Ngaio Marsh is one of the best examples of a great mystery author. Her books span from the early 1930s to the early 1980s, with all of them being exceptionally good. Too many times, an author loses steam after writing several books in a series, but still continues to publish books almost on automatic pilot. Not so with Ngaio Marsh!

Who Was Ngaio Marsh?

Her mother was a New Zealander and her father came from London. She was born in 1895 as Edith Ngaio Marsh and had aspirations of a theatrical life. She was described as being very tall (5′10″) which might have been one of the factors that contributed to her not becoming a leading lady. Lucky for us that she became a leading mystery author instead!

Early Life

Marsh was an only child and described herself as having been introverted. She was a great lover of books, and her family was very interested in the theater. She went to college to study painting but later found that she was more suited to writing.

She joined a theater troupe but had to resign when they went overseas. Ngaio’s mother didn’t think it would be fitting for a single woman to travel without a chaperon. It was then that Marsh focused on her painting, tutoring, and writing plays. She became a regular of high society. (Ngaio Marsh never married nor had children.)

Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn

In 1931 she took a stab at writing a mystery. Her first novel in the series “A Man Lay Dead” introduced the world to London’s Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn. Alleyn comes from the very upper crust of England’s society. His brother (obviously older brother) is a Lord.

You enter the bunker through the portal of a tiny rural cottage. The only clue to the secret concealed within is a large radio mast that tops a grass mound. Make sure you pick up an audio guide for the tour at this point. Then pass the blast doors, follow the narrow, long corridor and eventually turn into a fully equipped communications hub. Here you will find rooms crammed with archaic switchboard technology, using a primitive version of the Internet on deep underground cables that would apparently survive an atomic blast. There is a fully equipped radio studio from which the Prime Minister would address the nation. Beyond is a cavernous planning area where military meteorologists would monitor the fall-out and radiation as Soviet warheads obliterated Western cities.

Today the interior strikes the visitor as a curious mix of Seventies and Eighties retro technology, bureaucratic pomposity and surreal, chilling effects such as dummies propped up in chairs. Look out for Margaret Thatcher and John Major wax dummies gracing the building. Around them, TV screens playing original “Protect and Survive” public service broadcasts are playing on continuous loop.

The videos are more chilling than any horror movie. They were only designed to be shown if a nuclear strike was deemed likely within 72 hours. If you had ever seen these programmes broadcast for real, then your own death would be virtually imminent. By this stage military planners assumed that Soviet tank armies would have overwhelmed Allied forces in a short, conventional war on the north German plain and escalation to atomic warfare would be the only remaining military option.

The films were produced in 1980 and cover the basics of survival: constructing a fall-out shelter, building an inner refuge, hoarding enough drinking water and food for two weeks. Bring a child’s teddy bear, and games, and books. Just hold on for two weeks.

Location of Ngaio Marsh’s Mysteries

Marsh set most of her novels in England. A few of her novels, however, had Inspector Alleyn traveling to New Zealand. Very fitting locales since Marsh spent her life traveling back and forth between England and New Zealand.

Accomplishments

Marsh established a theater company that traveled throughout the British Commonwealth in the 1950s. In 1966 she was made a Dame in Great Britain. She continued writing her mystery novels all of her life. In 1978 the Mystery Writers of America made her a Grand Master for her contribution to the mystery genre

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