Spinsters in Jeopardy

By Ngaio Marsh

A classic Ngaio Marsh mystery thriller combining drugs and sacrifice.

High in mountains stands the magnificent Saracen fortress, home of the mysterious Mr Oberon, leader of a coven of witches. It is not the historic castle, however, that intrigues Roderick Alleyn, on holiday with his family, but the suspicion that a huge drugs ring operates from within its ancient portals.

But before the holiday is over, someone else has stumbled upon the secret. And Mr Oberon decides his strange and terrible rituals require a human sacrifice…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Oct 29, 2009
• ISBN: 9780007344680

Ngaio Marsh

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 an 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.

Reviews for Spinsters in Jeopardy

[aulsmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Despite the datedness of the drug addled cult, I enjoyed this one, especially the interactions between Alleyn and his wife.

[figgles_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Not her best with an attempt to get "with it" for a 50's audience (originally published 1954) - black magic and the drug trade sounding a little hokey to more modern ears; however it's an amusing read for fans of Roderick Alley and his gorgeous painter wife Troy and the landscape of the Mediterranean coast of France is rather nicely evoked.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I honestly don't know who in the era managed to annoy Ngaio Marsh with their magick but this book is in response to it. I have my sneaking suspicion that it was Crowley. There's a polemic against magick and such superstition in this modern era and the most appaling mishmash of magickal types. The villans are painted very black with no redeming features and the good guys very very good. Even nastier practices are hinted at but not actually comitted.A good read but very, very biased.

[mmyoung_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Difficult book to read because it is chock full, from beginning to end, with hysterical images/misconceptions of what was going on among the 'smart community' and the jet set. The portrayal of drugs reminds one of Reefer Madness. No doubt there were those who having no other source of information Marsh's rendition of the drug scene as accurate but even they must have seen how dreadfully plotted it was. There was no reason for almost any of the exciting things in the novel to happen save for the fact Marsh needed something exciting to happen. Marsh also has the problem of writing about something "indescribably horrific and vile" when one cannot describe it. Or even give more than the vaguest hints. If public sex and copulation (which is hinted at) is the vilest thing Marsh or her audience could imagine then one presumes they seldom ventured out of the world of cozies. This book was written after the Second World War so surely the facts of the previous decade should have provided far worse horrors than any hinted at in this book.