#ngaio marsh books

[yourcoffeeguru]

NGAIO MARSH Thriller Crime Paperback Novel Books 5 x Vintage 1980s Bundle LOT || AUtradingpost - ebay

#ngaio marsh books #novels #paperback #crime books #mystery books #ngaio marsh

[the25centpaperback]

Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh, cover by Unknown Artist (1964)

#1960s #unknown artist #ngaio marsh #fontana books #paperback #vintage #book #mystery #skull #skull art

[oldshrewsburyian]

what classic romances do you think measure up to harriet and peter in gaudy night? i’m really craving more satisfying classic romance

Well, kind inquirer, I have a confession. I had read the Wimsey novels multiple times by the age of 16. Over the past 2+ decades, Peter and Harriet have taught me a lot of things, even if I have learned them more slowly and painfully than I would like (Lord, teach us to take our hearts and look them in the face...); even if I feel as though I have not salvaged as much as I could from life's various shipwrecks. The point is: no one measures up, not for me. My dear, if you have let me come as far as your work and your life... That said, I can offer some suggestions, presuming that you mean by "classic romance" romance that happens outside the genre parameters of romance novels. I'll start with the most classic and work my way forwards. [Under the cut for length!]

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (for obvious reasons, I imagine. Perhaps the thing I love most in romance is two intense weirdos deciding to love each other intensely and weirdly.)

Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare (I know I said I'd work my way forward, but then I said 'intense weirdos' and remembered my beloved Benedick and Beatrice. Beatrice, an unmarried woman in her uncle's household, interrupts men's political conversation to demand to know whether he's alive because she can't stand not knowing for a minute longer... and that's her opening line! and then they roast each other for 2 hours! I love them so much!)

Persuasion, Jane Austen (Anne is, I would argue, quietly intense, while Frederick is obviously so; he's also weird enough for both of them (affectionate.) I adore them, I support them, I wish them many decades of shocking society with how they look at each other across rooms. And dinner tables. And pianos. And dancing squares.)

Artists in Crime/Death in a White Tie, Ngaio Marsh (this is the Alleyn/Troy duology the way that Strong Poison/Have His Carcase/Gaudy Night is the Peter/Harriet trilogy. I adore Troy, an anxious and compassionate artist with gnc tendencies, and Alleyn fascinates me. Intense weirdos again. Alleyn successfully pretends to be normal most of the time, with everyone except about 3 people. Occasionally he decides to stop, or just does because he's very tired and fed up, and then everyone in the room gets very freaked out very quickly. I love him.)

The Case of William Smith, Patricia Wentworth (bonus detective round! Wentworth is not in the Sayers-Marsh class, and this novel has some tropes I don't like, but I love the gentleness of the central romance so much that I still reread it.)

Possession, A.S. Byatt (Victorian poets, the scholars who study them, the life of the mind and the life of the heart. This is absolutely a novel with Gaudy Night in its lineage.)

The French Lieutenant's Woman, John Fowles (I hesitated before adding this to the list, but it's a novel of ideas that is also about love and sex and identity and Englishness with a very vivid setting, so it might fit the bill?)

The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje ('I believe this. When we meet those we fall in love with, there is an aspect of our spirit that is historian, a bit of a pedant, who imagines or remembers a meeting when the other had passed by innocently...')

Charlotte Gray, Sebastian Faulks (Birdsong is the greater novel, but this one might be the one I prefer. I love Charlotte and her quest to find herself that is also a journey toward love! and vocation! and the images for the lovers in this book are indelible)

Bonus round of books I looked at on my shelf and decided were about so many things that the romance might not be central enough: The Children's Book, Love in the Time of Cholera, The Remains of the Day, The Portrait of a Lady, War and Peace, Brideshead Revisited.

Bonus bonus round, not a book: Random Harvest. Yes it is a book, but in the novel, the romance which truly is emotionally anchoring (I would argue) is much more peripheral than it is in the film, which was, like the Wimsey novels, formative for me. Also, look at them:

I have not been normal about the way he looks at her for *checks notes* 25 years. And I hope you find some things to enjoy here!

#long post #book recommendations #romance #two fiddlers both musicians #charlotte brontë #jane austen #sebastian faulks #ngaio marsh #a.s. byatt #john fowles #michael ondaatje #patricia wentworth #random harvest

[shitacademicswrite]

I work at a job where I migrate websites for local governments (cities and counties across the US).

I migrated a city’s site last week that had a page for their local library, and they were talking about the history of the library, and how in the like 1950s their library had 3,500 books.

...When I was just out of grad school (30 years old), I was living at my parents’ house, and I had a day off and was bored out of my head. I remembered when I was in first grade and had an assignment to count various things in the house, including books. My mom and I counted all the books in the house, and we had (IIRC) 1,700-ish books. 

So I decided once more to count all the books in our four-person house. (My brother had partly moved out, but a good number of his books were still there.)

 In the end, I had to estimate a bit. But the number I came up with was 3,500 books, not including the children’s books we had in storage.

I looked at this website talking about their entire town’s library having had 3,500 books, and I was like, “IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE A LOT??”

#'that's like one family worth of books!' #my frame of reference might be a bit off... #books #bibliophile #reading #i feel like our local library is extremely small #we've got the county system so you can get books from other local libraries #but that's a pain and i just look at this collection and go #how do you only have this many books??! #i have read all their ngaio marsh books in the last like three months #now i have to order them from other libraries #what a pain #library science #literature

[e-b-reads]

Books of the Month: Sep 2024

Whoops, should probably do this before it gets any closer to Halloween. Interestingly, and unusually, my reading seems to have slowed down a little in terms of sheer number of books after the summer, but I think this is partly because 1) the fall has still been pretty busy (still plenty of work, though less than during summer camp season, with added school stuff) and 2) I've had the mental energy to read some different, longer books instead of lots of mindless, quick murder mysteries. (Still plenty of mysteries, though). Here's the books from September that I think are worth reading:

The Curse of Chalion (Lois McMaster Bujold): Had an odd experience reading this book: I didn't exactly know what was going to happen, but after I hit some fairly major plot points, I would think, "Oh yeah, that's right," as if I'd been expecting them. (There's some neat twists in this book! I was not expecting them all!) Anyway, I do read a lot and sometimes forget what I've read, so it's possible I read this a while in the past (sometime before I started tracking my reads, 3 years ago) and then forgot most of it. I don't plan to forget it this time, because I really enjoyed the experience! Good writing, and I do like a main character who's already seen a lot of shit and would ideally like to just live a quiet life (but also sighs and takes responsibility for things pretty regularly). Sad to see that the sequel is not also focused on Caz. (I'll read it someday anyway, because again, good writing!) (I'm not sure the etiquette on this, but to give credit where due: I had a few reasons to check this book out of the library, but one was that I've seen @wearethekat rec it convincingly multiple times!)

Broken Ice (Matt Goldman): OK, so this is actually book 2 in the Nils Shapiro mystery series (I read book 1 in August), so I recommend starting with book 1, but I'm more recommending the series than any individual book. Each mystery is interesting and original, but none of them stands out to me in particular; what I like is that the main character could very easily be a loner, sad, possibly alcoholic, slightly sexist private detective, but instead he builds up some healthy relationships over the series (romantic and other), and generally is someone I think I would get along with. There are 4 books so far, I wouldn't be surprised if there's a book 5 someday but I see nothing online promoting one.

Overture to Death (Ngaio Marsh): I don't think I've recommended this Inspector Alleyn mystery before, anyway? I think it's one of her better-crafted ones (they're all pretty good tho, imo), with some fascinating characters. (Though I feel I should mention, I reread it this time because of @oldshrewsburyian mentioning that 2 of the spinster-ish characters were at least somewhat - unflatteringly - based on Dorothy Sayers and wow, they're even worse than I remembered!)

#book recs #books of the month #the curse of chalion #lois mcmaster bujold #broken ice #matt goldman #overture to death #ngaio marsh #inspector alleyn

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Ngaio Marsh - Spinsters in Jeopardy - Fontana - 1960 (cover illustration by Eileen Walton)

#witches #spinsters #occult #vintage #spinsters in jeopardy #jeopardy #fontana books #ngaio marsh #1960 #eileen walton #black masses #candles

[azazel-dreams]

Tied up in Tinsel by Ngaio Marsh

Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤❤

#Tied up in Tinsel #Ngaio Marsh #books #book recommendations #murder mystery #book reviews

[theodoradove]

Rory??? Since when is he Rory????

#i'm reading the #inspector alleyn #books by #ngaio marsh #in publication order #and have gotten to #death in a white tie #and said epithet is now in play #it's so lovely that mama alleyn and mama wimsey would almost certainly get along #they would have conversations that no one else could follow but where they understand each other perfectly #and bond over complicated second sons who had no desire to marry until they met their soulmates when in their forties #(sybilla could time travel and join in) #(except lymond speedruns everything so he's still in his twenties)

[my-52-weeks-with-christie]

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#book #book cover #book photo #book pic #death in a white tie #mystery #Ngaio marsh #vintage book

[booksofdelight]

Ngaio Marsh: Your Next Favorite Mystery Author

Find out who Ngaio Marsh is and why she will be your next favorite mystery author!

There are many mystery books out there and one can read hundreds and still not read many great authors. A big reason is that we gravitate towards what is trending and which book everyone is talking about. That had led to an amazing author being forgotten and one that many readers have to revisit. I am talking about New Zealand author Ngaio Marsh. She helped usher in the Golden Age of Mystery but…

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#Book Recommendations #detective novel #mystery #news #Ngaio Marsh #novel #writing

[yourcoffeeguru]

NGAIO MARSH Thriller Crime Paperback Novels x 7 Vintage Bundle LOT || AUtradingpost - ebay

#paperback books #books #vintage paperback #ngaio marsh books #crime books #thriller crime books #thriller books #vintage collectible books #autradingpost #ebay books

[princelysome]

A "miraculous " spring, two spinsters at odds, a mysterious beauty, and young love; stir together, add a dash of British detective introspection and there it is, a delightful little murder mystery.

#princelysome #2023 #books i've read #kindle #ngaio marsh #roderick alleyn #dead water

[oldshrewsburyian]

The ground beneath them was unsteady, quivering a little, telling them that, after all, there was no stability in the earth by which we symbolize stability. They moved across a skin and the organism beneath it was restless.

Colour Scheme, Ngaio Marsh

#colour scheme #ngaio marsh #book quotes #all 3.5 members of the inspector alleyn fandom please declare yourselves #my detection obsession

[to-the-fishies]

Listening to Death in a White Tie, and Vassily's reaction to Alleyn having Troy over for tea is delightful.

A lady! to tea! Better get some caviar and buttered toast and Many lemons and a huge collectible teapot ready. Better put on my best jacket.

#ngaio marsh #Death in a White Tie #Roderick Alleyn #it is CRIMINAL that when you Google Marsh's books in order - the 7th is displayed before the 6th #so that I am doing this Out Of Order #unrelatedly: this man needs to get some SLEEP

[e-b-reads]

I want to know about books 11, 22, 33, 44 and 55 💫

Thanks for asking! Lol, typically for me, every one of these is a mystery, but they're all pretty different!

11. Light Thickens, Ngaio Marsh - The final Roderick Alleyn mystery (not that they need to be read in order). This does actually have some characters return from a mystery set (and written) several years before this one; they have aged, but Alleyn apparently has not. It's a good stand-alone mystery set in a play house (one of Marsh's favorite things to write about), with various references to Macbeth.

22. The Redeemers, Ace Atkins - This is book 5 in the Quinn Colson mystery series, I spent a lot of the beginning of last year tearing through them (11 total), slowed down only by waiting for library holds to come in. The sort of arc of the series (which does take place over 10 or so years, each book set ~when it was published) is that former Army Ranger Quinn Colson comes back to his hometown in Mississippi and then runs for sheriff so as to get rid of the old corrupt sheriff - and then takes down a crime lord, and has to quit being sheriff, and gets voted back in, and another crime lord takes over... Anyway, they're grittier/more violent than a lot of the mysteries I read, but I was hooked. All the characters felt very well-rounded - all the good guys have significant flaws, but I love them anyway, and (almost) all the bad guys have moments where they're sympathetic, if not redeemable.

33. The Night She Died, Dorothy Simpson - OK, so I can't think of anything particularly wrong with this book, but I forgot I read it until looking #33 up for this list. The first in yet another mystery series (published 1980, set in England), and it was...fine? I didn't read any others in the series, but I did finish the book, so it was gripping enough for that!

44. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe, Agatha Christie - A Poirot book; Poirot goes to the dentist, and then later in the day, the dentist is found murdered! If you've read any Poirot stuff, then you have an idea where things go from there. This was a reread, I like the more domestic Christie books (as opposed to international intrigue).

55. Relic, Douglas Preston with Lincoln Child - This is also first in a series, called the Pendergast series. I actually remember why I read this - I saw several books from the series in the library, and was intrigued, so when I got home I found the first one on Libby. Honestly not sure that "mystery" is the best description - maybe a combo of horror and thriller and some supernatural elements. I did like this first one - it's gripping, and Pendergast is a charismatic character. There's some funky pseudoscience in this one (think Jurassic Park) to explain some pretty fantastic things, but it's made to sound reasonable; I read two more in the series, but when it looked like Pendergast was actually starting to time travel with the power of his mind in the third one, I decided not to read the other 19(!).

(Send me a number 1 - 206 and I'll tell you about a book I read in 2023!)

#books of 2023 #I promise I read other genres - but probabilistically this makes sense #gonna tag the books now #light thickens #ngaio marsh #quinn colson #ace atkins #the night she died #dorothy simpson #one two buckle my shoe #agatha christie #relic #douglas preston #lincoln child

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Ngaio Marsh - Spinsters In Jeopardy - Fontana - 1973

#witches #spinsters #occult #vintage #spinsters in jeopardy #fontana books #ngaio marsh #1973 #jeopardy #daggers #incense burners