Dead Water

By Ngaio Marsh

A quirky Roderick Alleyn mystery about faith, greed – and murder.

Times are good in the Cornish village of Portcarrow, as hundreds of unfortunates flock to taste the miraculous waters of Pixie Falls.

Then Miss Emily Pride inherits the celebrated land on which Portcarrow stands and wants to put an end to the villagers’ thriving trade in miracle cures, especially Miss Elspeth Costs’s gift shop.

But someone puts an end to Miss Cost herself, and Miss Pride’s guardian angel, Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, finds himself on the spot in both senses of the word…

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins UK
• Release date: Jan 7, 2010
• ISBN: 9780007344796

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 Dead Water

[aulsmith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I thought the setting, an English seaside village, cut off from the mainland at high tide, was more interesting than the mystery per se. We also get a glimpse into Inspector Alleyn personal life. Good read.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An entertaining mystery. I had the guy pegged, but still fun to read.