When in Rome

Author: Marsh, Edith Ngaio (1895-1982) signedYear: 1970Publisher: Collins Crime ClubPlace: LondonDescription:256 pages. Octavo (8" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's red cloth with gilt lettering to spine. Signed by the author. First edition.When in Rome is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the twenty-sixth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn, and was first published in 1970. The novel takes place in Rome, and concerns a number of murders among a group of tourists visiting the city; much of the action takes place in the "Basilica di San Tommaso", which bears some resemblance to the Basilica of San Clemente, which the author visited 'when in Rome' on an Italian holiday in Summer 1968. Marsh made extensive inquiries into forensic details and Italian police procedure, with which she admitted struggling. On receipt of the manuscript in January 1970, her agent Edmund Cork wrote to her that it was her best novel to date, a verdict with which her American agent agreed. The novel was f