Surfeit of Lampreys

Dame Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand in 1895 and died in February 1982. She wrote over 30 detective novels and many of her stories have theatrical settings, for Ngaio Marsh’s real passion was the theatre. She was both actress and producer and almost single-handedly revived the New Zealand public’s interest in the theatre. It was for this work that she received what she called her ‘damery’ in 1966.

‘The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers’Times Literary Supplement‘Brilliantly readable… first class detection.’Observer‘Ngaio Marsh transcended the detective genre by the power of her writing and the rich variety of characters who people her novels.’P.D. James‘Ngaio Marsh is among the most brilliant of those authors who are transforming the detective story from a mere puzzle into a novel with many other qualities.’Times Literary Supplement‘The finest writer in the English languange of the pure, classical puzzle whodunnit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands out as an Empress.’The Sun