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
Cordelia Gray
Gender: Female
A young private detective in only two novels by P.D. James; many readers have complained that there weren’t any more. She grew up with her foster parents – her mother died an hour after the birth of her daughter – and as an adult became the secretary to the private detective Bernie G. Pryde. When he died of cancer, Cordelia Gray inherited his agency. She is attractive, but despite her successes sh...