Photo: Murray/Fairfax Media via Getty Images (1960)
Sample of authors
Marsh, Ngaio
The New Zealand author Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh was born in Merivale, Christchurch. Her father was an immigrant English bank manager and her mother was born in New Zealand, although her family too originally came from England. Ngaio is the Maori word for "reflection on water". A somewhat eccentric and confused man, Marsh's father did not report his daughter's birth to the authorities until 1900,...
Literary figures
Gideon Oliver
Gender: Male
Oliver is an anthropologist with an international reputation as the ‘Skeleton detective’. His speciality is skeleton research, and the police in several countries make use of his knowledge when it comes to determining the age and sex of a skeleton and the time of death. He is a bachelor in the first novels, but subsequently marries Julie Tendler, who becomes an important assistant to him in the bo...