Enter a Murderer (1935)
Blurb:
My review:
The first theatrical Marsh is infinitely superior to its immediate predecessor, the dated A Man Lay Dead. The theatre setting, largely seen from the outside perspective of Alleyn, little more than Wimsey under a helmet, and the irritatingly juvenile Nigel Bathgate, is vivid and amusing, and the principal actors amusingly handled. Alleyn is overly bright and facetious as he investigates the on-stage murder of a blackmailing actor, shot dead with the “dummy” cartridges he put into the gun. The deductions from physical clues (gloves, cosmetics and cartridges) are good, but Alleyn’s dealings with Bathgate and Stephanie Vaughan hardly bear the hallmark of professionalism! The surprising murderer is arrested after the reconstruction of the crime.