From AudioFile
Sir Hubert Handesley regularly invites a small group of friends and acquaintances to Frampton, his country estate. This weekend he has something special planned--a murder game. But then one of the players is discovered with a real dagger in his back. A MAN LAY DEAD introduces us to Inspector Roderick Alleyn, Marsh's intelligent, cool, and inscrutable inspector from Scotland Yard. James Saxon narrates with a wonderful British accent--just a bit upper crust--and perfect pacing to move the story through its startling revelations and subtle suggestions. However, his attempts to create individual voices for each character fall short. His women are fairly distinct, although the servants' voices come across as stereotypes, but his male characters are too similar, leading to some confusion in following the plot. W.L.S. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine


Review
"It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around."--New York magazine



Book Description
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Gets Murdered.

At Sir Hubert Handesley's country house party, five guests have gathered for the uproarious parlor game of "Murder." Yet no one is laughing when the lights come up on an actual corpse, the good-looking and mysterious Charles Rankin. Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives to find a complete collection of alibis, a missing butler, and an intricate puzzle of betrayal and sedition in the search for the key player in this deadly game.



About the Author
From her first book in 1934 to her final volume just before her death in 1982, Ngaio Marsh's work has remained legendary, and is often compared to that of Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. During her celebrated fifty-year career, Marsh was made a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America, was named Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire, won numerous prestigious awards, and penned 32 mystery novels.

Now St. Martin's Dead Letter Mysteries is thrilled to make all of Marsh's novels available again for old fans to relish and new ones to discover. So sit back, draw the curtains, lock the doors, and put yourself in the hands of the Grand Dame of detective novels...

FROM THE PUBLISHER

At Sir Hubert Handesley's country house party, five guests have gathered for the uproarious parlor game of "Murder." Yet no one is laughing when the lights come up on an actual corpse, the good-looking and mysterious Charles Rankin. Scotland Yard's Inspector Roderick Alleyn arrives to find a complete collection of alibis, a missing butler, and an intricate puzzle of betrayal and sedition in the search for the key player in this deadly game.

FROM THE CRITICS

New York Magazine