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Last Ditch
''Last Ditch'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-ninth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1977. The plot concerns drug smuggling in the Channel Islands, and features Alleyn's son, Ricky, in a central role. Plot summary Ricky Alleyn is writing a novel in a rented room in the Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ... off Normandy. He makes friends on the small island, and explores the places new to him. He writes long letters home, sharing his experiences with his parents. The couple Julia and Jasper invite him to join their group riding horses, rented for the day from Leathers, the local riding stables. After a good ride, they return to the stables, finding their own horses sensing trouble. Julia sees the troub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Novels
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WikiProject Books
A WikiProject, or Wikiproject, is a Wikimedia movement affinity group for contributors with shared goals. WikiProjects are prevalent within the largest wiki, Wikipedia, and exist to varying degrees within sister projects such as Wiktionary, Wikiquote, Wikidata, and Wikisource. They also exist in different languages, and translation of articles is a form of their collaboration. During the COVID-19 pandemic, CBS News noted the role of Wikipedia's WikiProject Medicine in maintaining the accuracy of articles related to the disease. Another WikiProject that has drawn attention is WikiProject Women Scientists, which was profiled by '' Smithsonian'' for its efforts to improve coverage of women scientists which the profile noted had "helped increase the number of female scientists on Wikipedia from around 1,600 to over 5,000". On Wikipedia Some Wikipedia WikiProjects are substantial enough to engage in cooperative activities with outside organizations relevant to the field at issue. For e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngaio Marsh
Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 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. Youth 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' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roderick Alleyn
Roderick Alleyn (pronounced "Allen") is a fictional character who first appeared in 1934. He is the policeman hero of the 32 detective novels of Ngaio Marsh. Marsh and her gentleman detective belong firmly in the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, although the last Alleyn novel, ''Light Thickens'', was published in 1982. Marsh mentions in an introduction that she named her detective Alleyn after the Elizabethan actor Edward Alleyn, founder of Dulwich College, where her father had been a pupil. She started a novel with Alleyn in 1931, after reading a detective story by Agatha Christie or Dorothy L. Sayers on a wet Saturday afternoon in London and wondering if she could write something in the genre. So she bought six exercise books and a pencil at a local stationer and started ''A Man Lay Dead'', involving a Murder Game, which was then popular at English weekend parties. Background and early life Roderick Alleyn (pronounced 'Allen', and known as Rory to friends) is a gentleman dete ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detective Fiction
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as speculative fiction and other genre fiction in the mid-nineteenth century and has remained extremely popular, particularly in novels. Some of the most famous heroes of detective fiction include C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, and Hercule Poirot. Juvenile stories featuring The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children have also remained in print for several decades. History Ancient Some scholars, such as R. H. Pfeiffer, have suggested that certain ancient and religious texts bear similarities to what would later be called detective fiction. In the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders (the Protestant Bible locates this story within the apocrypha), the account told by two witnesses broke down when Daniel cross-examines th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Collins Crime Club
Collins Crime Club was an imprint of British book publishers William Collins, Sons and ran from 6 May 1930 to April 1994. Throughout its 64 years the club issued a total of 2,012in "The Hooded Gunman -- An Illustrated History of Collins Crime Club", by John Curran, both in the dust jacket, and in page 388 first editions of crime novels and reached a high standard of quality throughout. In the field of crime book collecting, Collins Crime Club is eagerly sought, particularly pre-war first editions in dustwrappers with their vivid and imaginative images. History Customers registered their name and address with the club and were sent a newsletter every three months which advised them of the latest books which had been or were to be issued. Collins' intention was to publish three new crime books on the first Monday of every month. All three books were supposedly picked by a panel of experts (only one of whom seems to have been named — Cyril Alington) and they chose for each mon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black As He's Painted
''Black As He's Painted'' (1974) is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh, the 28th to feature Roderick Alleyn. The plot concerns the newly independent fictional African nation of Ng'ombwana, whose president and Alleyn went to school together, and a series of murders connected to its embassy in London. The novel was written in New Zealand in the late Spring and Summer of 1973, and a year later was on the ''Sunday Times'' best-seller list in the UK, as well as proving a best-seller in the USA. Marsh's first biographer Margaret Lewis quotes a letter Marsh wrote in March 1973: "I've gone into purdah with a new book. It's always a huge effort to get back into harness after an interval in the theatre and this time it's been uphill all the way... I've saddled myself this time with a complicated and hideously exacting ''mise-en-scene'' and am just crossing the halfway mark, full of black forebodings laced with pale streaks of hope." Dr Lewis quotes Marsh's editor at Collins, Robert Knittel, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grave Mistake
''Grave Mistake'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the thirtieth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1978. The plot concerns the supposed suicide of a wealthy widow in a chic rest spa, and involves a rare and famous postage stamp. Plot synopsis At a Women's Institute meeting in Quintern Place, the beautiful home of The Honorable Sybil Foster, a wealthy widow, we meet or hear of the characters who populate the idyllic Kentish village of Upper Quintern: Sybil's childhood friend, the West End playwright Verity Preston, their daily help Mrs Jim Jobbin and gardener Angus McBride, the vicar, the local GP and others. Sybil and Verity both live in houses inherited from their fathers. The "rhythms of life" of this highly traditional, class-structured community are described as having changed little "in spite of war, bombs, crises and inflation" except for the arrival of Nikolas Markos, a suave, exotic multi-millionaire. Markos has bought and refurbis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Detective Novel
Detective fiction is a subgenre of crime fiction and mystery fiction in which an investigator or a detective—whether professional, amateur or retired—investigates a crime, often murder. The detective genre began around the same time as speculative fiction and other genre fiction in the mid-nineteenth century and has remained extremely popular, particularly in novels. Some of the most famous heroes of detective fiction include C. Auguste Dupin, Sherlock Holmes, and Hercule Poirot. Juvenile stories featuring The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and The Boxcar Children have also remained in print for several decades. History Ancient Some scholars, such as R. H. Pfeiffer, have suggested that certain ancient and religious texts bear similarities to what would later be called detective fiction. In the Old Testament story of Susanna and the Elders (the Protestant Bible locates this story within the apocrypha), the account told by two witnesses broke down when Daniel cross-examines ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, consisting of Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, Herm and some smaller islands. They are considered the remnants of the Duchy of Normandy and, although they are not part of the United Kingdom, the UK is responsible for the defence and international relations of the islands. The Crown dependencies are not members of the Commonwealth of Nations, nor have they ever been in the European Union. They have a total population of about , and the bailiwicks' capitals, Saint Helier and Saint Peter Port, have populations of 33,500 and 18,207, respectively. "Channel Islands" is a geographical term, not a political unit. The two bailiwicks have been administered separately since the late ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roderick Alleyn Novels
Roderick, Rodrick or Roderic (Proto-Germanic ''* Hrōþirīks'', from ''* hrōþiz'' "fame, glory" + ''* ríks'' "king, ruler") is a Germanic name, recorded from the 8th century onward.Förstemann, ''Altdeutsches Namenbuch'' (1856)740 Its Old High German forms are ''Hrodric, Chrodericus, Hroderich, Roderich, Ruodrich'' (etc.); in Gothic language ''Hrōþireiks''; in Old English language it appears as ''Hrēðrīc'' or ''Hroðrīc'', and in Old Norse as ''Hrǿríkʀ'' (Old East Norse ''Hrø̄rīkʀ'', ''Rø̄rīkʀ'', Old West Norse as ''Hrœrekr, Rœrekr''). In the 12th-century ''Primary chronicle'', the name is reflected as , i.e. ''Rurik''. In Spanish and Portuguese, it was rendered as ''Rodrigo'', or in its short form, ''Ruy, Rui, or Ruiz'', and in Galician, the name is ''Roi''. In Arabic, the form ''Ludhriq'' (لذريق), used to refer Roderic (Ulfilan Gothic ''*Hroþareiks''), the last king of the Visigoths. Saint Roderick (d. 857) is one of the Martyrs of Córdoba. Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1977 British Novels
Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo). * January 17 ** 49 marines from the and are killed as a result of a collision in Barcelona harbour, Spain. * January 18 ** Scientists identify a previously unknown bacterium as the cause of the mysterious Legionnaires' disease. ** Australia's worst railway disaster at Granville, a suburb of Sydney, leaves 83 people dead. ** SFR Yugoslavia Prime minister Džemal Bijedić, his wife and 6 others are killed in a plane crash in Bosnia and Herzegovina. * January 19 – An Ejército del Aire CASA C-207C Azor (registration T.7-15) plane crashes into the side of a mountain near Chiva, on approach to Valencia Airport in Spain, killing all 11 people on board. * January 20 – Jimmy Carter is sworn in as the 39th President of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
