What do You think about Tied Up In Tinsel (2000)?
This is one of my favorite Ngaio Marsh mysteries, set at Christmas at a sumptuous restored manor located just over the hill from a British prison. The "lord" of the manor is a sybaritic, snobbish man who is also an astute and wealthy businessman restoring his family's decrepit estate with ostentatious luxury. This being the early 70s, he can't find the storybook family retainers so he hires ex-cons: one-time murderers, to be exact. Into this he brings Troy Alleyn to paint his portrait, and also his eccentric family and his hypersexual fiancee. Naturally, there's a murder, and naturally, Troy's husband, Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, is called in to crack the case.
—Nancy Butts
A later entry in the Roderick Alleyn series, although it reads as if it were taking place in the 1930s. The characters and the setting are pure Alleyn......a manor house, eccentric characters, moneyed families and suspicious servants. A disappearance takes place during a Christmas party and of course, it turns out to be murder.......the question is not so much who killed the victim but why and how was he killed. If you are paying attention, that "who" and "why" are telegraphed about half-way through the book, so the question becomes "how" did the killer accomplish the deed. A satisfying mystery in this enjoyable series.
—Jill Hutchinson
Tided Up in Tinsel – Ngaio Marsh audio performance by James Saxon 4 starsEnglish country house mysteries are such perennial favorites, but I imagine it’s a challenge for an author to continually keep up appearances. This country estate drama has the further challenge of being set in what must have been the 1960’s. And, hey, ho, it’s Christmas Eve.The master of the house Hillary Bill-Tasman, having reacquired the ancestral home, is having his portrait painted. The artist is the well known Agatha Troy, who is also, conveniently, the wife of Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn. The house is full of eccentric guests, including the fiancée, Cressida, who sprinkles her speech with ‘groovy’ and ‘it sends me’. There’s Uncle ‘Flea’ and Aunt ‘Bed’, a gruff old Colonel and his wife who arrive with devoted manservant. All of the other servants are convicted, but paroled, murderers. What could be better?On Christmas Eve there is a traditional and extravagant entertainment planned for the village children. Uncle Flea dresses up, not as Father Christmas, but as a Druid to distribute the presents. And, naturally, the unplanned part of the entertainment is a murder.There is actually a bit of a clever puzzle involved in the solving of the mystery. But mostly this is a spoof. It was fun. James Saxon gave just the right touch to the ridiculous characters to make them silly without being stupid.
—Jgrace
