Singing in the Shrouds

I shall not repeat what was previously written in editorial & prior reviewer comments. IMHO this is another fine Superintendent Alleyn mystery (but without his usual supporting cast) held mainly on a ship at sea--mildly reminiscent of the river boat journey in Clutch of Constables (Roderick Alleyn Mysteries) & referencing the voyage in which Alleyn met his future wife Troy (see Alleyn and Others: The Collected Short Fiction... Read Full Review

Clues point to a serial murderer being aboard a cargo ship bound for South Africa. Inspector Alleyn is sent to join the ship on its voyage south. It carries nine passengers in addition to the crew. The cast of characters are vividly drawn and Ms. Marsh does a wonderful job in making us switch our suspicion from one character to the next. As with most mysteries of this sort, much of the fun comes from the interplay between... Read Full Review

In NgaioMarsh's "Singing in the Shrouds", dependable New Scotland Yard detective Roderick Alleyn is going on a cruise -- but not a vacation. Sent in secret to prove his hunch that a murderer is on the Cape Farewell, a cargo ship sailing to South Africa via Portugal, Alleyn meets up with an intriguing list of characters, most of whom could be legitimate subjects. All he has to go on is a scrap of paper in the last victim's... Read Full Review

The friend who loaned me this book did, and could not relax the entire time. Pretty understandable, when the premise of the novel is that there is a notorious serial killer on board a cruise ship who has an obsession with women, costume jewelry and hyacinths. Marsh's characters are all very-well drawn (at one point I almost wanted to kick the ship's captain) and the plot is flawless, with an interesting psychological... Read Full Review

Ngaio Marsh does not fail in this delightfully captivating mystery