Died in the Wool

First UK edition
Author	Ngaio Marsh
Language	English
Series	Roderick Alleyn
Genre	Detective fiction
Publisher	Collins Crime Club (UK) Little, Brown (US)
Publication date	1945
Preceded by	Colour Scheme
Followed by	Final Curtain

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.^[1] 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 (which in the novel is referred to as the "Cloud-Piercer", the highest in a series of several peaks surrounding the high plateau where most of the action occurs). Like the previous novel in the series (Colour Scheme) 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.

References