"Queen of Crime" Ngaio Marsh

"Queen of Crime" Ngaio Marsh

"Queen of Crime" Dame Ngaio Marsh sold millions of copies of her detective novels and was a prominent figure in 20th-century New Zealand theatre. Her work in both literature and theatre came to great acclaim, and she was honoured as Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1966.

In 2007, National Library Fellow Dr Joanna Drayton, using the National Library's collections for her research, wrote a new biography of Ngaio Marsh. The aim of the biography was to re-establish Marsh's place in New Zealand history, placing her with the likes of Sir Edmund Hillary. Ngaio Marsh: Her Life in Crime was published in October 2008.

Ngaio Marsh's love of art and drama became apparent in her schooldays in Christchurch, where she was born on 23 April 1895. During her three years at St Margaret's College, from 1910 to 1913, she became involved in theatre, both acting and scriptwriting. The school performed her play, The Moon Princess, in 1913.

Ngaio was also active in visual arts, and planned to become a painter. In 1913 she enrolled in the Canterbury College School of Art, where she studied until 1919. She continued to paint throughout the 1920s – even exhibiting with The Group in Christchurch – as well as writing articles, stories and poetry for the Christchurch Sun.

In 1928 Marsh moved to England and opened an interior decorating shop with her friend Nellie Rhodes. When she returned to New Zealand four years later, she had completed the draft of her first detective novel.

A Man Lay Dead was published in 1934. This was the beginning of a prolific and lucrative career – Ngaio Marsh would write 32 novels before 1982 and become known as one of the "Queens of Crime" along with Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Dorothy Sayers.

Marsh's novels feature the British detective Roderick Alleyn, and most are set in the English countryside. Four of her novels are set in New Zealand, where she did most of her writing. She writes in a classic form, but her dynamic characters and vibrant writing style set her books apart from formula detective fiction.

Marsh's mother had died in 1932, and when her father died in 1948 she returned to England. She divided her time between England and New Zealand for the rest of her life.

Internationally known for her best-selling crime novels, she was known equally in New Zealand for her strong presence in New Zealand theatre. She successfully directed productions well into her seventies, with an imaginative and comprehensive style. In 1967 Ngaio Marsh Theatre was opened in her name. Marsh directed the theatre's first production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night as she always enjoyed Shakespeare's plays.

She continued to write until her death. Her final book, Light Thickens, was submitted to publishers only weeks before she died at her home in Cashmere, Christchurch on 18 February 1982. Light Thickens was published to great acclaim later that year.

Find out more about Ngaio Marsh at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography website

Ngaio Marsh's biography at New Zealand History Online

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