Black as He's Painted - Softcover

Marsh, Ngaio

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312972792 ISBN 13: 9780312972790

Publisher: St Martin's Press, 1999

Synopsis

Portrait of a murder...

Superintendent Roderick Alleyn's old school chum-- whom his wife Troy longs to paint-- is now President of Ng'ombwana, a brand-new African republic. This handsome, charismatic dictator has enemies of every stripe: from ruddy-faced ex-colonists to new rivals, from dispossessed businessmen to racist crackpots. But when a ceremonial spear deals death at his lavish embassy party in London, Alleyn must decipher the victim's last utterance and expose an assassin's true colors...

About this title

Review:

‘A splendid, eccentric detective story in classic style.’
Evening Standard

‘She writes as beautifully as ever.’
Sunday Times

‘An elegant, disciplined writer, Marsh deserves to be read and re-read not just for her plots but for her characterisation, for her painter’s eye view and for her outsider’s insights into the heart of a vanished social world.’
Susan Howatch

‘The finest writer in the English language of the pure, classical puzzle whodunit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands out as an Empress.’
The Sun

From the Back Cover:

THE ALLEYN MYSTERIES

When the President of Ng'ombwana proposes to dispense with the usual security arrangements on an official visit to London, his old school mate, Chief Superintendent Alleyn is called in to try to persuade him otherwise.

Alleyn performs his mission so successfully that on the night of the Ng'ombwanan Embassy's reception the house and grounds are stiff with police. However, an assassin does strike, and Alleyn discovers a wealth of suspects in a coterie of ex-colonials residing in the very shadow of the Embassy...

"A splendid, eccentric detective story in classic style"
EVENING STANDARD

"She writes as beautifully as ever"
SUNDAY TIMES

"The finest writer in the English language of the pure, classical puzzle whodunnit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands out as an express."
THE SUN

About this edition

• Publisher: St Martin's Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0312972792
• ISBN 13: 9780312972790
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 256