Product Description

Another classic Ngaio Marsh novel reissued in B-format.
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

Review

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

From the Back Cover

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 and a very beautiful woman
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
‘The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers’TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT
‘Reading a Ngaio Marsh myster is like being in the company of a gracious, spirited raconteur.’NEWSWEEK
‘She writes better than Christie!’NEW YORK TIMES
‘The finest writer in the English language of the pure classical puzzle whodunit. Among the crime queens, Ngaio Marsh stands out as an Empress’THE SUN

About the Author

Dame Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand in 1895 and died in February 1982. She wrote over 30 detective novels and many of her stories have theatrical settings, for Ngaio Marshs real passion was the theatre. She was both actress and producer and almost single-handedly revived the New Zealand publics interest in the theatre. It was for this work that the received what she called her damery in 1966.