Died in the Wool


Died in the Wool is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the thirteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1945. The novel concerns the murder of a New Zealand parliamentarian on a remote sheep farm on the Canterbury Region of the South Island of New Zealand, said to be located in Mackenzie country near Aoraki/Mount Cook. Like the previous novel in the series the story takes place during World War II with Alleyn doing counter-espionage work. The format of the book is somewhat unusual, in that Alleyn does not arrive at the scene of the murder until fifteen months after it has taken place, and much of his detecting is founded upon stories told him by the chief witnesses in the case.

Television Adaptation

Died in the Wool was one of four Alleyn novels adapted for New Zealand television in 1977; Alleyn was played by George Baker in a series called the Ngaio Marsh Theatre.