Grave Mistake

By: Ngaio Marsh

Narrated by: Jane Asher

A spa stay turns into a homicidal holiday.... A bit snobbish and a trifle high strung, Sybil Foster prides herself on owning the finest estate in Upper Quintern and hiring the best gardener.

In fact she is rapturous over the new asparagus beds when a visit from her unwelcome stepson sends her scurrying to a chic spa for a rest cure, a liaison with the spa's director...and an apparent suicide.

Her autopsy holds one surprise, a secret drawer a second. And Inspector Roderick Alleyn, CID, digging about Upper Quintern, may unearth still a third...deeply buried motive for murder.

©1978 Original Text of 1978 by Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio

Critic reviews

"The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers." ( Times Literary Supplement)

"It's time to start comparing Christie to Marsh instead of the other way around." ( New York Magazine)

Overall terrific with minor glitches

I thought Jane Asher fabulous on the women's voices and paced the book well She really acted her voice is a bit high for some of the make voices Unlike another reviewer I can say that Allen is Not pronounced Allen according to the author in one of the books but by mistake many of the readers say Allen very engaging book

Good story

Good plot & sympathetic characters. A good read--absorbing. Did get annoyed with the narrator--the foreign men's accents are not particularly convincing.

Return to greatness

The main plot device has been used by other writers, but this is an interesting twist on it. This is NGs best in a long time. The narrator is generally good, but minus a star for voicing Alleyn too high.

Fantastic Story & Narrator

I loved Jane Asher’s performance as narrator- she did a superb job. The story, in my opinion, was not one of Marsh’s best but Asher brought it to life. Although Allen explained how the murderer was identified, the choice of murderer seemed appeared to be rather randomly selected. Nevertheless, Grave Mistake was a good read with fascinating if not slightly exaggerated characters, a good storyline and enough intrigue to keep you reading and trying to identify the murder before Alleyn reveals him or her.

excellent storyline

nothing negative to say! I listened from one end to the other, accomplishing little else!