Singing in the ShroudsWith this novel of mounting tension among apparently normal people, Ngaio Marsh achieved a triumph on a level with her most famous detective novels Surfeit of Lampreys, Scales of Justice and Off With His Head. On a cold February night the police find the third corpse on the quayside in the Pool of London, her body covered with flower petals and pearls. The killer walked away, singing. When the cargo ship, Cape Farewell, sets sail, she carries nine

a worn leather attach case lies by his side

Benedict and her mother get on brilliantly

'Atkinson is a novelist of unrivalled immediacy

From an unconventional upbringing in Baltimore

and a growing sense that the strangers she is with may be holding back secrets

whose dealings have been known to bring nations to their knees

her heart is drawing her in a very different direction

Five deadly motives

'An elaborate

barely noticeable from day to day - the loss of our planet's wild places

And one of them took her

one that threatens to reach beyond Aurobon and into his own world