Product Description

Often regarded as her most interesting book and set on New Zealand's North Island, Ngaio Marsh herself considered this to be her best-written novel. It was a horrible death -- Maurice Questing was lured into a pool of boiling mud and left there to die. Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, far from home on a wartime quest for German agents, knew that any number of people could have killed him: the English exiles he'd hated, the New Zealanders he'd despised or the Maoris he'd insulted. Even the spies he'd thwarted -- if he wasn't a spy himself...

Product Details

• Published on: 1982-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback

From AudioFile
Nadia May's masterful reading is at first tainted by poor sound-editing; tape hiss, page-turns, and heavy breathing make it difficult to suspend disbelief. But the exotic setting, the brilliant writing, and May's lovely performance quickly make it easy for the listener to overlook these technical flaws. Set at Wai-ata-tapu, a remote New Zealand health resort known for its therapeutic sulfur baths, the story involves deception and murder. Is there a Nazi spy at work? Will the unpleasant Maurice Questing take over the Claire family resort? Will misunderstandings abate between the Maori natives and the English colonists? Will awkward Barbara Claire find true love? And where is Inspector Alleyn? Nadia May (Wanda McCadden) delivers the goods in this WWII-era Golden Age mystery. S.E.S. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Ingram
England at war means "spy fever" for a quarrelsome collection of patriots at a shabby New Zealand resort, resulting in a macabre murder that shocks even Scotland Yard. Reissue.

About the Author
Dame Ngaio Marsh was born in New Zealand in 1895 and died in February 1982. She wrote over 30 detective novels and many of her stories have theatrical settings, for Ngaio Marsh's real passion was the theatre. She was both actress and producer and almost single-handedly revived the New Zealand public's interest in the theatre. It was for this work that she received what she called her 'damery' in 1966.

Customer Reviews

World War II Spy Mystery
A rundown hotel and spa in the wilds of New Zealand plays host to an egotistical actor, his sharp-witted secretary, an acidic doctor, an obnoxious boarder--and, somewhere in the mix, a killer. Marsh writes evocatively about the New Zealand she knew and loved so well, and the plot finds Inspector Allen in pursuit of both a murder and spies in this WWII-era novel. COLOUR SCHEME is not among my favorite Marsh novels, but it is typically well-written and all readers should enjoy it.

Technically flawless and a "must" for all Nagio Marsh fans
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.