The Vulcan Theatre had been Martyn Tarne's last hope. She was glad to accept the humble job of dresser to its leading lady. And then came the opening night. To Martyn it brought a strange turn of fortune - but to one distinguished member of the cast it was to bring sudden and unforeseen death.

Rickie Alleyn was in the Channel Islands to write, but village life was tedious - until he saw the stablehand in the ditch. Dead, it seemed, from an unlucky jump. Rickie's father, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn, was summoned to the scene, but when Rickie disappeared, it was the last straw.

April Fool's Day had been a roaring success for all, it seemed - except for poor Mr Cartell who had ended up dead in the ditch. Mr Percival Pyke Period's letter of condolence was sent before the body was found and the family squabbled. It was a puzzling crime for Superintendent Alleyn.

A Harley Street surgeon and his nurse are nervous to operate. The patient is the Home Secretary - and they both have good, personal reasons to wish him dead. Within hours he does die, although the operation itself was a complete success, and Chief Detective Inspector Alleyn must find out why.

A classic crime tale sees the first notes played on the new parish hall piano bring about a gruesome death

This collection features the short cases of Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn, the creation of writer Ngaio Marsh. It introduces the murderous theme running through her detective novels, concluding with the script written for the television series, Crown Court .

Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime's first book, the eighth volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.

When the President of Ng'ombwana proposes to dispense with the security arrangements on an official visit to London, his old school mate, Superintendent Alleyn persuades him to do otherwise. However, an assassin does strike, and Alleyn discovers a wealth of suspects in a coterie of ex-colonials.

One cold night the police find their third corpse on the quayside - covered with flower petals and pearls. When a cargo ship with nine passengers sets sail Superintendent Roderick Alleyn joins it at Portsmouth - the murderer is known to be on board.

When their guide disappears mysteriously in the depths of a Roman Basilica, the members of Mr Sebastian Mailer's tour group seem strangely unperturbed. But when a body is discovered in an Etruscan sarcophagus, Superintendent Alleyn investigates.

Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime's first book, the ninth volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries.

Alleyn's friend, Nigel, stood near the centre of the stage. He had moved forward towards the wings, when a voice warned him to look out. An instant later, Inspector Alleyn hurled himself at Nigel, driving him backwards and out of the way of a falling object.

Peregrine Jay, owner of the Dolphin Theatre, is putting on a magnificent production of "Macbeth", the play that, superstition says, always brings bad luck. One night, the claymore swings and the dummy's head is more than real. Luckily, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is in the audience.

Follows Scotland Yard's Troy Alleyn, on a cruise through England's waterways with his wife, as he tries to unmask Jampot, a murderous forger disguised as a fellow passenger, before he strikes again.

Roderick Alleyn returns to unpick a web of deceit surrounding a sinister - and very public - murder

High in the mountains stands the Saracen fortress, home of the mysterious Mr Oberon, leader of a coven of witches. It is not the historic castle, however, that intrigues Roderick Alleyn, on holiday with his family, but the suspicion that a huge drugs ring operates from within its ancient portals.

A Ngaio Marsh novel which features blood-curdling murders in the confines of a riverboat, the Zodiac, cruising through Constable country.

Despite two husbands being dead and a daughter marrying the wrong man, no one believed Sybil Foster was the type to commit suicide, especially Superintenent Roderick Alleyn. For the field was ripe with unfortunate engagements - one of them a very grave mistake...

A brutal murder with a golf club and an ingenious plot bursting with snobbery, suspicion , adultery and secrets ? to say nothing of the dreadful crime of catricide...

Ngaio Marsh's bestselling and ingenious third novel remains one of the most popular pieces of crime fiction of all time.