There are 33 books in the Inspectr Roderick Alleyn series. The newest book is Money in the Morgue which came out in 2018.

1
A Man Lay Dead

Book cover of A Man Lay Dead

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

2
Enter a Murderer

Book cover of Enter a Murderer

A classic Ngaio Marsh novel reissued in B-format.

The Crime was committed on stage at the Unicorn Theatre, when an unloaded gun fired a very real bullet; the Victim was Arthur Surbonadier, an actor clawing his way to stardom using blackmail instead of talent; the Suspects included two unwilling girlfriends…

3
The Nursing Home Murders

Book cover of The Nursing Home Murders

Ngaio Marsh's bestselling and ingenious third novel remains one of the most popular pieces of crime fiction of all time.

I assure you that if the opportunity presented itself I should have no hesitation in putting you out of the way.'

The next day the Home Secretary dies during an…

4
Death in Ecstasy

Death in Ecstasy
Once again, Roderick Alleyn is on the case of a killer who plucked the life from the newest initiate of The House of the Sacred Flame, just as she was about to drink the sacrificial wine, being as it was laced with cyanide. In investigating her death he finds the…

Death served well-chilled

The leading lady of a theater company touring New Zealand was stunningly beautiful. No one-including her lover-understood why she married the company's pudgy producer. But did she rig a huge jeroboam of champagne to kill her husband during a cast party?

Did her sweetheart? Or was another…

One of Ngaio Marsh's most famous murder mysteries, which introduces Inspector Alleyn to his future wife, the irrepressible Agatha Troy.

It started as a student exercise, the knife under the drape, the model's pose chalked in place. But before Agatha Troy, artist and instructor, returns to the class, the pose…

7
Death in a White Tie

Death in a White Tie
Lady Carrados's glittering gala turns into a nightmare with Lord Gospell's fatal stabbing

8
Overture to Death

Book cover of Overture to Death

A classic Ngaio Marsh novel in which she more than lives up to her reputation as a crime writer of intelligence and style.

It was planned as an act of charity: a new piano for the parish hall, an amusing play to finance the gift.

But its execution was doomed…

9
Death at the Bar

Death at the Bar
A friendly game of darts and a spot of vintage brandy were the order of the evening in the local pub. For the distinguished barrister who indulged in both, it was a lethal combination. Now, Inspector Roderick Alleyn must determine if the cause of death was too much alcohol, an…

10
Death of a Peer

Death of a Peer

Ngaio Marsh's most popular novel begins when a young New Zealander's first contact with the English gentry is the body of Lord Wutherford - with a meat skewer through the eye...

The Lampreys had plenty of charm - but no cash. They all knew they were peculiar - and rather…

13
Died in the Wool

Died in the Wool
An M.P. meets a woolly demise.

Member of Parliament Florence Rubrick has the wool pulled over her eyes-quite literally. She's been found dead, her body pressed into a bale of wool. When Inspector Alleyn pays a visit to her New Zealand country home, he meets two fine, handsome men and…

14
Final Curtain

Book cover of Final Curtain

A country house murder, artistic insight and the post-war reunion of Alleyn and Troy combine in Ngaio Marsh's wittiest and most readable novel.

Agatha Troy, world famous portrait painter, is inveigled into accepting a commission to paint the 70-year-old Sir Henry Ancred, Bart., the Grand Old Man of the stage.…

15
Wreath for Rivera

Wreath for Rivera
Lord Pastern fired his revolver. The figure in the spotlight fell and the coup-de-theatre had become murder. Could Inspector Alleyn believe Pastern had let hatred of his future son-in-law go too far? Or would the tangle of jealousies and blackmail among the guests reveal another murderer?

16
Night at the Vulcan

Night at the Vulcan

A classic Ngaio Marsh novel reissued in B-format.

Dreams of stardom had lured Martyn Tarne from faraway New Zealand to make the dreary, soul-destroying round of West End agents and managers in search of work. The Vulcan Theatre had been her last forlorn hope, and now, driven by sheer necessity,…

17
Spinsters in Jeopardy

Spinsters in Jeopardy
In the Mediterranean for a vacation with his family, Inspector Roderick Alleyn soon finds himself back at work when his own son is kidnapped and a wealthy spinster is murdered. Reissue.

19
Death of a Fool

Death of a Fool
Pagan revelry and morris dancing in the middle of a very cold winter set the scene for one of Ngaio Marsh's most fascinating murder mysteries. When the pesky Anna Bunz arrives at Mardian to investigate the rare survival of folk-dancing still practised there, she quickly antagonizes the villagers. But Mrs…

20
Singing in the Shrouds

Book cover of Singing in the Shrouds
The good ship Cape Farewell is steaming out to sea, with a passenger-list and crew fairly littered with the shifty, the twitchy, the peculiar, and the up-to-no-good. Arguably the up-to-no-goodest is a strangler with a romantic streak: He likes to leave his ladies with a flower and a charming little…

21
False Scent

False Scent
Mary Bellamy is the sweetheart of the London stage, fluffy as only an elderly lady of 50(!) can be. Her fans and friends-and who didn't adore, positively adore darling Mary?-are heartbroken when somehow Mary manages to spritz herself not with her favorite perfume but with the deadly insecticide meant to…

22
Hand in Glove

Book cover of Hand in Glove
One has to admit that the timing was peculiar. No one could doubt that Mr. Percival Pyke Period was genuinely distraught to hear that his neighbor, Harry Cartell, had turned up dead in a ditch. But how is it that Mr. Percival Pyke came to write the letter of condolence…

23
Dead Water

Dead Water
The elderly Emily Pride is perfectly pleased to have inherited an island, even if her starchy pragmatism is ever-so-faintly appalled by the "Pixie Falls" spring and its reported miraculous healing properties. But really, the locals' attempts to capitalize on the "miracles" are entirely too tacky-Ye Olde Gift Shoppe, the neon…

24
Killer Dolphin

Killer Dolphin
The impresario Peregrine Jay has fulfilled a long-cherished dream: Thanks to a very generous gift, he now owns the Dolphin Theatre, and has restored it to its former glory. To celebrate the re-opening, a no-expenses-spared production of The Glove, a new play about the discovery of a true Shakespearean accessory.…

25
Clutch of Constables

Clutch of Constables

A classic Ngaio Marsh novel which features blood-curdling murders in the confines of a riverboat, the Zodiac, cruising through Constable country.

'He looks upon the murders that he did in fact perform as tiresome and regrettable necessities,' reflected Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn on the international crook known as 'the Jampot'.…

26
When in Rome

Book cover of When in Rome
In 1968 Ngaio Marsh took her own Roman holiday (in part to research Italian police procedures) and the change seems to have done her good: Both her British and U.S. agents believed When in Rome to be the finest novel in her "Inspector Alleyn" series. As is so often (and…

27
Tied Up in Tinsel

Tied Up in Tinsel
It's 1972, and while Elton John and Alice Cooper may be topping the charts, Inspector Alleyn's latest case is set in that most gloriously retro environment: The country-house party. A Christmas party, as it happens, where Agatha Troy is enjoying the local holiday pageant and also painting the host's portrait.…

28
Black as He's Painted

Black as He's Painted
Ng'ombwana is a (fictional) African nation to have emerged in the wake of colonialism; as it happens, its President is Inspector Alleyn's old school chum, the "Boomer." Old school ties being what they are, the Boomer-making an official visit to London-insists that Alleyn handle his security, rather than Her Majesty's…

29
Last Ditch

Last Ditch
Ricky Alleyn - perhaps you know his father, Roderick? - first appeared in Spinsters in Jeopardy, as a child. He's now 21, and has taken himself off to a secluded island to write a novel. Or think about writing a novel. Or look for distractions so he can avoid writing…

30
A Grave Mistake

A Grave Mistake
There will always be an England, and in the world of traditional crime fiction, there will always be an Upper Quintern, the sort of Little English Village that is home mostly to the very rich and the servants who make their lives delightful. But Sybil Foster's life is not delightful,…

31
Photo Finish

Photo Finish
As in her previous book, Grave Mistake, Ngaio Marsh offers up a lady of a certain age, high-strung and hyperventilating, two ticks short of neurosis. Photo Finish's dead diva, the soprano Isabella Sommita, was widely loathed, so much so that the problem is less a lack of plausible suspects than…

33
Money in the Morgue

By Ngaio Marsh , Stella Duffy ,

Book cover of Money in the Morgue
Inspector Alleyn just wants to write a letter to his wife, but World War II keeps intruding with war-work that has brought Alleyn to a hospital in New Zealand’s hinterlands, and it’s the war that has left the hospital swimming in convalescing soldiers. A storm has killed the electrical power,…