Money in the Morgue (Inspector Roderick Alleyn, 33)

Inspector Alleyn just wants to write a letter to his wife, but World War II, for one, keeps intruding. It's war-work, after all, that has brought Alleyn to this seedy hospital in New Zealand's hinterlands, and it's the war that has left the hospital swimming in convalescing soldiers – noisy, often drunk, and always over-interested in the nurses. Nor is the weather helping. A storm has killed the electrical power, leaving Alleyn, the soldiers, the medical staff and all stranded in the dark…with a murderer. It's a good thing for everyone, including the reader, that there's a Scotland Yard detective on hand.

Dame Ngaio Marsh died in 1982 after writing 32 “Inspector Alleyn” novels and a few chapters of Money in the Morgue. The manuscript has been brilliantly completed by Stella Duffy, who shares with Marsh an expertise in crime-fiction, a New Zealand background, a passion for the theatre, and an Order of the British Empire. Marsh fans who have longed for just one more of Alleyn's adventures will be delighted, and new readers will enjoy the introduction to Marsh, long hailed as one of the “four queens” of classic British mystery.