To celebrate the legacy of Ngaio Marsh as New Zealand’s foremost crime writer, the Friends of Ngaio Marsh House are having an inaugural short story competition. Open to all New Zealand residents.

To participate in this competition, you must write a piece of ‘flash fiction’ that starts with the

opening words from the Ngaio Marsh novel ‘Death in Ecstasy’

“On a pouring wet Sunday night in December of last year a special meeting was held at the House of the Sacred Flame in Knocklatchers Row.”

The story must start with the opening sentence and be less than 500 words.  The Ngaio Marsh sentence of 26 words is not part of the word count.

The competition opens on the 1st of December and closes on the 31st of January at 11.59pm. The competition winner will be announced on Ngaio Marsh’s birthday of 23rd April 2022. The winner will receive $500 in prize money, two highly commended writers will also be listed.

Entry fee is $10.

Enter here to submit your work.