Ngaio Marsh: Doyen of New Zealand Crime Fiction
Ngaio Marsh is always the writer who comes to mind when New Zealand crime fiction is discussed, and rightfully so. She published 32 novels in her lifetime and is recognised as one of the ‘Queens of Crime’. Marsh brought to her novels not only her love of the theatre, but also her artist’s eye. The places in her novels, as well as her characters, are finely drawn and beautifully described. She fulfils the requisite requirements of the ‘puzzle’ crime novel in that all the clues necessary to solve the crimes are available to the alert reader.A Man Lay Dead is Marsh’s first novel, launching Detective Inspector Roderick (Rory) Alleyn and his sidekick Fox onto the world.