Having recently discovered, and become addicted to, the Lord Peter Wimsey books set in my favourite period for detective stories, 1920’s and 1930’s, it struck me after three Peter books under my belt, that Roderick Alleyn, the creation of Ngaio Marsh, (who I have already blogged about) have a lot in common.
They are both ‘gentlemen detectives’ though Roderick Alleyn is a real policeman and a member of the CID, while Lord Peter regards it as a hobby. They are both elegant, wear their clothes well, are interested in the theatre, music and books.
They both marry strong women with their own careers: Lord Peter marries Harriet Vane, who writes detective stories and Alleyn’s wife, Agatha Troy, is a famous and distinguished artist. They also share the same rather prickly personality in that they both fought their feelings and, initially, did not wish to marry. Harriet because she disliked being beholden to Lord Peter who saved her from being convicted of murder, and also did not wish to lose her independence, and Agatha, a very private woman, who disliked her husband’s profession very much. As she was involved with a murder investigation (Artists in Crime) shortly after their initial meeting, this is hardly surprising.
As with all good detective stories, each has his ‘side kick’, usually of the plebeian order, Lord Peter has Bunter (who, in many ways is a more of a snob than his master) and Alleyn has Inspector Fox, who he calls rather whimsically (if you will forgive the use of the word) Brer Fox. Both are essentially there to admire and appreciate their superior, usually uncritically. Readers know that Bunter and Fox are devoted to their masters and would lay down their lives for them.
Both Alleyn and Wimsey moved in high society circles; both had aristocratic mothers, Alleyn had a brother George ( a ‘silly ass’) who was a diplomat and Wimsey had a brother who held the fictional title of the Duke of Denver. One of my favourite Marsh novels is Death in a White Tie which is set in the Season and where a murder takes place at a grand social occasion. Beautifully described and written this shows that NM had a very good working knowledge of the aristocracy and its comings and goings at this time.
The ‘gentleman detective’ has, of course, continued in the books of Elizabeth George and, to some extent, in PD James Inspector Dalgliesh stories (as well as being a policeman he is also a poet). Elizabeth George is an American writer who has a huge admiration for the English detective novel and has striven to recreate this genre. The current editions of the Sayers that I am reading at the moment have a foreword written by her in which she makes no secret of her admiration for these books.
Sadly, her detective, Inspector Lynley (who is a member of the aristocracy and is called ‘Tommy’ by his friends for heaven’s sake) is a pastiche and not really believable. He is self obsessed, angst ridden and continually doubting himself and his motives. He also has a side kick, Barbara Havers, very much a member of the working class, no musical tastes, eats junk food, wears trainers and dreadful anoraks, and is a complete contrast to her boss. Though she will not admit it, she is devoted to the Terrible Tommy and it is her detecting that solves the problem most of the time. Lynley marries an equally self obsessed, ghastly wife called Helen who is, without doubt, the most irritating female I have ever met in fiction (with perhaps the exception of Irene in the Forsythe Saga, who I wanted to shake most of the time. My sympathies were always with Soames who I felt showed remarkable forbearance towards his wife but that is a blog for another day).
I did wonder, who had influenced who, and if either of these authors had read the other and, on checking bibliographies, can see that the first D L Sayers novel was published in 1923 and Ngaio Marsh had her first, A Man Lay Dead, published in 1934 so she would have had ample time to read, and be influenced by, Lord Peter Wimsey. I am trying to see if I can track down any comments by Ngaio Marsh on Dorothy L Sayers to see what she thought of her, and vice versa, as I am sure this would make interesting reading.
This simply terrific illustration purports to be Roderick Alleyn interviewing a suspect in An Opening Night. I can only assume that the artist must have read the wrong book as to me, this looks more like Lord Peter and Harriet Vane. Whoever it is meant to be, I love it.
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