Last Ditch (Roderick Alleyn #29), Ngaio Marsh. New York: Felony & Mayhem, 2016 (originally published in 1976).

Summary: Alleyn and Troy’s son Ricky finds himself in the middle of a murder of a young horsewoman and gets mixed up with a group of drug runners when all he wants to do is get away on a Channel island and write.

We met Rick, Alleyn and Troy’s son, once before in Spinsters in Jeopardy (#17). He’s now a twenty-one year old who fancies himself a writer and thinks a small town, Deep Cove, on a Channel island the ideal location to make progress on writing a book. Little does he realize he is about to find himself a witness after the fact to a murder, and caught up in a drug trafficking conspiracy.

He takes lodgings with Gilbert and Marie Ferrant. He is the local plumber who also goes on night time “fishing” outings, and takes trips over to France, decked out in fine dress. Marie takes in laundry and is a fine cook, having previously worked for the town’s elite family, the Pharamonds. Her son even shares the name of a Pharamond cousin, Louis, and we are left to wonder if there is more than coincidence…

Ricky is invited up to the Pharamonds to lunch and is instantly enchanted by Julia, wife of Jasper. The charm is broken by Dulcie Harkness, an equestrienne, the niece of Cuthbert Harkness who owns the local stable, The Leathers. They’ve been fighting, with her being accused of all sorts of immorality by her religious fanatic uncle. It turns out she is pregnant, and several men could be the father.

Then, that evening, Ricky goes to the local pub and meets up with Syd Jones, an artist and is invited up to his “pad.” He’s a drug user, the evening an uncomfortable one, but Ricky, wanting to get along, arranges an introduction to his artist mother. Subsequently, they have a dust up when Ricky steps on a tube of paint, sending Syd into a rage.

Ricky just wants to write, but can’t stay out of trouble. He goes riding with the Pharamonds, witnessing another fight between Dulcie and her uncle, who forbids her to follow the wanton example of the Pharamond boy of jumping a hedge on the stable property. The uncle orders Syd, who makes some extra working at the stables to take the best horse, a mare, to get shoed to make her unavailable and locks Dulcie in her room. When the party returns, Dulcie is found on the other side of the ditch, dead, having been crushed under the horse, and the horse injured, cut on the shanks by what looked like a wire. A coil of wire on the property shows signs of a length having been freshly cut, but no wire is found in the hedge. Ricky is one of those who witness the scene.

Alleyn and Fox, who have come to the island, are staying in Montjoy, the tourist village. They are investigating the possibility of drugs coming into the country from France through the island. The local police, represented by the stalwart Sergeant Plank, are glad for the help in investigating what appears to be a murder.

Meanwhile, Ricky gets in the middle of more trouble. He decides to take a break and visit the French town across the channel. He has an unpleasant encounter with Syd on the boat, being accused of following him. So he does, surreptiously, when they reach land. But not enough. He’s caught by Gil Ferrant peeping through a newspaper. Subsequently, we discover that Ferrant and Syd are working together. That afternoon, as a storm is rising, Ricky goes out to the dock to arrange his return and is pushed into the water, likely by one of them and is saved by a sailor on the boat, with a black eye and sodden clothes.

Recounting this to his father and Fox on return, they suspect Ferrant and Syd Jones of being part of a drug ring. But they don’t pull him out of the Ferrants and get him off the island. Meanwhile Alleyn and Fox are trying to figure out if the murder of the girl and the drug ring are in any way connected. Jones could have been one of the possible “fathers.”

Alleyn’s lapse in judgment and Ricky’s naivete set up a pretty exciting finish with Ricky in peril. All told, I have to admit to not finding Ricky particularly likable and it feels in ways that he has been indulged by parents who know better. Still, it all contributes to a pretty exciting finish. Along the way, Marsh paints scenes of the beauty of this Channel island with words, enabling one to visualize the setting, including a couple impressive storms.

I’m not sure this was one of Marsh’s best overall. The drug trade, no doubt, was a current concern of the time, and it allowed her to center a plot on something beside country parties and theatres. I wish the Ricky character was developed differently. While Julia Pharamond is a flirt, Ricky should have more sense than to think he has a chance with this older, rich, married woman. I do like how Alleyn consistently supports the local police like Sergeant Plank and help them shine–one of his best qualities. On the whole, a pleasant read, though not Marsh at her best.