Colour Scheme

I've come back to this gem at least four times -- though another reviewer says explicitly that he would not be back. My reasons for returning? First, the land. New Zealand is a character here, and it's delineated by Marsh with the kinds of detail that made travelogues interesting, back before television showed us everywhere all at once. The light, the flora, the geology... it's all like a Turner watercolor, fascinating light plays and landscapes, where the weather and warmth is pervasive. Second, there is the humor. There are fascinating caricatures of the British 'high-toned' expatriate family in straightened means, the self-centered movie star of the 1940s, the Callow Youth (all provincial slang, worn like a flashy shirt), the Crass Businessman. Seeing much of the interplay through Dikon's down-to-earth eyes -- acting as the chorus of the play, observing and summarizing -- makes it even funnier. The land between the Maoris and the Claires is one that you'll remember. It's as sinister as Conan Doyle's moor in Hound of the Baskervilles and equally bathed in wrenching sights and sounds. And everything moves in and out of surrealism: a real train bears down on a fantastic landscape, Gaunt's posturing suddenly gives way to a moment of genuine generosity (or is it?), walkers fearfully pick their way along paths through dangerous hot springs... It's fun to see Barbara emerge as enticing despite her continuous mugging and 'attitudes'... doubtless derived from the kinds of movies that Gaunt makes... A final thought: while Colour Scheme is among Marsh's best, it probably is not the best choice for a first sampling of Roderick Alleyn at work. Light Thickens would be my candidate for that -- among the last of Marsh's mysteries, it beautifully melds human motivations and actions with the theater (and within that, one of theater's most theatric of plays, Macbeth). But, as a kind of side-note into Alleyn's life, and a commentary on World War II in the South Pacific, and a grouping of often hilarious caricatures, Colour Scheme is a worthy read.

Knowing that Ngaio Marsh lived in New Zealand, it made sense that she would situate one of her mysteries in her beloved adopted country. In this book Inspector Alleyn is in New Zealand during World War II to do a bit of "spy busting". As in all her books, this one has a flawlessly written plot with a very tight story line. In the keeping of a "spy story", Ms. Marsh's Alleyn does not appear as himself. He appears in the story in a very clever disguise, and the reader will have the fun of figuring out who he is. It took me a little while. What Alleyn has come to the spa to investigate is the death of one of the people who had an interest in the spa. We meet some very unique characters in this book. The Colonel's family is quite wonderful actually.Ms. Marsh can tell a tale!

Nagio Marsh's Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn is one of the most popular detectives of the mystery genre. Colour Scheme found him far from home on a wartime quest for German agents and called upon to investigate the death of Maurice Questing, who was lured to his doom in a pool of boiling mud. This technically flawless, unabridged, seven cassette audiobook production is superbly narrated by Nadia May and a "must" for all Nagio Marsh fans.