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smessmores's review
3.0
This was a fun story, another set in New Zealand but fortunately without the take on some of the...ah...native elements that Colour Scheme had. I cottoned on to some of the clues and enjoyed watching it pan out.
joreads7's review against another edition
3.0
The fact that the killer hid the body in the bale of wool really bought him about a week before it was discovered, and it was still only the same group of suspects who were considered as if they had just left it in the shed unbaled, so it seemed incredibly unnecessary. This is not one of Ngaio Marsh's best books, Inspector Alleyn is a complete cypher, and if you haven't read her other works with him you will literally only know that he is married to an artist and smokes, end of list. The pacing seemed off, with each character just reciting their story for the first 2/3. Also surprise Nazis!
kpeninger's review against another edition
3.0
I miss Inspector Fox...
I think this, and the previous book, are perfectly decent wartime mysteries that combine spy drama with a nice, old-fashioned mystery. But Alleyn as a character works best when there is someone for him to confide in, to work with, that he trusts completely, and so the absence of Fox or Troy is felt here.
I think this, and the previous book, are perfectly decent wartime mysteries that combine spy drama with a nice, old-fashioned mystery. But Alleyn as a character works best when there is someone for him to confide in, to work with, that he trusts completely, and so the absence of Fox or Troy is felt here.
howjessicareads's review against another edition
2.0
Eh, my brain kept wandering while listening to this on audio, and I had to keep rewinding. Not bad, but not great. I think three Marsh books are enough for now.
smcleish's review against another edition
4.0
Originally published on my blog here in July 1998.
A second wartime Alleyn mystery set in New Zealand (following on from [b:Colour Scheme|280989|Colour Scheme|Ngaio Marsh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173384453s/280989.jpg|2186272]). The idea that Alleyn was in New Zealand as a counter-intelligence officer rather than a homicide department police officer means that some reason needs to be given for him to investigate a murder. In this case, the security implication is a possible link with an engineering design project under way at a remote sheep-station.
Florence Rubrick was an MP and the wife of the owner of the station. She went missing in the middle of the shearing season, and was later found in the middle of a compressed bale of wool sent down to the buyers. This gruesome method of disposing of the body is completely incorrectly shown in the picture on the front of this edition, which shows a clearly recognizable body lying among some loose wool; as described in the book, the body had been put through an extremely powerful press. I suppose the publishers couldn't show that, but I find the cover pictures of other Ngaio Marsh novels in the same edition not very good; they're basically photographs of (models made up to look like) the body and are often inaccurate or emphasise details carefully hidden in the narrative so that important parts of the solution to the mystery are given away.
The investigation is conducted in a rather unusual way; each of the members of the family in turn talks about their idea of what Florence Rubrick was like. Alleyn also has the notes on the inconclusive police investigation that was ended before a possible espionage connection was suggested. However, he is handicapped by the death of Florence's husband since this original investigation.
All in all, this is another excellent member of the series.
A second wartime Alleyn mystery set in New Zealand (following on from [b:Colour Scheme|280989|Colour Scheme|Ngaio Marsh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173384453s/280989.jpg|2186272]). The idea that Alleyn was in New Zealand as a counter-intelligence officer rather than a homicide department police officer means that some reason needs to be given for him to investigate a murder. In this case, the security implication is a possible link with an engineering design project under way at a remote sheep-station.
Florence Rubrick was an MP and the wife of the owner of the station. She went missing in the middle of the shearing season, and was later found in the middle of a compressed bale of wool sent down to the buyers. This gruesome method of disposing of the body is completely incorrectly shown in the picture on the front of this edition, which shows a clearly recognizable body lying among some loose wool; as described in the book, the body had been put through an extremely powerful press. I suppose the publishers couldn't show that, but I find the cover pictures of other Ngaio Marsh novels in the same edition not very good; they're basically photographs of (models made up to look like) the body and are often inaccurate or emphasise details carefully hidden in the narrative so that important parts of the solution to the mystery are given away.
The investigation is conducted in a rather unusual way; each of the members of the family in turn talks about their idea of what Florence Rubrick was like. Alleyn also has the notes on the inconclusive police investigation that was ended before a possible espionage connection was suggested. However, he is handicapped by the death of Florence's husband since this original investigation.
All in all, this is another excellent member of the series.
serendipitysbooks's review against another edition
3.0
A crime mystery set on a New Zealand sheep station during World War II. A year ago female parliamentarian Flossie Rubrick’s body turned up in a wool bale. Local investigators have made little progress. Then Roderick Alleyn, currently working in the counter-espionage field, is called in. I enjoyed seeing his thought process and how his careful questioning unfolded. Although this was set in my part of the world it didn’t feel local to me. Apart from a couple of slang words I didn’t recognise much at all. New Zealand at the time functioned very much as a colonial outpost and many people still considered England “Home” and this is reflected in the story.
kpeninger's review against another edition
3.0
I miss Inspector Fox...
I think this, and the previous book, are perfectly decent wartime mysteries that combine spy drama with a nice, old-fashioned mystery. But Alleyn as a character works best when there is someone for him to confide in, to work with, that he trusts completely, and so the absence of Fox or Troy is felt here.
I think this, and the previous book, are perfectly decent wartime mysteries that combine spy drama with a nice, old-fashioned mystery. But Alleyn as a character works best when there is someone for him to confide in, to work with, that he trusts completely, and so the absence of Fox or Troy is felt here.
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