A man lay dead

Ngaio Marsh's classic first novel, which introduced Inspector Alleyn and set Ngaio Marsh on the path to international recognition. Wealthy Sir Hubert Handesley's original and lively weekend house-parties are deservedly famous.

To amuse his guests, he has devised a new form of the fashionable Murder Game, in which a guest is secretly selected to commit a 'murder' in the dark and everyone assembles to solve the crime. But when the lights go up this time there is a real corpse, with a real dagger in the back.

All seven suspects have had time to concoct skilful alibis -- and it is Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn who has to try and figure out whodunit...