Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Dead Water

  • By: Ngaio Marsh
  • Narrated by: James Saxon
  • Length: 7 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (70 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Dead Water

By: Ngaio Marsh
Narrated by: James Saxon
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The elderly Emily Pride is perfectly pleased to have inherited an island, even if her starchy pragmatism is ever so faintly appalled by the Pixie Falls spring and its reported miraculous healing properties.

But really, the locals' attempts to capitalize on the 'miracles' are entirely too tacky - Ye Olde Gift Shoppe, the neon signs…not on Miss Emily’s watch, thank you. Of course, the locals are not exactly thrilled to give up their trade (Pixie Falls may be merely be known for healing warts, it’s true, but you take your shillings where you can find them). Could their frustration have bubbled up into murderous rage?

Inspector Alleyn will have to sort it out. And this time, it’s personal.

©1964 Original Text of 1964 by Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

A Man Lay Dead cover art
The Crime at Black Dudley cover art
Death of an Author cover art
Inspector Alan Grant: The Full Collection cover art
The Theft of the Iron Dogs cover art
The White Priory Murders cover art
Twelve Slays of Christmas cover art
The White Cottage Mystery cover art
The Wintringham Mystery cover art
Whose Body cover art
Footsteps in the Dark cover art
The Mind of Mr J.G. Reeder cover art
Picture Miss Seeton cover art
The Christmas Card Crime cover art
Bodies from the Library cover art

Critic reviews

"The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers." ( Times Literary Supplement)
"A beauty.... Miss Marsh is a fine, sly, comic writer." ( The Sun)
"A brilliant traditional detective story." ( Evening Standard)
"Reading a Ngaio Marsh mystery is like being in the company of a gracious, spirited raconteur." ( Newsweek)

What listeners say about Dead Water

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    49
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    45
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    41
  • 4 Stars
    15
  • 3 Stars
    4
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not my favourite Ngaio Marsh but enjoyable

Mispronunciation of Alleyn’s name is irritating and spoils what is otherwise a good narration. Otherwise another enjoyable story from one of the greatest writers of the golden age

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

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

A magnificence rendering of a twisty tale.

Another favourite Ngaio Marsh tale well performed by James Saxon. His Miss Emily Price is excellent.
This has been one of my favourite detective novels for many years. I love sinking into her worlds and experiencing vicariously the action of the tales. This one with the bewitching Green Lady, spuriously magical spring, the falls, the mounting tension towards the festival, the uncertainty of the murderer's intended victim, all the scattered side issues, expertly gathered up by the author and climaxing into the splendidly dramatic denoument, is a very satisfying read and the audio book is also splendidly satisfying. No disappointment there! Very well done.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

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

Not the best of Marsh.

Beautifully narrated by James Saxon whose presentation l cannot fault in any manner as some reviewers have done. Each character is drawn with vocal precision by an actor with a deeply rich voice. His mispronunciation of the protagonist's surname - as it should be pronounced purely on the basis of its spelling - is a reasonable mistake which doesn't detract if you know that it's author pronounced it Allen not "A-lane". The story itself, written with the usual sumptuous language, is more of a mild thriller than a whodunnit which explains my reduced number of stars. I concluded quite quickly who the killer is. A clue - it's not the butler.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!