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Ngaio Marsh (1895–1982)

Författare till A Man Lay Dead

107+ verk 28,320 medlemmar 581 recensioner 69 favoritmärkta

Om författaren

Ngaio Marsh was born on April 23, 1895 in Christchurch, New Zealand. She attended St. Mary's College and Canterbury University. She worked in the theater acting, producing, and even painting scenery. She was a partner in an interior decorating business in England from 1928 to 1932. She later visa mer returned to New Zealand and produced plays for a Shakespearean repertory company. She also worked with the Drama Department of Canterbury University. During World War II, she served in the New Zealand Red Cross Transport Unit. She traveled to England frequently and founded the British Commonwealth Theatre Company in 1949. Her first novel, A Man Lay Dead, was published in 1934. She wrote more than 40 books including the Roderick Alleyn Mysteries series and Black Beech and Honeydew. She also wrote theatrical and television plays. She was named to the Order of the British Empire in 1949 and was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. The Mystery Writers of America named her a Grand Master in 1977. She died on February 18, 1982 at the age of 82. (Bowker Author Biography) visa färre

Serier

Verk av Ngaio Marsh

A Man Lay Dead (1934) 1,395 exemplar
Artists in Crime (1938) 1,177 exemplar
Enter a Murderer (1935) 1,025 exemplar
Surfeit of Lampreys (1940) 956 exemplar
Overture to Death (1939) 902 exemplar
Mord av gammal årgång (1937) 883 exemplar
Death and the Dancing Footman (1941) 882 exemplar
Colour Scheme (Heta källor) (1943) 875 exemplar
Dödande dos (1935) 875 exemplar
Död, var är din udd? (1940) 856 exemplar
Died in the Wool (1945) 851 exemplar
Death in Ecstasy (1936) 847 exemplar
Döden på premiär (1951) 806 exemplar
Final Curtain (1947) 798 exemplar
Hand i handske (1962) 780 exemplar
Off With His Head (1956) 775 exemplar
Kom täta natt (1982) 774 exemplar
Tied Up in Tinsel (1971) 757 exemplar
Grav åt andra (1978) 736 exemplar
Gåtan med den gröna damen (1963) 730 exemplar
False Scent (Förrädisk doft) (1960) — Författare — 726 exemplar
Swing, Brother, Swing (1949) 708 exemplar
Last Ditch (1977) 693 exemplar
Spinsters in Jeopardy (1954) 682 exemplar
Killer Dolphin (1966) 682 exemplar
En divas död (1980) 666 exemplar
Black As He's Painted (1973) 664 exemplar
Money in the Morgue (2018) 102 exemplar
Artists in crime [abridged] (2008) 22 exemplar
Collected Short Mysteries (1989) 21 exemplar
Scales of justice [abridged] (1955) 20 exemplar
New Zealand (1942) 18 exemplar
The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries: The Complete Series (2007) — Författare — 13 exemplar
A Play Toward (1946) 5 exemplar
Death on the Air (1936) 4 exemplar
Ngaio Marsh 2 exemplar
Play Production (1960) 1 exemplar
The Christmas tree 1 exemplar
Morepork [short fiction] (1979) 1 exemplar
Evil Liver [short fiction] (1975) 1 exemplar
Moonshine [short fiction] (1936) 1 exemplar

Associerade verk

English Country House Murders (1989) — Bidragsgivare — 484 exemplar
The Oxford Book of English Detective Stories (1990) — Bidragsgivare — 399 exemplar
The Big Book of Christmas Mysteries (2013) — Bidragsgivare — 289 exemplar
A Moment on the Edge: 100 Years of Crime Stories by Women (2000) — Bidragsgivare — 265 exemplar
A Treasury of Great Mysteries, Volumes 1-2 (1957) — Bidragsgivare — 263 exemplar
Masterpieces of Mystery and Suspense (1988) — Bidragsgivare — 189 exemplar
A Treasury of Great Mysteries, Volume 2 (1957) — Bidragsgivare — 183 exemplar
Murder by the Book: Mysteries for Bibliophiles (2021) — Bidragsgivare — 168 exemplar
The Folio Book of Christmas Crime Stories (2004) — Bidragsgivare — 117 exemplar
A Surprise for Christmas and Other Seasonal Mysteries (2020) — Bidragsgivare — 105 exemplar
Murder for Christmas, Vol. 2 (1982) — Bidragsgivare — 86 exemplar
Verdict of 13 (1978) — Bidragsgivare — 71 exemplar
Fifty Best Mysteries (1991) — Bidragsgivare — 71 exemplar
Dead in the Water (1994) — Översättare, vissa utgåvor66 exemplar
Great Tales of Mystery and Suspense (1981) — Bidragsgivare — 62 exemplar
Three Times Three: A Mystery Omnibus (1964) — Bidragsgivare — 57 exemplar
A Century of British Mystery and Suspense (2000) — Bidragsgivare — 56 exemplar
The Arbor House Treasury of Mystery and Suspense (1981) — Bidragsgivare — 52 exemplar
Chapter and Hearse: Suspense Stories about the World of Books (1985) — Bidragsgivare — 49 exemplar
Bodies from the Library 3 (2020) — Bidragsgivare — 42 exemplar
Bodies from the Library 4 (2021) — Bidragsgivare — 30 exemplar
Murder Takes a Holiday (2020) — Bidragsgivare — 28 exemplar
Great detective stories (1998) — Bidragsgivare — 20 exemplar
Deadlier: 100 of the Best Crime Stories Written by Women (2017) — Bidragsgivare — 19 exemplar
Dangerous Ladies (1992) — Bidragsgivare — 8 exemplar
Christchurch : the city in literature (2003) — Bidragsgivare — 7 exemplar
En Kriminelt god jul : femten svarte julefortellinger (2006) — Bidragsgivare — 6 exemplar
Detective Omnibus — Bidragsgivare — 6 exemplar
Verdens største detektiver II (1995) — Bidragsgivare — 5 exemplar
Some Like Them Dead (1960) — Bidragsgivare — 5 exemplar
Verdens største detektiver I (1995) — Bidragsgivare — 4 exemplar
Great Stories of Detection (1960) — Bidragsgivare — 2 exemplar
RDCBLP v086 The Horse Whisperer | Death on the Air (1993) — Författare — 2 exemplar
The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries: The Complete Second Season (2006) — Original book — 1 exemplar
Murder for Christmas [audio abridgement] (1989) — Bidragsgivare — 1 exemplar

Taggad

Allmänna fakta

Namn enligt folkbokföringen
Marsh, Dame Edith Ngaio
Födelsedag
1895-04-23
Avled
1982-02-18
Begravningsplats
Church of the Holy Innocents Churchyard Peel Forest, Timaru District, Canterbury, New Zealand
Kön
female
Nationalitet
New Zealand
Födelseort
Christchurch, New Zealand
Dödsort
Christchurch, New Zealand
Bostadsorter
England, UK
Christchurch, New Zealand
Utbildning
St. Margaret's College (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Canterbury College (School of Art)
Yrken
theatrical producer
interior decorator
novelist
actor
painter
detective novelist
Organisationer
Detection Club
Priser och utmärkelser
Order of the British Empire (Dame Commander, 1966)
MWA Grand Master (1978)
Kort biografi
Ngaio Marsh was the pen name of Edith Ngaio Marsh, born in Christchurch, New Zealand to English immigrants. Her name, pronounced "ny-o," was a Maori word meaning "reflections on the water." She attended the private St. Margaret’s College, where she showed an aptitude for acting and writing, producing poetry, prose and plays.

In 1913 she entered Canterbury College School of Art and left in 1919 in order to become a professional painter. The opportunity to tour with the Allan Wilkie Shakespeare Company delayed her plans until later in the 1920s. In 1928, Marsh made her first visit to England, where she worked in the theatre, interior design, and travel writing. She began writing novels and soon embarked on a prolific crime-writing career. In 1934, she published A Man Lay Dead, featuring the very English Chief Detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn. During World War II, she served in a New Zealand Red Cross Transport Unit, driving repatriated soldiers in a hospital bus. By the 1950s, Marsh was considered a “Queen of Crime” along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers.

Marsh was passionately attached to her native country and returned to live in New Zealand but made frequent trips to England and other countries. She became a leader of the New Zealand theatre, mounting numerous Shakespeare plays. In her career, Ngaio Marsh wrote 32 novels and an autobiography, Black Beech and Honeydew (1965). She never married. Margaret Lewis wrote an authorized biography, Ngaio Marsh, A Life in 1991. New Zealand art historian Joanne Drayton's biography, Ngaio Marsh: Her Life in Crime, was published in 2008.

Medlemmar

Recensioner

Good cozy mystery. I had some trouble keeping track of all the characters, perhaps because I was distracted. I always enjoy Ngaio Marsh and this was no exception.
 
Flaggad
njcur | 9 andra recensioner | Feb 13, 2024 |
I enjoyed this solid country house whodunit murder mystery. Almost half of the story is devoted to setting the stage for the puzzle presented to Chief Superintendent Alleyne when he comes on the scene. The body of the murder victim is missing until the closing chapters of the story.

The English country house is full of the usual eccentrics who regularly appear in these mystery stories. In this one, there's a contingent of convicted murderers who have served their sentences and been released from prison. For local colour atmosphere, beside the old house situated next to the moors, there's a neighbouring prison.

With the assistance of the local police Inspector Alleyne undertakes his investigation, and is belatedly joined by his trusty sidekick Inspector Fox. The identity of the killer is revealed in the very last chapter, at which point this reader learned he had been taken in by the author's masterful misdirection.

A good, but sometimes uneven, read.
… (mer)
½
 
Flaggad
BrianEWilliams | 21 andra recensioner | Jan 3, 2024 |
I love the bits about the black cat Lucy.
 
Flaggad
JBarringer | 7 andra recensioner | Dec 15, 2023 |
Summary: A comedic play in a small village to raise funds for the church to buy a new piano turns into a murder mystery when the pianist is shot when playing the opening notes of the prelude by a gun concealed within,

An amateur comedic play in a local village to raise money for a new church piano for the church hall. What could go wrong? In the Village of Vale-of-Pen-Cuckoo, quite a bit. Even though the cast is small and consists of local talents, bringing them together is a combustible mixture that brings to a head simmering troubles in the village that results in murder. The production is directed by Dinah Copeland, the daughter of Rector Copeland. She is the one person with some professional stage experience. She’s also the serious love interest of Henry Jerningham, son of the village squire and constable, Jocelyn Jerningham. Jocelyn and his cousin Eleanor Prentice both oppose the marriage, albeit for different reasons. Jocelyn is a member of the species of impoverished landholders and Henry needs to marry into wealth, not a qualification of the Rector and his daughter. Eleanor, a religious spinster, came to live with her cousin after the death of Jocelyn’s wife as a kind of lady of the manor. Dinah, she fears, will supplant her.

This is not her only jealousy. When she moved to Pen Cuckoo, she developed a complicated friendship with another spinster, Idris Campanula. They loved to gossip about the rest of the village but saw each other as rivals for the affections of the rector who is trying his darnedest not to get entangled with either of them, who come to him with their “confessions” to spend time in spiritual intimacy with him

Meanwhile, the village newcomer, Selia Ross, is apparently having an affair with the handsome Dr. Templett, who has an invalid wife at home. Her suggested play is the one adopted, to the consternation of the two spinsters. Subsequently, Selia receives an anonymous and threatening letter, reeking of Idris Campanula’s favorite scent. She shares it with Dr. Templett. Meanwhile, Eleanor comes across Henry and Dinah in a passionate embrace on the day before the play and harsh words are spoken by all. Later that day Eleanor, coming for her confession with the rector, shows up at the very moment Idris throws herself in the rector’s unwilling arms. She was unseen and leaves, calling to make an excuse for cancelling.

Still, this cast manages to make it to the day of the play. Eleanor, chosen to play as overture to the play the “Venetian Overture” by Ethelbert Nevin, is found in pain in her dressing room from an infected finger. The doctor insists she must not play and Idris steps in triumphantly with her Prelude in C by Rachmaninoff. The two ladies had competed at gatherings with these pieces for years. This sounds like a comedic soap opera, right?

And then Idris Campanula plays the first three notes, stepping on the soft pedal with the third…and the piano seems to explode. When the smoke clears, Idris is slumped dead, a gunshot through the head, fired from inside the piano. They discover a gun, a Colt 32 belonging to Jocelyn, rigged with a “Twiddletoy” apparatus to fire when the soft peddle was depressed. The gun had been mentioned the previous evening at a cast gathering, was left loaded with a warning card in a box in the library, easily accessed from outside during the day. Anyone could have accessed it

But who was the intended victim, Idris or Eleanor? Idris substituted for Eleanor at the last minute, but as we see, there were people with motives to kill each woman. When a major theft ties up local investigators, Alleyn and his team are called in, along with his “Watson,” Nigel Bathgate to unravel this strange murder. Early on, they discover that the “Twiddletoy” belonged to the village prankster, Georgie Biggins, who had rigged up a water pistol. Somehow, another person had substituted the Colt for the water pistol. But when and how? Another woman had played the piano an hour before, using the soft pedal, with no lethal effect. And the stage was occupied in preparation for the play after that.

Alleyn must piece together the surviving cast’s movements and figure out the significance of a box at the church hall window with some fragments of rubber, and an onion found on the scene. Meanwhile, all the principals are withholding information, closed as only a secluded village can be.

It seemed to me that the character of Bathgate plays a much more minor role than in previous works. We also learn Alleyn is engaged to Troy, but apart from a love letter at the end, she’s absent, pursuing her own work. And Alleyn? He seems at his refined best, asking the hard questions with a velvet touch, not surprised by the transgressions common to adult human beings, and willing to keep quiet the things not essential to the case, all the while gathering and arranging the threads until the climatic scene where he calls the cast together one last time….
… (mer)
 
Flaggad
BobonBooks | 24 andra recensioner | Nov 20, 2023 |

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Statistik

Verk
107
Även av
47
Medlemmar
28,320
Popularitet
#713
Betyg
½ 3.7
Recensioner
581
ISBN
1,257
Språk
14
Favoritmärkt
69

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