Ngaio Marsh. Generally counted on one hand among the great dames of the English mystery’s golden age, Marsh is a New Zealand writer of the late 20th century. She wrote thirty-two crime novels over about fifty years, and most are considered classics of the genre. I’ve found her to be, at her best, the only mystery novelist I’ve read who is comparable to Christie within the style both wrote in – the sharpness of her characterizations of people both high and low in society, her good-humored approach to occasionally very dark and macabre stories, and most of all the atmosphere of her stories, such a warmly compelling blend of uncensored portrayal of evil and compassion and love for her characters. I should note, however, that I’ve also found her to be wildly uneven – I’ll pick up a Marsh novel and be wildly engrossed from the second page and come away hugely pleased – and the next week I’ll try another and be bored out of my mind. Generally nothing in between, either – her novels are either fantastic or total duds as far as reading pleasure and quality. Unlike Christie, she chose only one hero for her novels, the deadpan, cultured Roderick Alleyn, whose mind it is a pleasure to be in, and whose famous artist wife is a significant character in several novels.
To avoid:Black As He’s Painted, which is both melodramatic and unfortunately tainted with quite a lot of the racism that was a fact of life in Marsh’s day
Instead of buying the film rights to Mad About the Boy, Helen Fielding’s just-released final book in the Bridget Jones trilogy, production companies are instead apparently working on Bridget Jones’s Baby, a film based on an original screenplay by Fielding, which will include Colin Firth. Er….wise choice I suppose? RT
Castle head writer Andrew Marlowe and his co-writer wife are working on an hour-long drama for ABC featuring Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe character for ABC. COME TO ME PRECIOUS. RT
The lovely Charity has analyzed every personality type according to a famous fictional character (mostly from sci fi shows, to my great delight). I am Anne of Green Gables (naturally). Who are you? The Doctor? Sherlock? Caroline Forbes from Vampie Diaries? RT
From USA Today’s Happily Ever After, 3 little-known facts about Jane Eyre:
Royal lovebirds love Jane Eyre. No, not Kate and Will. We’re talking about Victoria and Albert, of course! The queen read the book to her prince over the course of many evenings, even staying up quite late because it was “most interesting.” She noted in her diary that Jane Eyre was “really a wonderful book … powerfully and admirably written.” Perhaps Victoria identified with the diminutive heroine. By all accounts, Victoria was plain like Jane, while Albert was not only as worldly as Edward Rochester, but also quite the heartthrob.
Not all of Jane Eyre was fiction. Lowood Institution, that horrible charity school that Jane attended, well, gulp, it really did exist. When The Rev. Patrick Brontë’s wife died, leaving him with five young children, he decided to send his four daughters to the Clergy Daughters School at Cowan Bridge. The students at Cowan Bridge were so cold and malnourished that many of them, including Charlotte’s two sisters, became ill and died. But did their headmaster despair? No, he did not! In fact, he rejoiced because he was sending his students “to heaven.” And what exactly did heaven look like to the girls of Cowan Bridge? Since 70 students were forced to share a one-seat outdoor toilet, the Pearly Gates are probably doors to private commodes.
Jane Eyre‘s Edward continues to inspire. When she wrote Twilight, Stephenie Meyer named Edward Cullen, a vampire, after Edward Rochester, also a slightly creepy hero. Both men are described as depressed and brooding when they arrive on the scene. These tortured heroes frighten the heroines — Bella and Jane, respectively — with their volatility. Both Edwards reject shallow and empty-headed socialites, choosing instead to love two young women who are insecure about their looks. RT
And finally, two exciting trailers. The first is for Lifetime’s high-budget, suave-looking adaptation of Bonnie & Clyde – can’ t be embedded but watch here. The second is for the upcoming and much-anticipated adaptation of John Banville’s The Sea, which stars Ciaran Hinds, Charlotte Rampling, and others in what looks like a story exactly halfway between broodingly literary and grippingly dramatic.
Coffee and Irony 