Marsh, Ngaio - The Nursing-home Murder (1935)

Review by Nick Fuller

3/5

As the title indicates, this is a story of murder in hospital—on the operation table. The victim “died as a result of an operation which, apart from this little incident, was a howling success”. The crime is almost theatrical - the operating theatre as centre stage, with ante-rooms as wings — and is solved by a “repeat performance,” the reconstruction providing Alleyn with his main clue. Although the characterisation (apart from the preposterous Communist nurse) is reasonable, this is principally a puzzle of means and opportunity; the puzzle is paramount. The murderer is a psychological abnormality, with an original motive. “Forced to the conclusion that most of the people who attempt to administer the government of this country are themselves certifiable,” he has taken to administering lethal doses of hyoscine—applied eugenics. The presence of an Anarchist brotherhood, aptly described as “a secondary theme in this bloody cantata,” gives a rather dated feel to the book.