Ngaio Marsh

A Man Lay Dead

The Nursing Home Murder

It was a horrible death - lured into a pool of boiling mud and left there to die. Far from home on a wartime quest for German agents, Chief Inspector Alleyn knew that any number of people could have killed him.

Colour Scheme

When in Rome

Singing In The Shrouds (A Roderick Alleyn Mystery)

Scales of Justice

It's foul play on a freighter: "Enthralling . . .keeps the reader on tenterhooks until the dramatic finale." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The good ship Cape Farewell is steaming out to sea, with a passenger-list and crew fairly littered with the shifty, the twitchy, the peculiar, and the up-to-no-good. Arguably the up-to-no-goodest is a strangler with a romantic streak: He likes to leave his ladies with a flower and a charming little song. The latest of the ladies is currently lying on a fogbound London dock, mute witness to the fact that Inspector Alleyn—long on the strangler's trail—has so far failed to catch his man. A wintertime sailing on a low-rent cargo ship is not Alleyn's idea of a terrific time, but he nevertheless boards the Cape at Portsmouth, determined that no one else is going to get strangled on his watch . . .. "This is the Classic Puzzle at its purest . . .embellished by literate dialogue and attractive characterization." — The New York Times

Singing in the Shrouds

A local busybody is silenced for good in this tale by “a peerless practitioner of the slightly surreal, English-village comedy-mystery” (Kirkus Reviews). In their Dorset village, neither Miss Campanula nor her friend Miss Prentice are known as lovable little old ladies. They’re waspish, gossiping snobby little old ladies, passionate only about their amateur theatrical productions, their narrowly defined opinions about how everyone else should behave . . ..and, perhaps, about the local vicar. But could one of them have been sufficiently unpleasant to provoke a murderer? For Miss Campanula has perished on her piano bench—and it’s unclear whether Miss Prentice may have been the actual intended victim . . . “A goodie.” —Kirkus Reviews “It’s time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around.” —New York Magazine “In her ironic and witty hands the mystery novel can be civilized literature.” —The New York Times

Overture to Death

Two Inspector Alleyn novels, an autobiographical work about the author "Black beech & honeydew" plus a bonus story "Morepork". This volume also contains photographs of the author's life.

Photo-Finish - Light Thickens - Black Beech and Honeydew

The author, perhaps best known as a writer of detective fiction, gives a sensitive portrayal of her early life in New Zealand, her wide experience overseas, and her enthusiasm for the stage and Shakespeare.

An Autobiography

Black Beech and Honeydew

Black beech & honeydew

Black, Beach and Honeydew

From the Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, this tale of death at the Dolphin Theatre has “wit, charm, and oodles of atmosphere” (Kirkus Reviews). Among theater folk, “the Scottish play” is considered unlucky, so much so that tradition requires anyone who utters its proper name backstage to leave the building, spin around, spit, curse, and then request permission to re-enter. As director Peregrine Jay directs a production of Shakespeare’s great work at the Dolphin Theater, misfortune does indeed abound, including some ugly practical jokes—and a grisly death for the leading man. It’s up to Roderick Alleyn to find out who has blood on their hands . . . “No playwright could devise a better curtain.” —Los Angeles Times “As always she writes most elegantly.” —Daily Telegraph “The doyenne of traditional mystery writers.” —The New York Times

Light Thickens

Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime’s first book, the first volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.

Inspector Alleyn 3-Book Collection 1: A Man Lay Dead, Enter a Murderer, The Nursing Home Murder

An aristocrat dies under fishy circumstances in this tale by “the finest writer in the English language of the pure, classical puzzle whodunnit” (The Sun). In an almost unspeakably charming little English village, one of the local aristocrats turns up dead next to the local trout-stream with, in fact, a trout at his side. Everyone is dreadfully upset, of course, but really, just a tad irritated as well—murder is so awfully messy. Inspector Alleyn doesn’t quite fit in among the inbred gentry, but they’ll allow him to do his work and clear the matter up—though they do wish he didn’t feel compelled to ask quite so many questions . . . “The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers.” —Times Literary Supplement “A peerless practitioner of the slightly surreal, English-village comedy-mystery.” —Kirkus Reviews “Any Ngaio Marsh story is certain to be Grade A.” —The New York Times

The script of the Unicorn Theater's new play uncannily echoes a quarrel in the star's dressing room. And the stage drama gets all too real when charming Felix Gardener shoots his blustering rival, Arthur Subonardier, dead--with a gun Arthur himself loaded with blanks. Or did he? How the live bullets got there, and why, make for a convoluted case that pits Inspector Roderick Alleyn against someone who rates an Oscar for a murderously clever performance. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Enter a Murderer

Mary Bellamy, ageing darling of the London stage, holds a 50th birthday party. But someone uses a deadly insect spray on Mary instead of on the azaleas. Superintendent Alleyn has to find out which one of the mourners played the part of murderer.

False Scent

It began as a student exercise; the knife under the drape, the model's pose chalked in place, but before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class the pose has been re-enacted in earnest. It's a difficult case for Inspector Alleyn. He loves Agatha but no one can be above suspicion. Police procedural.

Artists in Crime

Grave Mistake (The Ngaio Marsh Collection)

The village of South Mardian likes the old ways. This may be 1957, but South M. still features a blacksmith, a village idiot, and an elaborate fertility ritual performed at the winter solstice. There's squabbling, of course, and things come to a head when one of the ritual's main players is found be-headed, everything north of his neck having been neatly lopped off by a ritual sword.

Ngaio Marsh

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