content: I'm a big fan of cozy mysteries and I picked this novel up because I thought that it would be similar to Agatha Christie's work. I'm in my mid-40's now, but I can remember my mom reading Ngaio Marsh novels as a kid in the '70's. This is the 1st Marsh novel I've ever read and, based on what others have stated, perhaps it shouldn't have been. The characters are very simple and 2-dimensional. Inspector Alleyn and his wife Troy are like Ozzie & Harriet (Nelson). Their son, Ricky, is like...well Ricky Nelson. The characters are so predictable that there is never any mystery as to what they're up to (drug smuggling). I kept waiting for plot twists and turns that never came. In the end, the murderer revealed himself to the police out of guilt. As a reader I felt gypped that he wasn't found out due to clever sleuthing.