Saturday, July 19, 2008

Old time Crime


I've been discovering the wonderful world of Ngaio Marsh.

After preaching the literary gospel of don't leave town till you've seen the country, I'm practicing what I preach by reading as much of her work as possible before I go to The Press Christchurch Writer's festival. There will be quite an accent on Ngaio Marsh, with the new autobiography by Joanne Drayton, so I'm looking forward to a wallow.

Last night in the midst of a I-can't-turn-my-brain-off insomniac session I finished reading A Man Lay Dead, and loved it. This was first published in 1934, and apart from a few unusual uses of words (they ejaculated a lot back then, in the verbal sense) it was a great read.

I've got her autobiography Black Beach & Honey Dew, lined up next and I'll try to read it before Christchurch. Her success as an international serial crime writer was amazing.

Pretty good for a kiwi gal.

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