Ngaio Marsh | By Any Other Name

Louis

“It is an easy, liquid name; not soon forgotten.”

(Charlotte Brontë, Shirley, 1849)

***

“It’s as common a French name as can be.”

(Ngaio Marsh, Last Ditch, 1977)

“I must say I thought the ‘Xenoclea’ bit was too good to be true.”

“Is it a made up job, then, that name?”

“Not by her, at least. Xenoclea was a mythical prophetess who wouldn’t do her stuff for Hercules because he hadn’t had a bath.”

(Ngaio Marsh, Black as He’s Painted, 1974)