Photo-finish : Light thickens

Commemorating 75 years since the Empress of Crime’s first book, the final volume in a set of omnibus editions presenting the complete run of 32 Inspector Alleyn mysteries. PHOTO-FINISHThe luxury mansion on New Zealand's Lake Waihoe is the ideal place for a world-famous soprano to rest after her triumphant tour.

Among the other guests are Chief Superintendent Alleyn and his wife - but theirs is not a social visit.

When tragedy strikes, and isolated by one of the lake's sudden storms, Alleyn faces one of his trickiest cases… LIGHT THICKENSPeregrine Jay, owner of the Dolphin Theatre, is putting on a magnificent production of Macbeth, the play that, superstition says, always brings bad luck.

But one night the claymore swings and the dummy's head is more than real: murder behind the scene.

Luckily, Chief Superintendent Roderick Alleyn is in the audience… BLACK BEECH AND HONEYDEWWith all the insight and style her readers came to expect of her, Ngaio Marsh's autobiography captures all the joys, fears and hopes of a spirited young woman growing up in Christchurch, and charts her theatre and writing careers both in New Zealand and the UK.

This sanguine, unpretentious and revealing book has been acclaimed for telling her most distinguished mystery - who was Ngaio Marsh?