Death in Ecstasy

Death in Ecstasy
Ngaio Marsh

Another classic Ngaio Marsh novel.Who slipped cyanide into the ceremonial wine of ecstasy at the House of the Sacred Flame? The other initiates and the High Priest claim to be above earthly passions. But Roderick Alleyn discovers that the victim had provoked lust and jealousy, and he suspects that more evil still lurks behind the Sign of the Sacred Flame…

Dedication (#ua30344b7-641f-5204-9489-bea9250cb6ca)

For the family in Kent

Contents

Dedication (#u7c6da817-5807-54d6-ab7b-5c9e08cd7dbf)

The Characters in the Case (#u79d35db5-0ff0-513e-8ce1-58b3183376b6)

Foreword (#u88f87797-4c3d-52ec-a827-03efbcb42105)

PART ONE (#ucb77de49-e85b-521c-bcea-8ef85f1d91c0)

1 Entrance to a Cul-de-sac (#u62089432-2f77-54e7-a468-a5426c3d12fb)

2 The House of the Sacred Flame (#u21d1dcf9-15b2-59d6-b745-18abd04ff20f)

3 Death of an Ecstatic Spinster (#uf39c5136-7804-5984-866c-abb40cd0b2f2)

4 The Yard (#u68a9860d-0a82-51fc-9666-7e4274e80980)

5 A Priest and Two Acolytes (#ue1fedb3e-b021-543f-ae20-5a85547eacdc)

6 Mrs Candour and Mr Ogden (#uac60d73a-bdab-58c2-98ca-26b555156230)

7 Janey and Maurice (#litres_trial_promo)

8 The Temperament of M. de Ravigne (#litres_trial_promo)

9 Miss Wade (#litres_trial_promo)

10 A Piece of Paper and a Bottle (#litres_trial_promo)

11 Contents of a Desk, a Safe, and a Bookcase (#litres_trial_promo)

12 Alleyn Takes Stock (#litres_trial_promo)

PART TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

13 Nannie (#litres_trial_promo)

14 Nigel Takes Stock (#litres_trial_promo)

15 Father Garnette Explores the Contents of a Mare’s Nest (#litres_trial_promo)

16 Mr Ogden Puts his Trust in Policemen (#litres_trial_promo)

17 Mr Ogden Grows Less Trustful (#litres_trial_promo)

18 Contribution from Miss Wade (#litres_trial_promo)

19 Alleyn Looks for a Flat (#litres_trial_promo)

20 Fools Step In (#litres_trial_promo)

21 Janey Breaks a Promise (#litres_trial_promo)

22 Sidelight on Mrs Candour (#litres_trial_promo)

23 Mr Ogden at Home (#litres_trial_promo)

24 Maurice Speaks (#litres_trial_promo)

25 Alleyn Snuffs the Flame (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

The Characters in the Case (#ulink_bb9fbfad-2c9f-5d52-8521-1046e53fa7e1)

Foreword (#ulink_86a59118-02b6-5674-a051-bec07ef6d8da)

In case the House of the Sacred Flame might be thought to bear a superficial resemblance to any existing church or institution, I hasten to say that if any similarity exists it is purely fortuitous. The House of the Sacred Flame, its officials, and its congregation are all imaginative and exist only in Knocklatchers Row. None, as far as I am aware, has any prototype in any part of the world.

My grateful thanks are due to Robin Page for his advice in the matter of sodium cyanide; to Guy Cotterill for the plan of the House of the Sacred Flame, and to Robin Adamson for his fiendish ingenuity in the matter of home-brewed poisons.

NGAIO MARSH

Christchurch, New Zealand

Part One (#ulink_ff891c05-1abe-52cd-8748-a88573f4e581)

CHAPTER 1 Entrance to a Cul-de-sac (#ulink_825cf5c5-7852-5bb1-aae4-861c826e42a5)

On a pouring wet Sunday night in December of last year a special meeting was held at the House of the Sacred Flame in Knocklatchers Row.

There are many strange places of worship in London, and many remarkable sects. The blank face of a Cockney Sunday masks a kind of activity, intermittent but intense. All sorts of queer little religions squeak, like mice in the wainscoting, behind its tedious façade.

Perhaps these devotional side-shows satisfy in some measure the need for colour, self-expression and excitement in the otherwise drab lives of their devotees. They may supply a mild substitute for the orgies of a more robust age. No other explanation quite accounts for the extraordinary assortment of persons that may be found in their congregations.

Why, for instance, should old Miss Wade beat her way down the King’s Road against a vicious lash of rain and in the teeth of a gale that set the shop signs creaking and threatened to drive her umbrella back into her face? She would have been better off in her bed-sitting-room with a gas-fire and her library book.

Why had Mr Samuel J. Ogden dressed himself in uncomfortable clothes and left his apartment in York Square for the smelly discomfort of a taxi and the prospect of two hours without a cigar?