Ngaio Marsh

"The bad news: This is the last in Ngaio Marsh's marvelous Inspector Alleyn series. The good: It's one of her very best. The secret to Light Thickens success may lie in its combination of some of Marsh's greatest passions, including her native New Zealand in the person of, unusually, a Maori character and the theater. Indeed, the plot centers on a production of well, let's skirt disaster by calling it the Scottish play, a play that Dame Ngaio produced...

In Overture to Death, Ngaio Marsh crafts a classic English village mystery, rich with intrigue, jealousy, and drama. The story centers around a small-town amateur theatrical performance where a seemingly innocent piano rehearsal becomes the setting for a sinister murder. During the play's preparations, tensions run high among the townspeople, particularly between two competitive and meddling middle-aged women, who are vying for attention and control...

Ng'ombwana is a (fictional) African nation to have emerged in the wake of colonialism; as it happens, its President is Inspector Alleyn's old school chum, the "Boomer."

"World War II rages on, and Inspector Alleyn continues as the Special Branch's eyes and ears in New Zealand. While his primary brief is spy-catching, he's also happy to help with old-fashioned policing. Flossie Rubrick, an influential Member of Parliament and the wife of a sheep farmer, is murdered. Had she made political enemies? Had a mysterious legacy prompted her death? Or could the shadowy world of international espionage have intruded on this...

Enter a Murderer is Ngaio Marsh's second novel featuring the perceptive and sophisticated Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Set against the vibrant backdrop of a London theater, the story begins when a shocking murder occurs on stage during a live performance. What appears at first to be a tragic accident turns into a sinister crime as one of the actors is killed in full view of the audience, sparking a tense investigation. Inspector Alleyn is drawn into...

In the movies, it's known as a "meet cute." But for Inspector Alleyn and Miss Agatha Troy, it's more like irritation: On the ship back to England, she finds him tedious and dull; he thinks she's a bohemian cliché. They may be destined for romance, but there's a murder in the way: No sooner has Alleyn settled in to his mother's house, eager for a relaxing end to his vacation, then he gets a call that a model has been stabbed at the artists' community...

"A delicious and classic country-house mystery. Well, country-castle. The lord of the manor is Sir Henry Ancred, a celebrated Shakespearian actor (and pompous bore), who has arranged to have his portrait painted by none other than Agatha Troy, wife of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. She's rather glad to be stepping out of Alleyn's shadow, so much so that when Ancred is killed at his own birthday party, Troy at first tries sleuthing on her own. But she's...

"For one unlucky Member of Parliament, a simple visit to the hospital (the 'nursing home' of the title) proves fatal. But as Inspector Alleyn will discover, any number of people had reason to help the gentleman to his just reward, including the sour surgeon, his besotted nurse, a resentful wife, and a cabinet full of political rivals."--Page 4 of cover.

"Of all the books in the Alleyn series, Scales of Justice is most powerfully reminiscent of Agatha Christie, with its setting in an almost unspeakably charming little English village, and its cast of inbred aristocrats. When one of the aristos 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. Thank gawd that...

Folkways turn fatal in a very old-fashioned English village, in this witty mystery filled with "ingenious" detective work (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).
The village of South Mardian likes the old ways. The very old ways. This may be 1957, but South Mardian still features a blacksmith, a village idiot, and an elaborate fertility ritual performed at the winter solstice. There's squabbling, of course, and worse—like when one of...