Meny
Portrait of Ngaio Marsh 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,...

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Literary figures

Daniel Calder

Gender: Male

Like his colleague, Samuel Behrens, he is a friendly, elderly gentleman – and one of the most cold-blooded and skilful executioners working for the British counter intelligence service. The two are the main characters in a number of commended short stories – but no novels – by Michael Gilbert. They live in the same village in the county of Kent, and are bachelors, but Calder (who is an expert on w...

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