Death in a White Tie

Sample

Ngaio Marsh

A Christmas pageant turns unholy. Holed up at Hilary Bill-Tasman's manor estate for Christmas, Troy Alleyn is to paint the man's portrait and, while she's there, view the Druid Christmas pageant. Along with a pack of eccentric guests, Troy enjoys the festivities-- until one of the pageant's players mysteriously disappears into the snowy night. Did the hired help-- each a paroled murderer from the nearby prison-- have a deadly hand in this Christmas conundrum? Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives to join his wife in finding the lost man-- and unraveling the glaring truth from the glittering tinsel.

Sample

Ngaio Marsh

When the exuberant president of Ng'ombwana proposes to dispense with the usual security arrangements on an official visit to London, his old school mate, Chief Superintendent Alleyn, is called in to persuade him otherwise.Consequently, on the night of the embassy's reception the house and grounds are stiff with police. Nevertheless, an assassin does strike, and Alleyn finds he has no shortage of help, from Special Branch to a tribal court – and a small black cat named Lucy Lockett who out-detects them all...

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Ngaio Marsh

A cosy game of darts in a cosy English pub is going well until one of the players dies on the spot. Chief Inspector Alleyn knows it wasn't the dart that killed him, but the prussic acid someone added to the cut.

Sample

Ngaio Marsh

A country Eden blooms with murderSwevenings village is pretty as a picture, but its secrets are ugly; and its gentry dread the publication of Sir Harold Lacklander's memoirs. When one of them is murdered, Inspector Roderick Alleyn's investigation takes him through petty vendettas, an ex-commander's blend of whiskey and archery, and cocktails on the lawn with a femme fatale. But the motive he's angling for lies even deeper than the trout stream beneath the rustic bridge...