A review of Hand In Glove by Ngaio Marsh – 231202

Although I am not Ngaio Marsh’s greatest fan, you can generally rely upon her for an unusual and imaginative form of murder and in Hand in Glove, the twenty-second in her Inspector Alleyn series, originally published in 1962, she does not disappoint. The body of Harold Cartell is found at the bottom of a sewage trench, having been pushed in and then having a large pipe rolled on top of him. Not a nice way to go.

As is the way with these things, Cartell, a prim lawyer, seems to have gone out of his way to upset people. He is sharing a house with the snobbish Percival Pyke Period, who is so precious about his family history. They share a house and get on each other’s nerves, not helped by Cartell’s badly behaved dog with a penchant for nipping people, Pixie. He makes a comment at lunch directed towards Pyke Period which clearly upsets the other, the import of which only becomes clear as the story develops.

Cartell is a trustee of Andrew Bantling’s and the two have a blazing row as he refuses to finance Bantling’s plans to open an art gallery. Also in the mix are Lady Bantling, Andrew’s mother and Cartell’s second wife, now married to the improbably named Bimbo Dodds, a man with his own history. At a disastrous lunch, the group are appalled by the behaviour of Mary Ralston aka Moppett, whom Harold’s spinster sister, Connie, has taken under her wing and her latest beau, the undesirable Leonard Leiss. Leiss is suspected of stealing Pyke Period’s antique cigarette case, which is later found with Cartell’s body, and Harold demands that the unsuitable relationship be ended. To make matters worse, Moppett and Leiss use Harold’s and Pyke Period’s names as guarantors in an attempt to purloin a car from a local trader.

Into all this has walked Nicola Maitland-Mayne, a young girl who has taken a temporary position as a typist to Pyke Period, and who immediately forms an attachment to Andrew Bantling and, more germane to the plot, is a friend of Superintendent Alleyn and his wife, Agatha Troy. Her involvement in the shenanigans causes Alleyn some disquiet.

Following the treasure hunt at one of Lady Bantling’s legendary parties that evening, Harold’s body is discovered. The question is which of his “enemies” was sufficiently riled to do him in. Alleyn, assisted by the faithful Fox, sift through the evidence to reconstruct what went on. They realise the import of some gloves that have gone missing which were used to move a plank and lever the pipe into the ditch. Whose hands were in them and why did Pyke Period send a letter of condolence over Cartell’s death before his body was discovered?

Given the mileage that was made over the strength needed to commit the murder, the identity of the culprit is slightly surprising. In truth, the plot is a bit thin, but is more than made up by the quality of Marsh’s characterisations. There are some wonderful characters to be found within these pages and the book reads as much a social comedy as a murder mystery. Strained relations, tensions abound but are they really enough to drive someone to commit murder most foul?

On the plus side, Nicola gets her man and Andrew’s painting gets the imprimatur of Agatha Troy. What more could he ask for?