Ngaio Marsh. Died in the Wool (1944)

 

      Ngaio Marsh. Died in the Wool (1945) Another spy story, I guess every mystery writer at the time tried their hand at this genre. But this is just another domestic murder with a spy as the perpetrator. Alleyn is called in because of the spy angle, and he works by listening to the family discuss the dead woman, who was by all accounts a bundle of energy and ambition, and not nearly as pleasant as she no doubt fancied herself to be. She sussed out who the spy was, a lethal discovery. Alleyn works out the puzzle from the smattering of facts scattered among the piles of personal reminiscences and assessments. This technique gives Marsh another opportunity to do what she does best, create character. A pleasant entertainment, with no pretense at police procedural (which Marsh never completely describes anyhow, no doubt as bored with mind-numbing detail as her readers would have been.) **½ (2007)