But this arrival was in later books often at a fairly advanced point of the narrative. Beyond this it is something of a commonplace to point out that Alleyn is in many ways the weakest point in the Marsh oeuvre and that many of her books gain their strength in spite of, rather than because ,of Alleyn, who's arrival on the scene is to be dreaded. Troy and Alleyn's romance is at this point a pale copy of the Harriet/Wimsey romance and Alleyn's mother is a copy of Wimsey's mother. The first problem is one to which Nick Fuller has called attention, for instance in his review of Final Curtain Marsh is far too influenced by and in the shadow of Sayers. But all this does not hide the fact that Artists in Crime is not especially good. At another level however, it is the last of her weak early books - her next would be her breakthrough Death in a White Tie, which would introduce a run of quite brilliant productivity, at least 10 books of which the weakest are good and most excellent. It is I suppose difficult for Marsh aficionados not to have a certain fondness for this book on the basis that it sees the introduction of Troy. Alleyn who is staying with his mother, who happens to live nearby, is immediately called to the scene. When they return to the course after a weekend break their model, Sonia, is thrust down onto the couch and someone has, of course, fixed the knife in this way so she is murdered. The artists discuss the practicalities of this and carry out an experiment.

One of these artists, Malmsley, is doing a series of illustrations, one of which involves a drawing of a woman who is murdered by being thrust down onto a knife which the wife of the woman's lover (who is doing the thrusting) has fixed up beneath the couch.

When she arrives back in England Troy goes to her house at Tatler's End where she is running a course for a disparate group of artists. On his way back from New Zealand, where he has been solving the case of Vintage Murder, Alleyn meets the artist Agatha Troy (hereafter always known as Troy) on the boat and promptly falls in love.

Ngaio marsh artists in crime