant weekend house-parties deservedly famous exciting murder game. when lights go time, there real corpse real dagger in back. 7 suspects have skilful alibis - chief detective inspector roderick alleyn has figure out whodunit...
enter murderer (1935)

the crime scene stage of unicorn theatre, when prop gun fired real bullet; victim actor clawing way stardom using bribery instead of talent; , suspects included 2 unwilling girlfriends , several relieved blackmail victims. stage set 1 of roderick alleyn s baffling cases ...
the nursing home murder (1935)

a harley street surgeon , attractive nurse nervous operate. patient home secretary - , both have personal reasons want him dead. operation complete success - dies within hours, , inspector alleyn must find out why ...
death in ecstasy (1936)

who slipped cyanide ceremonial wine of ecstasy @ house of sacred flame? other initiates , high priest claim above earthy passions. roderick alleyn discovers victim had provoked lust , jealousy, , suspects more evil still lurks behind sign of sacred flame ...
vintage murder (1937)

new zealand theatrical manager alfred meyer planning surprise wife s birthday - jeroboam of champagne descending gently onto stage after performance. but, roderick alleyn witnesses, goes horribly wrong. death product of maori superstitions - or more down earth?
artists in crime (1938)

it starts art exercise - knife under drape, pose outlined in chalk. when agatha troy returns class, scene has been re-enacted: model dead, fixed in dramatic pose troy has ever seen. s difficult case chief detective inspector alleyn. woman loves murderess ...?
death in white tie (1938)

the season has begun. débutantes , chaperones planning gala dinners - , blackmailer planning strategies stalk next victim. chief detective inspector roderick alleyn knows , has planted friend lord robert gospell @ dinner, else has got there first ...
overture death (1939)

it planned act of charity: new piano parish hall, , amusing evening s entertainment finance gift. doomed when miss campanula sits down play. chord struck, shot rings out, , miss campanula dead. seems case of sinister infatuation roderick alleyn ...
death @ bar (1940)

a midsummer evening - darts night @ plume of feathers, traditional devonshire public house. distinguished painter, celebrated actor, woman graduate, plump lady county clare , local farmer play parts in fatal experiment calls investigative expertise of inspector alleyn ...
surfeit of lampreys (1941), published in usa death of peer

the lampreys peculiar family. entertained guests charades - rich uncle gabriel, such bore. lampreys thought if jollied him bail them out of poverty again. uncle gabriel meets violent end, , chief inspector alleyn has work out of them killed him ...
death , dancing footman (1942)

it begins entertainment: 8 people, many of them adversaries, gathered winter weekend host love theatre. ends in snowbound disaster. has alibi - , motive well. roderick alleyn realizes hangs on thomas, dancing footman ...
colour scheme (1943)

it horrible death - lured pool of boiling mud , left die. roderick alleyn, far home on wartime quest enemy agents, knows number of people have killed him: english exiles d hated, new zealanders d despised, or maoris d insulted. spies d thwarted ...
died in wool (1945)

one summer evening in 1942 flossie rubrick, mp, 1 of formidable women in new zealand, goes husband s wool shed rehearse patriotic speech - , disappears. 3 weeks later turns @ auction - packed inside 1 of own bales of wool , very, dead ...
final curtain (1947)

just agatha troy, world famous painter, completes portrait of sir henry ancred, grand old man of stage, old actor dies. dramatic circumstances of death such scotland yard called in - in person of troy s long-absent husband, chief detective inspector roderick alleyn ...
swing brother swing (1949), published in usa wreath rivera

the music rises climax: lord pastern aims revolver , fires. figure in spotlight falls - , coup-de-théatre has become murder ... has eccentric peer let hatred of future son-in-law go far? or tangle of jealousies , blackmail reveal inspector alleyn altogether different murderer?
opening night (1951), published in usa night @ vulcan

dreams of stardom lured martyn tarne faraway new zealand soul-destroying round of west end agents , managers in search of work. now, driven sheer necessity, accepts humble job of dresser vulcan theatre s leading lady. eagerly awaited opening night brings strange turn of wheel of fortune - , sudden unforeseen death ...
spinsters in jeopardy (1954), published in usa in 1953 , later in abridged version bride of death (1955)

high in mountains stands historic saracen fortress, home of mysterious mr oberon, leader of coven of witches. roderick alleyn, on holiday family, suspects huge drugs ring operates within castle. when else stumbles upon secret, mr oberon decides strange rituals require human sacrifice ...
scales of justice (1955)

the inhabitants of swevenings stirred fierce competition catch monster trout known dwell in beautiful stream. 1 of small community found brutally murdered; beside him freshly killed trout. chief detective inspector roderick alleyn s murder investigation seems more interested in fish ...
off head (1957), published in usa death of fool

when pesky anna bünz arrives @ mardian investigate local folk-dancing, antagonizes villagers. bur mrs bünz not source of friction. when sword dancers traditional mock beheading of winter solstice becomes horribly real, superintendent roderick alleyn finds himself faced complex case of gruesome proportions ...
singing in shrouds (1959)

on cold february london night, police find corpse on quayside, body covered flower petals , pearls. killer, walked away singing, known 1 of 9 passengers on cargo ship, cape farewell. superintendent roderick alleyn joins ship on difficult assignment of career ...
false scent (1960)

mary bellamy, darling of london stage, holds 50th birthday party, gala loves , fears power. uses deadly insect spray on mary instead of azaleas. suspects, theatrically, playing part of mourners. superintendent alleyn has find out 1 played murderer ...
hand in glove (1962)

the april fool s day roaring success all, seemed - except poor mr cartell ended in ditch - ever. there case of mr percival pyke period s letter of condolence, sent before body found - not mention family squabbles. s puzzling crime superintendent alleyn ...
dead water (1964)

times in cornish village of portcarrow, hundreds flock taste healing waters of pixie falls. when miss emily pride inherits celebrated land, wants put end villagers exploitation of miracle cures, miss elspeth cost s gift shop. puts end miss cost, , roderick alleyn finds himself literally on spot ...
death @ dolphin (1967), published in usa killer dolphin

the bombed-out dolphin theatre given peregrine jay mysterious oil millionaire, gives him glove belonged shakespeare display in dockside theatre. murder takes place, boy attacked, , glove stolen. inspector roderick alleyn doesn t think oil , water mix ...
clutch of constables (1968)

according chief superintendent roderick alleyn, jampot international crook regards murder tiresome , regrettable necessities . alleyn s wife troy has shared close quarters jampot on pleasure cruise along peaceful rivers of constable country , knows badly wrong before 2 murders on board ...
when in rome (1970)

when guide disappears mysteriously in depths of roman basilica, members of sebastian mailer s tour group seem strangely unperturbed. when body discovered in etruscan sarcophagus, superintendent alleyn, in rome on trail of international drug racket, concerned ...
tied in tinsel (1972)

when disliked visiting servant disappears without trace after playing santa claus, foul play @ once suspected - suspicion falls not on staff on unimpeachably respectable guests. when superintendent roderick alleyn returns unexpectedly trip overseas, find beloved wife in thick of intriguing mystery ...
black s painted (1974)

called in security arrangements presidential reception @ london embassy, chief superintendent alleyn ensures house , grounds stiff police. nevertheless, assassin strikes, , alleyn finds no shortage of help, special branch tribal court - , small black cat named lucy lockett ...
last ditch (1977)

young rickie alleyn has come channel islands write, village life seems tedious - until finds stablehand in ditch, dead unlucky jump. rickie notices strange , father, chief superintendent roderick alleyn, discreetly summoned scene, when rickie disappears ...
grave mistake (1978)

with 2 husbands dead, daughter marrying wrong man , debilitating disease, no wonder sybil foster took own life. chief superintendent roderick alleyn doesn t believe type kill herself - , thinks else has made grave mistake ...
photo finish (1980)

the luxury mansion on new zealand s lake waihoe ideal place world-famous soprano rest after triumphant tour. among other guests chief superintendent alleyn , wife - theirs not social visit. when tragedy strikes, , isolated 1 of lake s sudden storms, alleyn faces 1 of trickiest cases ...
light thickens (1982)

peregrine jay, owner of dolphin theatre, putting on magnificent production of macbeth, play that, superstition says, brings bad luck. 1 night claymore swings , dummy s head more real: murder behind scenes. luckily, chief superintendent roderick alleyn in audience ...

in addition, 3 alleyn stories contained in short story collection death on air , other stories, first published in great britain harpercollinspublishers in 1995. 3 alleyn stories are:

death on air (1936)
i can find way out (1946 - usa)
chapter , verse: little copplestone mystery (1974 - usa)

the collection, besides 7 non-alleyn stories, includes 2 biographical essays written ngaio marsh: roderick alleyn , portrait of troy.

birth, education , career

alleyn reportedly educated @ eton , oxford, , worked in british foreign service year (1919–1920) before joining metropolitan police. later novel, scales of justice (1955), gives sketchy details of period in alleyn s life. reasons switch in careers never made explicit.

early in police career, alleyn wrote textbook became admired: principles , practice of criminal investigations, roderick alleyn, m.a. (oxon), c.i.d. (sable , murgatroyd, 21s), mentioned in footnote chapter 6 of vintage murder (1937).

in first few novels, alleyn in forties. in first, man lay dead (1934), nigel bathgate (alleyn s future watson) stated twenty-five, , alleyn older, judging tone of remarks bathgate. in second, enter murderer (1935), there minor inconsistency, in bathgate appears younger before. bathgate says has been working journalist 15 months, ever since came down (that is, graduated) trinity college, cambridge. however, alleyn comments 20 years since (alleyn) came down oxford. assuming both gentlemen graduated typical three-year oxbridge degree @ around age 21, in 1934 or 1935 bathgate 22 or 23 , alleyn 20 years older, indicating birth around 1893 or 1894.

the fifth novel, vintage murder (1937), explicitly set in new zealand in june 1936—according epilogue dated september 1936 , set 3 months after novel s action. in chapter 16, alleyn states age, while speaking teenager: rude think? m twenty-five years older you. old gentlemen of forty-two allowed impertinent. when policemen.

vintage murder (1937) indicates alleyn spent 3 years in army after graduating, presumably during world war i. in series details of military service ever given. after army, spent year in british foreign service.

the sixth novel, artists in crime (1938), rapidly follows action of vintage murder (that is, occurs in late 1936), , contains letters between lady alleyn , younger son during return england. these show alleyn s mother turns 65 in 1936, , alleyn 20 years younger. same correspondence shows lady alleyn s birthday on seventh of september, , alleyn s (forty-third) birthday follows after. hence, information in fifth , sixth novels, alleyn born in september or october, 1893.

it clear later novels take liberties alleyn s age. in black s painted (1974), alleyn not 80 years old, have if birth in 1893. setting of novel identified being contemporary writing, i.e. 1970s, , while alleyn senior member of cid, still relatively young ad fit enough sprinting down alleyways after perpetrators.