'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'.
But it was Alleyn's wife Troy who knew 'the Jampot' best: she had shared close quarters with him on the tiny pleasure steamer Zodiac on a cruise along the peaceful rivers of 'Constable country'. And it was she who knew something was badly wrong even before Alleyn was called in to solve the two murders on board.
'The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers'
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'Cruising through Constable country, in both senses, with a cargo of strongly varied, cunningly suspect characters. . . the classic detective story '
TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
'It's time to compare Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around'
NEW YORK MAGAZINE
'The finest writer in the English language of pure classical puzzle whodunit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands outs as an Empress.
THE SUN