Ngaio Marsh: 36 books

The impresario Peregrine Jay has fulfilled a long-cherished dream: Thanks to a very generous gift, he now owns the Dolphin Theatre, and has restored it to its former glory. To celebrate the re-opening, a no-expenses-spared production of The Glove, a new play about the discovery of a true Shakespearean...

In this classic country-house mystery, Sir Henry Ancred, a celebrated Shakespearian actor has arranged to have his portrait painted by Agatha Troy, wife of Inspector Roderick Alleyn. When Ancred is killed at his own birthday party, leaving behind a family full of suspects, Troy is pleased to hand things over to Alleyn.

The village of South Mardian likes the old ways. The very 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 (nyuck, nyuck, nyuck) when...

Ricky Alleyn, who first appeared in Spinsters in Jeopardy, is now 21 and has taken himself to a secluded island to write a novel. Or think about writing a novel. Or look for distractions so he can avoid writing a novel. The distractions abound, mostly in the form of colorful local characters, so all...

It’s murder in the little English village, but the two local spinsters, Miss Campanula, the victim, and Miss Prentice, her friend who may have been the intended victim, are not exactly the beloved little old ladies of song and story. They were (and are) waspish, gossiping snobs, passionate only...

Lord Pastern and Baggot is given to passionate, peculiar enthusiasms, the latest of which is drumming in a jazz band. His wife is not amused, and even less so when her daughter falls for Carlos Rivera, the band’s sleazy accordion player. Nobody likes Rivera very much, so there’s a wealth of suspects...

The unspeakably wealthy (and generally unspeakable) Jonathan Royal has decided to throw a party and, just for fun, has studded the guest-list with people who loathe one another. When a blizzard imprisons them all in Royal’s country house, murder ensues. In true Christie-esque tradition, there are...

It’s true, darts is nobody’s idea of a low-risk amusement, yet it is rarely lethal. Tell that to the famous barrister who was enjoying a pint at the Plume of Feathers pub, and is now residing at the morgue. Inspector Roderick Alleyn has a growing hunch that the peculiar “accident” can be traced to an old legal case.

Flossie Rubrick, a highly opinionated and influential Member of the New Zealand Parliament, was last seen heading off to one of the storage sheds on her sheep farm. Three weeks later, she turned up dead and packed in a bale of her own wool. What happened on the night of her disappearance? In the country on counterespionage duty, Inspector Roderick Alleyn is happy to lend a hand.

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...

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...

Colour Scheme is set during World War II at a mud-baths resort in rural New Zealand run by Colonel Claire, a tremendously nice fellow and a disastrously bad businessman. His business is on the brink of being taken over by a local blowhard who may be a Nazi spy. Inspector Alleyn has been sent to the...

The killingly aristocratic Lamprey family exemplifies charm, wit, and a chronic lack of funds. Their only source of hope is the wealthy but unpleasant Lord Wutherwood, and the Lampreys may perhaps be forgiven for doing a little jig when his Lordship is killed and the resulting inheritance saves their...

Mary Bellamy is the sweetheart of the London stage, fluffy as only an elderly lady of 50(!) can be. Her fans and friends – and who didn’t adore, positively adore darling Mary? – are heartbroken when somehow Mary manages to spritz herself not with her favorite perfume but with the deadly insecticide...