Light Thickens

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 the received what she called her ‘damery’ in 1966.

‘Faithful to the hallowed conventions of English detection… a fine swansong.’Observer‘As always she writes most elegantly.’Daily Telegraph‘Still, quite simply, the greatest exponent of the classical English detective story.’Daily Telegraph