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scorpionturtle 's review for:
Died in the Wool
by Ngaio Marsh
One my favorite in the series so far. While like most Marsh stories I figure out the murderer in a few pages this one despite being 2/3rd dialogue is much brisker than her previous novels. The murder happens with in a few pages and Alleyn is on the scene shortly after that. In one of her previous books it was 80 pages before the murder even happened. I really like this book because it gave me a very clear picture of what it was like in New Zealand and the world in during WWII including soldiers dealing with wartime injuries. Of course since it was written then there is no handy descriptions of land girls and various German terms which I had to look up. I also liked how human and relatable the characters were. Rather than being tropes or an outsider's view of people like when Marsh writes about the British gentry and nobles, you have a feeling Marsh has actually met these people before. While it was sad not to have Troy or Foxkins there Alleyn is front and center and instead of ending she often uses of the big denouncement with everyone assembled we get what is probably the most action you will find in a Marsh mystery up to this point. As with even her best works the whodid is secondary to the process of uncovering the why and the how and I always like how the Alleyn is always about trying to find evidence and following the laws such as they were at that time.