Ngaio Marsh 1895-1982   Ngaio Marsh was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. After leaving school, she attended Canterbury University College of Art. Her first published work arose as a result of a painting holiday on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. She sold an article to the local newspaper and soon began to contribute regularly to its pages. The next literary exercise was a play. It started her passion for the theatre. She was eventually responsible for the establishment of a permanent theatre in Canterbury, New Zealand. Some of her best books have theatrical settings.   She is considered to be one of the Big Four (Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Margery Allingham are the other three). She is the creator of 'Roderick Alleyn', a Detective Superintendent of Scotland Yard.

 
Titles and year of publication:
 

1) A Man Lay Dead	1934
2) Enter a Murderer	1935
3) Death in Ecstasy	1936
4) The Nursing Home Murder	1936
5) Vintage Murder	1937
6) Artists in Crime	1938
7) Death in a White Tie	1938
8) Overture to Death	1939
9) Death at the Bar	1940
10) Surfeit of Lampreys (US Title: Death of a Peer)	1941
11) Death and the Dancing Footman	1941
12) Colour Scheme	1943
13) Died in the Wool	1945
14) Final Curtain	1947
15) Swing Brother Swing (US Title: A Wreath for Rivera)	1949
16) Opening Night (US Title: Night at the Vulcan)	1951
17) Spinsters in Jeopardy (Also published as: The Bride of Death)	1954
18) Scales of Justice	1955
19) Off with His Head (US Title: Death of a Fool)	1957
20) Singing in the Shrouds	1959
21) False Scent	1960
22) Hand in Glove	1962
23) Dead Water	1964
24) Death at the Dolphin (US Title: Killer Dolphin)	1967
25) Clutch of Constables	1968
26) When in Rome	1970
27) Tied up in Tinsel	1972
28) Black as He's Painted	1974
29) Last Ditch	1977
30) Grave Mistake	1978
31) Photo-Finish	1980
32) Light Thickens	1982
33) Death on the Air and Other Stories (The paperback edition contains two extra stories)	1989