 First edition | |
| Author | Ngaio Marsh |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Roderick Alleyn |
| Genre | Detective fiction |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
Publication date | 1957 |
| Media type | |
| Preceded by | Scales of Justice |
| Followed by | Singing in the Shrouds |
Off with His Head is a detective novel by Ngaio Marsh; it is the nineteenth novel to feature Roderick Alleyn. It was first published in the USA by Little, Brown of Boston in 1956, under the title Death of a Fool, and in the UK by Collins in 1957.
Set in the freezing, snowbound winter in a small English village Mardian, the plot concerns the annual performance in the courtyard of the local crumbling castle of an historic folkloric ritual, "The Dance of the Five Sons", containing elements of Morris dancing, sword dance and Mummers play. The fictional village is based on the village of Birling, Kent, where Marsh had stayed in 1954-1955 with her old friends, the Rhodes family.