Singing in the Shrouds (1958)

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▾Member reviews

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Another Inspector Alleyn mystery. I liked the beginning a lot, but found the end a bit tedious, unfortunately. Still, it features Alleyn at his investigative best, which is nice. (Dec 2011) (

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maureene87 | Apr 4, 2013 |

This one has grown on me. Alleyn is sent to sea on a cruise (a freighter carring a small number of passengers - as was quite common once) on the hunch that serial killer has shipped for the voyage. The delight in this is the small number of characters interacting as we count down the days to the next outburst. Once again NM shows her anti-gay colours but otherwise really enjoyable read. (

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Figgles | Jun 2, 2009 |

http://bintphotobooks.blogspot.com/2007/08/eppo-doeve-prisma.html

bintphotobooks | Sep 14, 2007 |

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▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Ngaio Marsh	—	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Saxon, James	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

▾Work-to-work relationships

Is contained in

The Ngaio Marsh Collection (7) - Off With His Head / Singing in the Shrouds / False Scent by Ngaio Marsh

Singing in the Shrouds / A Stir of Echoes / The Malignant Heart by Detective Book Club

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▾Common Knowledge

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Series (with order)

Roderick Alleyn (20)

Canonical title

Singing in the Shrouds

Original title

Information from the Finnish Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to the English one.

Singing in the Shrouds

Alternative titles

Original publication date

People/Characters

Ruby Dillington-Blick

Katherine Abbott

(show all 13 items)

Important places

The Cape Farewell (ocean steamer)

Atlantic Ocean

South Atlantic Ocean

London, England, UK

Las Palmas, Grand Canary Islands

(show all 6 items)

Important events

Related movies

Awards and honors

Epigraph

Dedication

For XXX

First words

In the pool of London and farther east all through the dockyards the fog lay heavy.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Publisher series

Fontana (675)

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English

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▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

First, there was high-pitched singing ... and then a woman's body was found, covered with flowers. Three victims had already fallen before Scotland Yard's Roderick Alleyn set out on a luxury cruiser for South Africa, convinced that the musical murderer was aboard.

Listen! Is that he wind in the shrouds - or has the killer struck again?
------------------------

TENTH DAY AT SEA

The Spanish dress was spread out wide, falling in black cascades on both sides of hte chaise longue. Its wearer lay back, luxuriously, each gloved hand trailing on the deck.
The head was impossibly twisted over the left shoulder.
Artificial pearls from a broken necklace lay scattered across the decolletage, into which had been thrust a white hyacinth.

Haiku summary

▾Book descriptions

Amazon.com Product Description (ISBN 0312968884, Mass Market Paperback)

All aboard for murder

The Cape Farewell steams out to sea, carrying a serial strangler who says it with flowers and a little song. Behind, on a fogbound London dock, lies his latest lovely victim; and on board, working undercover to identify him before he strikes again, is Inspector Roderick Alleyn. But-with a collection of neurotic, bombastic, shifty, and passionate passengers at one another's throats-how long can he keep the investigation on course?

(retrieved from Amazon Thu, 14 Feb 2013 13:31:36 -0500)

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▾Library descriptions

The police found the third corpse on a wharf in the Pool of London, her body covered with flower petals and pearls. Within the hour the killer was safe at sea - and among his fellow-passengers were four potential victims.One cold night the police find their third corpse on the quayside - covered with flower petals and pearls. When a cargo ship with nine passengers sets sail Superintendent Roderick Alleyn joins it at Portsmouth - the murderer is known to be on board.… (more)

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