Rereading Ngaio Marsh

Abstract

The mystery writers whose novels not only hold up but actually improve on second reading can be counted with ease: Poe, Chandler, Sayers, Hammett — the reader is invited to fill out the short list. Such a list will probably include for the most part authors who have written a few mystery novels over a fairly long career; criticism generally holds that those who write in volume cannot write with fresh invention and intensity. Standing in defiance of that commonplace are the thirty-one novels of Ngaio Marsh, a writer whose productivity never forced her into weakness of conception or mechanism in construction. Marsh is one of the rereadable novelists because her ingenuity in plotting is always supported by sound psychology, interesting settings, intellectually stimulating problems, and outstanding characterisations. The fact that second and even third readings of Marsh’s tales are as enjoyable as the first is testimony to her literary merits: knowing where her story is going in no way diminishes our interest in getting there.