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Died in the Wool
by
Ngaio Marsh
detective mystery, police procedural, vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Felony & Mayhem Press on December 15, 2012 and has 251 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Dead Water, Killer Dolphin, A Man Lay Dead, Enter a Murderer, The Nursing Home Murder, Death in Ecstasy, Vintage Murder, Artists in Crime, Death in a White Tie, Overture to Death, Death at the Bar, Surfeit of Lampreys, Death and the Dancing Footman, Swing, Brother, Swing, Night at the Vulcan, Colour Scheme, Spinsters in Jeopardy, Scales of Justice, The Death of a Fool, Singing in the Shroud, False Scent, Clutch of Constables, Hand in Glove, When in Rome, Tied Up In Tinsel
Thirteenth in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage police procedural mystery series and revolving around a British Scotland Yard detective. This story is set in 1943 in New Zealand. Died in the Wool was first published in 1945.
My Take
It’s a bit of a locked-room mystery as we learn why none of the residents at Mount Moon missed Flossie.
Fabian is the man who requested Alleyn’s help, and he institutes a tell-all meeting amongst everyone at Mount Moon to give Alleyn a well-rounded view of who Flossie Rubrick was. It was quite the varied picture with Ursula seeing Flossie as superwoman, Terence believing Flossie was the reason Arthur was dying, and Fabian was the least impressed.
Eventually, that picture of Flossie evolves into a woman who was clever but stupid with a need to be important and to control everything and everyone. Her actions with Cliff were particularly telling. We also get a read of Arthur’s true feelings, and it is so sad.
“Partly based on the honest gratitude I’d have felt for her if she hadn’t demanded gratitude.”
Far from Fabian’s statement that no one had a motive, it becomes obvious that there are multiple motives.
There’s a fun bit of back history about the Rubrick Somersetshire ancestral home. And I think Alleyn briefly met Flossie in London?
Social class pops in, as does that one remark from Alleyn about “like a black”. As for the talk about using candles and how precious electricity is, yep, it all took me back to that time period, a contemporary story from the 1940s. It puts life in perspective.
It’s a slow pace as Alleyn interviews everyone and recreates events while Marsh uses third person protagonist point-of-view from Alleyn’s perspective, as he considers their stories.
At the end, Alleyn’s summing up made so much sense, and I hadn’t a clue.
The Story
It’s been over a year since Flossie Rubrick’s body was found, and Inspector Alleyn’s presence has been requested, as the turmoil of Flossie’s murder is interfering with work on the station.
But that’s not the draw for Alleyn. He’s more interested in rumors of espionage.
The Characters
Agatha Troy, a famous artist, is married to Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn. Troy is doing camouflage and pictorial surveys to help in the war. Alleyn is seconded for counterespionage duties.
Mount Moon is . . .
. . . a sheep station in New Zealand. Mrs Florence “Flossie” Rubrick, a Member of Parliament (MP) and president of a local rehabilitation committee, is an opinionated, strong woman (who had been a VAD in WWI). She’s married to Arthur Rubrick, who is overwhelmed with his wife. He’s also suffering from endocarditis. Fabian Losse, Flossie’s nephew by marriage, is suffering from PTSD. He’s providing the theoretical side of the invention. Captain Douglas Grace, Flossie’s nephew, was pursuing an engineering degree in 1939 at Heidelberg University. Injured in the war, he now supplies the physical side with Losse’s invention. Terence Lynne had been Flossie’s secretary and now works there as a female gardener, a kind of land girl. Then thirteen-year-old Ursula Harme, Flossie’s goddaughter, became Flossie’s ward.
Tommy Johns is the station manager — and an ardent trades unionist, working manager, and communist. The mercurial Cliff is Tommy’s son who had been sponsored by Flossie, as he was so brilliant on the piano. Ben Wilson is the sorter and boss of the shed. Albert “Albie” Black, a drunk, is the rouseabout. Wilson is the wool-sorter. Jack Merrywether is the presser. Percy “Perce” Gold, a.k.a. Cookie, is the shearers’ cook who comes at shearing time. Mrs “The Acepot” Aceworthy, an elderly cousin of Arthur’s, is the current housekeeper. Mrs Duck is the cook, who has been there for fifteen years. Markins is a treasured manservant. The dogs include Jock.
Jimmy Wyke and his brothers performed as a band. Hokanui is the local equivalent of potheen. Aorangi is a nearby mountain, referred to as the cloud piercer.
Katti Bostock, an artist, is Troy’s best friend. Alleyn is missing Inspector Fox, Br’er Fox.
1942, New Zealand
Sammy Joseph is the buyer for Riven Brothers Textile Manufactory. Alfred “Alf” Clark is the storeman. Sydney Barnes had been the lorry driver. James MacBride is the government wool-assessor.
Sub-Inspector Jackson had been in charge of Flossie’s initial disappearance and murder. PC Weterbridge is part of Jackson’s team.
1939, New Zealand
The wool buyers are from Van Huys, Riven Brothers, Dubois, Yen, Steiner, James Ogden, Hartz, Jimmy Omerod from Ormerod, Rhodes, Kurata Kan of Markino’s, and James Barnett.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a grayish purple with its upper center a three-sided gradation leading to the white title in the middle just above the pale grayish purple banner stretching from left to right forming a background for the author’s name in dark purples to white in its art deco font. In the lower half of the cover, one-sided scalloped white lines ray out from the bottom to the sides with a linear gradation inside each one of dark purple to lighter. There’s a pale purple arch at the bottom as a background for the even paler purple series info. The graphic, in the center of the bottom half, is a partly sheared gray sheep.
The title is her fate, for she Died in the Wool.
