Concept

Ngaio Marsh

Summary
Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (ˈnaɪoʊ; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Marsh is known as one of the "Queens of Crime", along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Margery Allingham. She is known primarily for her character Inspector Roderick Alleyn, a gentleman detective who works for the Metropolitan Police (London). The Ngaio Marsh Award is awarded annually for the best New Zealand mystery, crime and thriller fiction writing. Marsh was born in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where she also died. In the Introduction to The Collected Short Fiction of Ngaio Marsh, Douglas G. Greene writes: "Marsh explained to an interviewer... that in New Zealand European children often receive native names, and Ngaio... can mean either 'light on the water' or 'little tree bug' in the Maori language. Other sources say that it is the name of a native flowering tree." Her father neglected to register her birth until 1900 and there is some uncertainty about the date. She was the only child of Rose and bank clerk Henry Marsh, described by Marsh as "have-nots". Her mother's sister Ruth married the geologist, lecturer, and curator Robert Speight. Ngaio Marsh was educated at St Margaret's College in Christchurch, where she was one of the first pupils when the school was founded. She studied painting at the Canterbury College (NZ) School of Art before joining the Allan Wilkie company as an actress in 1916 and touring New Zealand. For a short time in 1921 she was a member of the Rosemary Rees English Comedy Company, a touring company formed by actor-manager Rosemary Rees. In 1928 she went to London with friends (on whom she would base the Lamprey family [Surfeit of Lampreys]). From then on she divided her time between living in New Zealand and the United Kingdom. In London she began writing syndicated articles, which were published in New Zealand.
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