A Wreath for Rivera

By: Ngaio Marsh

Narrated by: Nadia May

Length: 8 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

When Lord Pastern Bagott takes up with the hot music of Breezy Bellair and his Boys, his disapproving wife Cecile has more than usual to be unhappy about. The band's devastatingly handsome but roguish accordionist, Carlos Rivera, has taken a rather intense and mutual interest in her precious daughter Felicite. So when a bit of strange business goes awry and actually kills him, it's lucky that Inspector Roderick Alleyn is in the audience. Now Alleyn must follow a confusing score that features a chorus of family and friends desperate to hide the truth and perhaps shelter a murderer in their midst.

©1949 Ngaio Marsh, Ltd. (P)1994 Blackstone Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A succulent novel." (The New York Times)
"It's time to compare Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." (New York Magazine)

Ok story, torturous narrator

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Not one of my favorite Ngaio Marsh stories, I don't think I liked a single of the characters besides Alleyn and Fox. Very hard to be in sympathy with anyone since I kept hoping they would all just shut up and die in a house fire. This is wholly subjective though, I know.

Nadia May is also not a narrator I can really enjoy. Her accents are too exaggerated and varied. It seems like she trips herself up; sometimes one character's accent gets mixed up with another and I don't realize that Alleyn is talking because the first few words of his speech sound like Fox. And anyone French is just torturous to listen to, drawls on forever.

What did you like best about this story?

Fox. Always Briar Fox.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Nadia May?

Benedict Cumberbatch, Phillip Franks, James Saxon

Was A Wreath for Rivera worth the listening time?

No. I've only regretting downloading two of Ngaio Marsh's books, this one and Colour Scheme–for different reasons. I could have stood the mediocre plot and unlikable characters of Wreath for Rivera if the narration was more enjoyable.

Good characters, narration, and plot

I enjoy Nadia May’s narrations of Marsh’s books. At times in this recording you can tell her voice is weary or dry; I did not find this to be distracting to the story.

Like many other of Marsh’s stories, the plot involves a likable romance, a drug racket, and a performance of some kind. However, there are fresh characters- an eccentric lord who develops a passion for percussion and joins a jazz ensemble; a debutante, her dubious accordion-playing fiancé, a reporter who isn’t Nigel Bathgate (though he comes in near the end), and a mysterious advice columnist. I was frustrated that one of the major plot-lines is resolved entirely off-stage.

His name is pronounced Alan.

I’m a fan of Ngaio March. I read the book in hardback liked it enough to try the audio version. What a disappointment. The Narrator couldn’t even pronounce the lead character’s name correctly. It made me cringe to hear it. It’s Alan very simple but enough to ruin my enjoyment of the book. (I won’t even mention the French)

Don't worry About "Alleyn's" pronunciation

Nadia May is of course Wanda McCadden. She doesn't make mistakes on pronunciation. I feel that when she began her audiobook recordings in the early 80's when Ngaio Marsh was living, she may have interviewed Marsh and thus gave "Alleyn" the New Zealand pronunciation as per Marsh's wishes. I just know McCadden is meticulous. Does anybody else have an idea or actually know the answer?
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not Marsh's best but still a good story

A bit dated and a variation on one of Marsh's earlier plots, the story is still a solid play fair mystery. Well performed by May, this listen is recommended

Excellent Reading

Nadia May is excellent. Her cadence, her clarity, her accent, her voice are all very enjoyable.

ZZZZzzzzzzzz

I found this devastatingly boring. Whether it was the narrator and her exaggerated pronunciation of everything, particularly the French accents, or whether it was the story itself, I don't know. I stuck it out, hoping it would "catch" and I'd want to know what happened next, but it never did. I hate to think about the time I wasted, not to mention the money. I didn't like it.

Not her best work - boring

On a Ngaio Marsh binge listen i am struck by how wildly uneven the books are. Almost like they aren’t by the same author. This one was simply terrible in my personal opinion.