Murder in suburbia unfolds at family home of Ngaio Marsh

Step carefully into the home of multiple murder plots to soak up the “blood-stained” scene setting of one of the queens of crime fiction, Dame Ngaio Marsh.

Each year, fans from near and far are lured to a quiet corner of Cashmere, thrilled at the opportunity to peer into the private world of one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed writers.

Born in Christchurch in 1895, Marsh lived in the Valley Road home for 76 years, from age 10. She died in 1982, aged 86.

Today, the interior of the Samuel Hurst Seager-designed weatherboard house sits largely untouched, providing few clues to the drama writ large within the walls.

However, an aura of mystery remains among the family treasures and antiques, ready for their owner to return and again pick up her distinctive green ink pen.

The writer’s home now has a new “cover” and a fresh tree-lined setting, heralding an updated chapter in the house’s history.

Supported by a nearly $40,000 Christchurch City Council heritage grant, Ngaio Marsh House has recently undergone a three-month maintenance programme.

A new roof and an array of trees now complement the home.

Ngaio Marsh House trustee Margaret Sweet hopes the changes will attract more fans who will share the crime writer’s life story.

“We have taken off the two old roofs, placed a new roof and installed insulation, a heating system and a new security alarm system,” she says.

“We hope the house will be much warmer, resulting in better conditions for the collection in the house, and also encouraging more winter visits.”

Crime writer Ngaio Marsh's home in Cashmere.

An old line of macrocarpas and radiata pine trees on the western side of the Category 1 Historic Place has been replaced.

“These trees were planted by Ngaio Marsh’s father when the house was built, but had become old and rotten,” Ms Sweet says.

She says there has been a “run of British and American visitors” so far this year.

“It is a curious fact that Dame Ngaio’s reputation has survived more strongly in the United States and the United Kingdom than in New Zealand,” Ms Sweet says.

Meanwhile, the Friends of Ngaio Marsh House will celebrate the publication of a “new” novel by the famed writer – along with the improvements to the house – on Sunday, 27 May.

Publisher Harper Collins commissioned New Zealand-raised crime writer Stella Duffy to complete an unfinished Marsh book, Money in the Morgue.

People can gather at the house from 2pm and from 4pm in the Cashmere Presbyterian Church on the corner of MacMillan Avenue and Dyers Pass Road.