Ngaio Marsh. Colour Scheme (1943) A war book, in many ways a propaganda book. Spying happens at a badly run resort in southern New Zealand. Then there’s a murder. Alleyn, who’s spending a good part of the war assisting the New Zealanders on security matters, presents himself as a guest, solves the puzzle, and quietly melts into the background. The book focusses on the hapless British middle-class expats, the Maoris (somewhat sentimentalised to modern sensibilities, but not at all so conceived or perceived in 1943), the temperaments of actors, the clash of sensibilities, the effects of shyness, and so on. Social comedy, in other words, and well done. The murder and its solution are almost perfunctory, and for the most part are used to further illuminate character, and so comment on the society they form. Thoroughly enjoyable. **½ (2007)
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