• Death in Ecstasy

  • By: Ngaio Marsh
  • Narrated by: James Saxon
  • Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (203 ratings)

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Death in Ecstasy  By  cover art

Death in Ecstasy

By: Ngaio Marsh
Narrated by: James Saxon
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Publisher's summary

The poison was cyanide, slipped into the sacred wine of ecstasy just before it was presented to Miss Cara Quayne at the House of the Sacred Flame.

The victim was a deeply religious initiate who had trained for a month for her last ceremony. She was also a very beautiful woman.... The suspects were the other initiates and the high priest. All claimed they were above earthly passions. But Cara Quayne had provoked lust, jealousy - and murder.

Roderick Alleyn suspected that more evil still lurked behind the Sign of the Sacred Flame....

©1936 Original Text of 1936 by Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"A novelist of glittering accomplishment." ( Sunday Times)
"She writes better than Christie!" ( New York Times)

What listeners say about Death in Ecstasy

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Dated but enjoyable

Not the best in the series but full of amusing touches. Characters are more than usually stereotypical. Unfortunate homophobia creeps in that is offensive even for the time the book was written. Excellent narration.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A fine and amusing story.

In this novel NM let’s her sense of humor shine thru. The usual mix of suspects and highly engrossing back stories but lots of laugh moments. It’s also time to ‘out’ Rattisbone the ever recurring solicitor. He appears without fanfare or comment in many books but in this novel a character asks Alleyn “do you know this person?” And Alleyn replies “slightly” - of course they have shared many a story and Rattisbone deserves much better of his creator. Loved the story as usual.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Mystery Maven

Another great entry. These stories are set in a time long gone but the relevance of this installment is right on. Different narrator who did well. On to the next.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great story

Would recommend listening to this story. Keeps your interest. Was not able to solve the mystery.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Another Gem by Ngaio Marsh

When it comes to gentlemen detective stories Ngaio Marsh writes her mysteries with the right amount of dark undertones and humour. James Saxon narrated Marsh's characters to life and was just delightful overall to listen to.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Golden Age mystery

Ngaio Marsh had a gift for characters; sometimes they were too talky which slowed down the story; but for the most part the talking was where the clues were. James Saxon is hands down the best Marsh narrator (with Philip Franks a close second).

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Tedious narrator

I know this gentleman is hired quite often to read in this series.....
However,... Someone needs to tell him to swallow his saliva regularly and more often... He waits until he's almost drowning in it , then gulps it away...
Ugh... Shudder... Most distressing..

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Boring book

This book was so boring that I couldn't finish it. The characters were stereotypes of little interest and the plot nonexistent.

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1 person found this helpful