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Colour Scheme
by
Ngaio Marsh
vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Felony & Mayhem Press on December 15, 2012 and has 304 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, Died in the Wool, Swing, Brother, Swing, Night at the Vulcan, 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
Twelfth in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage mystery series. It’s a detective-like tale of espionage at a rickety health spa in New Zealand in January, 1942-ish. The focus is on a beleaguered English family struggling to survive. It was originally published in 1943.
My Take
Talk about a bunch of grumps!! Right along with contempt and some toadying.
We’re introduced to the grumpiest of them, Dr Ackrington, who rips his sister and brother-in-law (and their enterprise) into tiny, itty-bitty pieces. Whew. Unfortunately, he appears to be quite accurate. Nor is he impressed by the Bloomsbury group — a passing reference.
Ackrington’s idea of cheerful? “The sooner we’re all dead, the better.”
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Marsh does well at enforcing Ackrington’s assessment of the colonel with her comments on his poor investments, his reactions to good/bad advice, and the design of the boarding house. Marsh’s choice of words helps to paint an incompetent picture with “not very capably”, “the archly reproachful”, “broken” this, “chipped” that, insipid pool titles, the gradual decline, and more.
Barbara’s character arc is guided by Gaunt, who is determined to bring forth the swan from this awkward duckling. It’s a curious journey with unexpected results. Dikon’s assessment of Barbara’s attraction to Gaunt is fascinating and yet so sad.
Simon is a sad one. His immaturity and lack of confidence have him poking and arguing with everyone.
Geoffrey Gaunt is a rather typical actor with a big ego. All about himself, except that he does donate and/or raise funds for the war effort. I do like Marsh’s description of his genius in emoting an emotional understanding of the character he’s playing. When Gaunt relates how he got his start in acting, I could hear his reading. Made me want to hit up a theatre. It is funny to read his initial assessment of the Claires.
Poor Dikon is caught between a rock and a hard place. At first, he praises the Claires and then he dishes them. And then he goes back again.
Questing is selfish, tasteless, tactless, and a boor. He does know promotion, however tacky, and I suspect he’d be a better operator than the colonel. As long as he stays away from the clientele!
Huia is an odd duck. She dislikes Questing but is willing to put up with him in some circumstances. It’s really unclear. Barbara follows along the same lines, although she leans more toward dislike. I gotta say, I can’t see how anyone can like the man.
Ya gotta love Rua. He’s an intelligent man with great patience. The colonel has a few saving graces. He is a nice man and his experiences in India with the army have armed him with a decent approach to the Maori.
All of this is learned through Marsh’s use of third person global subjective point-of-view from the perspectives of a number of characters. Whew.
There’s plenty of conflict, ranging from our anticipation of Gaunt’s living requirements, Questing’s behavior, Ackrington’s judgments, the interactions between the whites and the Maori, Smith’s crudeness, the communist influence on Simon and his rudeness, and more.
Colour Scheme is a contemporary novel by Marsh, i.e., she wrote it in the 1940s about the 1940s, so you know she’s accurate in writing about the lack of light, the poor roads, the telephone party lines. Reading about the red and white flags gives me a laugh. In our time period, people would be forbidden to even walk out there without guard rails and a thousand warning signs.
There’s action of course, but it’s all tied into the characters and their yammering. It’s all that talk that makes the story seem slow, yet it does bury you in the characters.
The Story
Questing. Pfah. He’s definitely a spy what with his sneaking off at night. He’s intruding on sacred land, and Simon is positive he’s flashing code out over the sea.
A new guest arrives with all the flash of fame and his two servants, bringing some excitement as well as an invitation from the Maori tribe. Then a new arrival appears, one who possesses the cunning of a criminal and the insight of a psychologist.
The Characters
Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn, normally based with Scotland Yard CID, is in New Zealand during World War II hunting down rumors of espionage.
The boarding house is at . . .
. . . Wai-ata-tapu Springs, near Harpoon. The absent-minded Colonel Edward Claire is retired from the army and bought this land, building a boarding house twelve years ago. He is in charge of the local Home Guard. His Victorian-influenced wife, Agnes, prefers to hide behind good manners and is a horrible influence on Barbara. The socially inept Barbara is their daughter, who does the work of two servants. The belligerently colonial Simon is their younger son, quick to take offense at anything and desperate to be accepted into any military branch. Auntie Wynne (and Barbara’s godmother) has a distant influence.
Agnes’ brother, the distinguished and retired Dr James Ackrington, intelligent and impatient, unwilling to suffer fools whose specialty is in muscular and nervous complaints, is writing his “magnum opus”. He agreed to move in with them IF he was a paying guest. He wanted to be free to criticize his heart out. The alcoholic (and immoral) Herbert “Bert” Smith is said to work about the place. Huia, a.k.a. Dorothy Lamour and the Dusky Maiden, is the Maori maid and one of Rua’s great-grandchildren.
The obnoxious Maurice Questing is a pompous guest with a hold over the colonel. Geoffrey Gaunt is a world famous Shakespearean actor suffering from bad legs. He’s taking this opportunity to dictate his autobiography. Dikon Bell is his secretary. Alfred Colly, a signaller in WWI, is Gaunt’s dresser and personal servant. Septimus Falls has lumbago and manages to be taken on as a guest. The colonel really is clueless about how to make a go of his business. Falls sees Ackrington as a god and has a smattering of knowledge on a variety of topics, including Shakespeare.
The Te Rarawas are . . .
. . . the local Maori tribe led by the ancient Rua Te Kahu, a man who had “witnessed the full impact of the white man’s ways” on his people. He’d been an editor of a newspaper and a member of Parliament. His father had been a chief of the Te Rarawa tribe. His grandfather, Rewi, had been a chieftain and a cannibal with a great treasure. Rangi is one of Rua’s grandsons. Eru Saul, a half-caste, is interested in Huia. Maui Matai is reprimanded for his poor speaking. Mrs Te Papa, a princess of the Te Rarawas, is the leading great-grandmother of the hapu and highly respected. Hoani Smith isn’t entitled to his name for some reason.
Harpoon is . . .
. . . the nearest town. Dr Tonks is the physician who visits Wai-ata-tapu. The Harpoon Savage Club is a group of entertainers. Ernie Priest gave the Claires a ride. Sergeant Stan Webley is with the police force.
Auckland
Dr Ian Forster at Harley Chambers is Gaunt’s doctor. Sarah Snappe is a dress shop. Sir Stephen Johnston is a Chief Justice.
The S.S. Hippolyte was sunk this past November. The Hokianga, carrying a cargo of gold bullion, is torpedoed in January. The Arawas are another tribe Rua is not interested in emulating. The pakeha are white men. A rangitira is a chieftain. A tohunga is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. The hapu is the basic political unit within Maori society. Tapu means taboo, forbidden. The Peak is part of the Maori native reserve, and there is no digging allowed. Gustave Grundgen is a Hitler’s tame actor.
The Cover and Title
The cover is the opposite of the title — it’s all gray! Then again, I suppose it does have a color scheme with its gray gradated from darker grays on the top and sides lightening into the bottom center, forming a background for the title that is a gradation from white to pale, pale gray. The stretched-out banner in the center displays the art deco font for the author’s name with its dark gray and its sketchy lines surrounded by a white glow. There is a quartet of one-sided scalloped lines in white raying out on either side from the bottom center to the sides. Between each ray is another gray gradation from dark to lighter. In the center, at the bottom, is a pastel of mauve sky and lighter clouds billowing up from the mint ocean with its sandy beach. A gray plane soars overhead. At the bottom is the arched banner in a light gray with the series info on it in white.
The only reasoning I can come up with for the title is the relations between the Maori and the pakeha, for they are a Colour Scheme.
