CLASSIC CRIME

MONEY IN THE MORGUE by Ngaio Marsh and Stella Duffy (HarperCollins €14.20)

NGAIO MARSH was at the height of her creative powers when she set aside the bare bones of this novel, presumably intending to return to add the flesh. She never did.

Now, 70 years on, Stella Duffy, a New Zealander like Marsh, albeit by adoption, has finished the job.

Inspector Alleyn is on secondment, intent on unmasking a spy network operating somewhere close to a military hospital.

Leaving aside the question as to why New Zealand’s finest needs Scotland Yard on what looks to be a straightforward assignment, Alleyn soon proves his worth by helping out with an overlapping case of robbery and murder.

Up against the chippiness of locals who resent the interference of a pommy policeman, Alleyn emerges triumphantly through a smokescreen of intrigue and deceit.

It is all clever stuff. Ngaio Marsh would give it nine out of ten.

THE ALLINGHAM CASEBOOK by Margery Allingham (Ipso Books €12.60)

WHILE Margery Allingham’s mystery novels are rarely out of print, her short stories have been neglected.

In this welcome revival, we meet old friends from the Allingham canon led by Albert Campion, the outwardly vague, but inwardly acute, amateur detective and his ally Chief Inspector Charles Luke, along with a memorable cast of crooks and charlatans.

If there is a connecting theme, it is of comeuppance, such as when an intending murderer has the tables turned on him by his supposedly naive victim.

Typical of other delights is the mysterious disappearance of a young couple, breakfast left uneaten, the teapot still warm.

The anticipated tragedy turns out to be a bunk for the best possible reasons.

With skilful plotting laced with tongue-in-cheek humour, Allingham never ceases to intrigue and surprise.

FIRE IN THE THATCH by E.C. R. Lorac (British Library €12.60)

THE scene looks set for light comedy. A decent, upright landowner lives in rural seclusion with his charming daughter and a very surly daughter-in-law.

Nearby lives sturdy Nicholas Vaughan, who is trying his hand at subsistence farming.

Enter nasty, rich urbanites intent on scarring the landscape. Then, suddenly, the mood changes when Vaughan’s body is found inhis burned-out cottage.

The dour Chief Inspector Macdonald is called in to investigate. Delving into the background of Vaughan and his neighbours, the detective is convinced that what appears to be a tragic accident is, in fact, a cleverly contrived murder.

The treat in store is a masterwork in painstaking detection.

Fire In The Thatch is the second reissue of the Lorac novels from the 40s. We must hope there are other treasures to be discovered.