Opening Night (novel)
Encyclopedia
Opening Night is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh
; it is the sixteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn
, and was first published in 1951. It was published in the United states as Night at the Vulcan.
The novel is one of the theatrical ones for which Marsh was best known, and concerns the murder of an actor backstage on opening night of a new play in London. The play is being performed at the Vulcan Theatre; it was formerly known as the Jupiter Theatre, renamed after an infamous murder recounted in the Alleyn short story "Murder on the Air".
Martyn Tarne, a young and inexperienced actress from New Zealand, finds herself involved in a play where her own heredity plays a significant role in a minor part. As the understudy for a minor role, Martyn is caught up when Inspector Roderick Alleyn
begins investigating the murder he has witnessed.
Ngaio Marsh
Dame Ngaio Marsh DBE , born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900...
; it is the sixteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn
Roderick Alleyn
Roderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published as late as...
, and was first published in 1951. It was published in the United states as Night at the Vulcan.
The novel is one of the theatrical ones for which Marsh was best known, and concerns the murder of an actor backstage on opening night of a new play in London. The play is being performed at the Vulcan Theatre; it was formerly known as the Jupiter Theatre, renamed after an infamous murder recounted in the Alleyn short story "Murder on the Air".
Martyn Tarne, a young and inexperienced actress from New Zealand, finds herself involved in a play where her own heredity plays a significant role in a minor part. As the understudy for a minor role, Martyn is caught up when Inspector Roderick Alleyn
Roderick Alleyn
Roderick Alleyn is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, Light Thickens, was published as late as...
begins investigating the murder he has witnessed.