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
Joshua Clunk
Gender: Male
He is a lawyer and one of the more unsympathetic problem solvers in crime fiction. He is a greedy hypocrite and uses dubious juridical tricks to have his clients found ‘not guilty’. He likes best to be at home with his only wife, whom author H.C.Bailey variously calls Maria, Rachel and Emma. But when he wants to be, Joshua Clunk is also a skilful detective who manages to prove the innocence of sev...