Off With His Head
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Off With His Head
''Off with His Head'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the nineteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn. It was first published in the USA (by Little, Brown of Boston) in 1956, under the title ''Death of a Fool'', and in the UK (by Collins) in 1957. Set in the freezing, snowbound Winter of a small English village, Mardian (based on the Kent village of Birling, where Marsh had recently stayed with her old friends, the Rhodes family), the plot concerns the annual performance in the courtyard of the local crumbling castle of an historic folkloric ritual, "The Dance of the Five Sons", containing elements of Morris dancing, sword dance and Mummers play. This fictional version of the English Guiser/Mummers play, performed on "Sword Wednesday" of the Winter Solstice, includes carefully detailed characters: "The Fool", "Crack" The Hobbyhorse and the half-man/half-woman "Betty". Marsh is clearly fascinated by the idea, put forward in the novel by her detective, Roderick Alleyn, ...
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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 ...
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Raymond Chandler
Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Great Depression. His first short story, " Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in 1933 in '' Black Mask,'' a popular pulp magazine. His first novel, ''The Big Sleep'', was published in 1939. In addition to his short stories, Chandler published seven novels during his lifetime (an eighth, in progress at the time of his death, was completed by Robert B. Parker). All but '' Playback'' have been made into motion pictures, some more than once. In the year before his death, he was elected president of the Mystery Writers of America. Chandler had an immense stylistic influence on American popular literature. He is a founder of the hardboiled school of detective fiction, along with Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and other ''Black Mask ...
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1957 British Novels
1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year of the 1950s decade. Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be dismissed for having ''handled the ball'', in Test cricket. * January 9 – British Prime Minister Anthony Eden resigns. * January 10 – Harold Macmillan becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. * January 11 – The African Convention is founded in Dakar. * January 14 – Kripalu Maharaj is named fifth Jagadguru (world teacher), after giving seven days of speeches before 500 Hindu scholars. * January 15 – The film '' Throne of Blood'', Akira Kurosawa's reworking of ''Macbeth'', is r ...
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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 ...
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Hand In Glove (novel)
''Hand in Glove'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-second novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1962. This story finds its way into an upper society party gone astray into the path of precarious murder. Television adaptation This novel was adapted for the television series ''The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries'', with Patrick Malahide Patrick Gerald Duggan (born 24 March 1945), known professionally as Patrick Malahide, is a veteran British film, television and theatre actor, author and producer, known, amongst other things, for his roles as Inspector Alleyn in '' The Inspec ... as Roderick Alleyn in 1994. External links * Roderick Alleyn novels 1962 British novels Collins Crime Club books British detective novels {{1960s-crime-novel-stub ...
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Surfeit Of Lampreys
Surfeit is a human gene cluster that consists of a group of very tightly linked genes on chromosome 9 that do not share sequence similarity. Genes in this cluster are numbered 1 through 6: SURF1, SURF2, SURF3, SURF4, SURF5, and SURF6 Surfeit locus protein 6 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''SURF6'' gene In biology, the word gene (from , ; "... Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word gene to describe the Mendelian units of heredity..." meaning ''generation'' or .... References Genes on human chromosome 9 {{Gene-9-stub ...
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Swing Brother Swing
''Swing, Brother, Swing'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the fifteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1949. The plot concerns the murder of a big band accordionist in London; the novel was published as ''A Wreath for Rivera'' in the United States. Plot Its opening chapter a series of sharply contrasting letters, telegrams and gossip column press items, the novel soon brings together its cast of characters at the Belgravia home (Duke's Gate, London SW1) of the eccentric, outrageous Lord Pastern & Bagott, his long-suffering, coiffed and corseted French wife Lady Cécile and her daughter by a previous marriage Félicité (Fée) de Suze. Apart from the extensive domestic staff and Lady Pastern's companion-secretary Miss Henderson, we meet a family cousin Hon. Edward Manx and Lord Pastern's niece Carlisle Wayne, returning from war work overseas to be reunited with a family she now observes with affectionate irritation and cool detachment. The ...
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Death In A White Tie
''Death in a White Tie'' is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh. It is the seventh novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1938. The plot concerns the murder of a British lord after a party. It was adapted for television in a 1993 episode of ''The Inspector Alleyn Mysteries'', a BBC production. The director was John Woods, the screenwriter Ken Jones, and Alleyn was played by Patrick Malahide. Plot Summary Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is on the hunt of Colombo Dmitri, a well-known London caterer who blackmails his wealthy clients. Mrs. Halcut-Hackett tells Alleyn about her "friend" who is being blackmailed and is instructed to leave a purse full of money in a sofa at a concert hall. Alleyn sends his friend, Lord Robert "Bunchy" Gospell to keep an eye on the purse in order to secure the evidence against Dmitri. However, Bunchy falls asleep and misses the pickup and Mrs. Halcut-Hackett begins to suspect Bunchy is the blackmailer. Lady Evelyn Carrados thr ...
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Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictional detectives Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. She also wrote the world's longest-running play, the murder mystery ''The Mousetrap'', which has been performed in the West End since 1952. A writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Christie has been called the "Queen of Crime". She also wrote six novels under the pseudonym Mary Westmacott. In 1971, she was made a Dame (DBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to literature. ''Guinness World Records'' lists Christie as the best-selling fiction writer of all time, her novels having sold more than two billion copies. Christie was born into a wealthy upper middle class family in Torquay, Devon, and was largely home-schooled. She was initially an unsuccessful writer with six co ...
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Margery Allingham
Margery Louise Allingham (20 May 1904 – 30 June 1966) was an English novelist from the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", and considered one of its four " Queens of Crime", alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. Allingham is best remembered for her hero, the gentleman sleuth Albert Campion. Initially believed to be a parody of Dorothy L. Sayers's detective Lord Peter Wimsey, Campion matured into a strongly individual character, part-detective, part-adventurer, who formed the basis for 18 novels and many short stories. Life and career Childhood and schooling Margery Louise Allingham was born on 20 May 1904 in Ealing, London, the eldest daughter of Herbert John (1868-1936) and Emily Jane ( Hughes; 1879-1960). She had a younger brother Philip William, and a younger sister Emily Joyce Allingham. Her family was immersed in literature; her parents were both writers. Her father was editor of the ''Christian Globe'' and ''The New London Journal'', to which ...
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Dorothy L Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers (; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime writer and poet. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between the First and Second World Wars that feature English aristocrat and amateur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of Detective Fiction", Sayers was considered one of its four " Queens of Crime", alongside Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. Sayers is also known for her plays, literary criticism, and essays. She considered her translation of Dante's ''Divine Comedy'' to be her best work. Sayers's obituarist, writing in ''The New York Times'' in 1957, noted that many critics at the time regarded her mystery ''The Nine Tailors'' as her finest literary achievement. Biography Childhood, youth, and education Sayers, an only child, was born on 13 June 1893 at the Headmaster's House on Brewer Stre ...
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