Singing in the Shrouds

By: Ngaio Marsh

Narrated by: James Saxon

On a cold February night the police find the third corpse on the quayside in the Pool of London, her body covered with flower petals and pearls. The killer walked away, singing. When the cargo ship, Cape Farewell, sets sail, she carries nine passengers, one of whom is known to be the murderer. Which is why Superintendent Roderick Alleyn joins the ship at Portsmouth on the most difficult assignment of his professional career...
Singing in the Shrouds was first published in 1958.©1958 Original Text of 1958 by Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"Ngaio Marsh at her intelligent best." (Times Literary Supplement)

"Superlatively good." (Sunday Times)

"Astoundingly good...moments of pure hilarity set among moments of real fear. Masterly." (Daily Express)

One of my Favorite Alleyns

I love the narration- so good at capturing the characters’ essences! And a fun story. Why people are complaining about implausibility , when, say, Christie has plots one could drive a tractor through.. An entertaining and beautifully written mystery.

Ending was Meh

It was not her best work. Characters were irritating, the setting underwhelming, and the ending fell flat. All this compared to her usual work. Still a good listen.

Nicely diverting

Improbable situation with Alleyne aboard a ship en route to South Africa trying to discover who among the peculiar little group of passengers is a murderer, if indeed one is. Of course, he figures it out, but we don't until we have had a very good time listening to a brilliant reader do all sorts of wonderful voices as we sail with our favorite sleuth from foggy London through the torpid tropics south.

What did they say?

As always, I enjoyed the Roderick Allen story line and the unique characters. With this version, I was constantly having to rewind to see if I could understand what certain characters were saying. Parts of the story were lost to me due to this. Frequently, I was confused as to which person was speaking especially as one woman had a deep voice.

Always awful female voices

If I were male.I could never fall for a woman who spoke like these characters. They all sound very ridiculous and middle aged in Saxons interpretation. Otherwise interesting and likable characters .Good story line makes another great book in series dispute narrative.