1936 detective novel by Ngaio Marsh
Death in Ecstasy is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh, the fourth to feature her series detective, Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard. It was first published in 1936.
When lovely Cara Quayne drops to the floor dead after drinking the ritual wine at the House of the Sacred Flame, she was having a religious experience of a sort unsuspected by the other initiates. Discovering how the fatal prussic acid got into the wine is but one of the perplexing riddles that confronts Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn, when he is called upon to discover who poisoned this wealthy cult member.
Death in Ecstasy' centers on a dubious spiritual cult in fashionable 1930s London, with an even more suspect charismatic cult leader. According to Marsh's biographer Margaret Lewis,[1] despite the author's conventional insistence that all the characters are fictitious, the book drew on an actual cult in 1890s Christchurch, NZ: Arthur Bentley Worthington's Temple of Truth.[2]
Uncharacteristically, the novel dispenses with Marsh's usual introductory section establishing her characters, their relationships to each other and motives, plunging straight into journalist Nigel Bathgate's spur-of-the-moment attendance at The Temple of the Sacred Flame, where a sudden death takes place. In her Preface, the author thanks Robin Page "for his advice on sodium cyanide", Guy Cotteril "for his plan of the Temple", and Robin and Adamson "for the friendly ingenuity in the preparation of household poisons".
Storyline
On a gloomy December Sunday evening, disciples of a spiritual cult recently established in fashionable Belgravia (London) by the charismatic Jasper Garnette make their way through the pouring rain to The Temple of the Sacred Flame for an act of worship. On a whim, journalist Nigel Bathgate slips in and witnesses the sudden collapse and death of one of the cult members, the beautiful, wealthy orphan Cara Quayne, immediately after drinking from the ritual goblet of wine, which proves to contain cyanide. Bathgate, the 'Watson' of Alleyn's early cases, attaches himself to the police investigation into Cara Quayne's death and the circumstances surrounding The Temple.
Plot Summary
Journalist Nigel Bathgate lets curiosity get the better of him when he decides to attend services at The Temple of the Sacred Flame. He is initially denied entry but manages to sneak in and witness the ceremony. One of the initiates, Cara Quayne, has been chosen to be the Chosen Vessel. As part of the ritual, Miss Quayne drinks from a goblet of wine, seemingly enters ecstasy and falls down dead.
Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is called in to investigate. Nigel relays everything he witnessed. All of the initiates drank from the goblet with Cara Quayne having done so last. Father Garnette blessed the goblet then passed it to the initiates who drank from it with their eyes closed. A partially dissolved scrap of paper is discovered in the goblet, leading Alleyn to believe one of the initiates dropped the cyanide into the goblet in that manner. Moreover, Alleyn finds an old book in Garnette's quarters that opens up to a page on how to make cyanide at home. The book belongs to Samuel Ogden who claims it went missing some days or weeks earlier.
Alleyn's questioning reveals very little. Several initiates have a god complex for Garnette and many are clearly jealous over the attention the wealthy Cara Quayne received from the priest. Miss Ernestine Wade claims she overheard Miss Quayne arguing with someone the afternoon of the murder where Quayne threatened to expose someone. Alleyn suspects this is about some missing bonds Miss Quayne donated to the church but were stolen from the priest's safe.
Alleyn's attention moves toward Maurice Pringle, an initiate who is addicted to drugs. Maurice is in love with fellow initiate Janey Jenkins who befriends Nigel and tells him about Maurice's addiction. She believes Father Garnette is the one responsible. Alleyn begins investigating the finances of the church and learns Ogden has a very large financial stake in the church because he provided most of the founding capital. Garnette receives a certain percentage of the income and M. Raoul de Ravigne receives a much smaller percentage. Cara Quayne's will leaves much of her vast fortune to the Church of the Sacred Flame.
Alleyn arrests Garnette for drug smuggling and Samuel Ogden for murder. Ogden is a well-known figure wanted for drug smuggling and murder in Australia. He has also partaken in a number of schemes such as the Church of the Sacred Flame. He murdered Cara Quayne because she knew he stole the bonds from the priest's safe and also because he would receive the bulk of her estate through his own stake in the church. Ogden was the last person to drink from the goblet during the ceremony, which gave him the most advantageous position to slip the poison into the wine.
Radio and television adaptations
A television episode in 1964 had Geoffrey Keen in the lead role, Keith Barron as Nigel Bathgate, Joss Ackland as Jasper Garnett and Nigel Hawthorne as a temple doorkeeper.[3]
A dramatisation by John Tidyman of the novel was broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Saturday Night Theatre in September 1969, with Peter Howell as Alleyn and Gary Watson as Nigel Bathgate.[4]
