Roderick Alleyn Books in Order
Roderick Alleyn by Ngaio Marsh contains 35 books, published between 1934 and 2018. The first book is A Man Lay Dead (1934) and the newest is Money in the Morgue (2018). Publication order is the reading order below.
- Books
- 35
- Published
- 1934–2018
- Confirmed
- 35 of 35 titles
- Pages on record
- 5,029 in 19 of 35 books
- Reading time
- 84–126 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,029 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 19 of 35 titles with a page count on record.
Roderick Alleyn is a detective series by Ngaio Marsh, named for the police inspector at its centre. The 35 books are police procedurals: murders, investigations and English settings, with Alleyn working each case. A Man Lay Dead (1934) opens the sequence and Money in the Morgue (2018) closes it, a listed span of 84 years. Read the Alleyn books in publication order, if you want the cases to arrive as Marsh wrote them.
How many Roderick Alleyn books are there?
Roderick Alleyn has 35 books, released between 1934 and 2018.
Roderick Alleyn Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 35 Roderick Alleyn books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1A Man Lay Dead1934 · confirmed 3/41934–3/4
- 2Enter a Murderer1935 · confirmed 3/41935–3/4
- 3The Nursing Home Murder1935 · confirmed 4/41935–4/4
- 4Death in Ecstasy1936 · confirmed 4/41936–4/4
- 5Vintage Murder1937 · confirmed 3/41937–3/4
- 6Artists in Crime1938 · confirmed 4/41938–4/4
- 7Death in a White Tie1938 · confirmed 4/41938–4/4
- 8Overture to Death1939 · confirmed 3/41939–3/4
- 9Death at the Bar1940 · 335 pages · confirmed 3/419403353/4
- 10Death of a Peer / Surfeit of Lampreys1940 · 320 pages · confirmed 3/419403203/4
- 11Death and the Dancing Footman1941 · confirmed 3/41941–3/4
- 12Colour Scheme1943 · confirmed 3/41943–3/4
- 13Died in the Wool1945 · 245 pages · confirmed 3/419452453/4
- 14Final Curtain1947 · 277 pages · confirmed 3/419472773/4
- 15A Wreath for Rivera / Swing, Brother, Swing1949 · 336 pages · confirmed 3/419493363/4
- 16Night at the Vulcan / Opening Night1951 · 256 pages · confirmed 3/419512563/4
- 17Spinsters In Jeopardy / The Bride of Death1953 · 246 pages · confirmed 3/419532463/4
- 18Scales of Justice1955 · 256 pages · confirmed 3/419552563/4
- 19Death of a Fool / Off With His Head1956 · confirmed 3/41956–3/4
- 20Singing in the Shrouds1958 · 240 pages · confirmed 3/419582403/4
- 21False Scent1959 · 224 pages · confirmed 3/419592243/4
- 22Hand in Glove1962 · confirmed 3/41962–3/4
- 23Dead Water1963 · 256 pages · confirmed 3/419632563/4
- 24Killer Dolphin / Death at the Dolphin1966 · 284 pages · confirmed 3/419662843/4
- 25Clutch of Constables1968 · 256 pages · confirmed 4/419682564/4
- 26When in Rome1970 · 242 pages · confirmed 3/419702423/4
- 27Tied Up in Tinsel1971 · 288 pages · confirmed 3/419712883/4
- 28Black As He's Painted1973 · 256 pages · confirmed 3/419732563/4
- 29Last Ditch1976 · confirmed 3/41976–3/4
- 30A Grave Mistake1978 · 256 pages · confirmed 3/419782563/4
- 31Photo Finish1980 · 224 pages · confirmed 3/419802243/4
- 32Light Thickens1982 · 232 pages · confirmed 3/419822323/4
- 33Alleyn and Others / The Collected Short Fiction of Ngaio Marsh1989 · confirmed 3/41989–3/4
- 34Still Unsolved1990 · confirmed 3/41990–3/4
- 35Money in the Morgue2018 · confirmed 4/42018–4/4
Is there a chronological order for Roderick Alleyn?
No separate chronological order is on record for Roderick Alleyn, because none of the book listings this catalogue draws on publishes one; the publication order above is the only order given.
Do you have to read Roderick Alleyn books in order?
You should read the Roderick Alleyn books in publication order, the order of the numbered table above. The catalogue does not record whether each Roderick Alleyn book also stands alone.
Where to start with Roderick Alleyn
Start with A Man Lay Dead (1934), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Roderick Alleyn book?
Money in the Morgue (2018) is the newest Roderick Alleyn book released so far.
Is there a new Roderick Alleyn book coming?
No next Roderick Alleyn book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Roderick Alleyn at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Roderick Alleyn title on record dates from 2018, 8 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Roderick Alleyn books have appeared about one every 3 years on average.
- Length
- 5,029 pages across the 19 of 35 books with a recorded length, a median of 256 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Roderick Alleyn books, 8 of 35, were published in the 1930s.
- Corroboration
- 6 of the 35 titles appear in all four independent book listings, and every one of them in at least three.
What the Roderick Alleyn books are about
34 of the 35 Roderick Alleyn books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: police is tagged on 32 of 34. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.
- Police 32 of 34 books
- Alleyn, roderick (fictitious character) 23 of 34 books
- Fiction in English 19 of 34 books
- Mystery & detective, police procedural 17 of 34 books
- Mystery & detective 12 of 34 books
- Investigation 9 of 34 books
- Murder 9 of 34 books
- England 6 of 34 books
- New Zealand Detective and mystery stories 3 of 34 books
- New Zealand fiction 3 of 34 books
More books by Ngaio Marsh
The author page linked below lists every book in publication order.
- Ngaio Marsh books in order 38 books