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Scales of Justice
by
Ngaio Marsh
detective mystery, forensic mystery, vintage mystery in a Kindle edition that was published by Felony & Mayhem Press on November 15, 2014 and has 266 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, Colour Scheme, Spinsters in Jeopardy, The Death of a Fool, Singing in the Shroud, False Scent, Clutch of Constables, Hand in Glove, When in Rome, Tied Up In Tinsel
Eighteenth in the Inspector Roderick Alleyn vintage mystery series revolving around a Scotland Yard detective. The focus is on the upper classes in Swevenings in the early 1950s. Scales of Justice was originally published in 1955.
My Take
Marsh does pull me in, especially when she mentions picture maps! Pretty and fun! Marsh also makes use of it to describe the inhabitants of the area while her use of third person global subjective point-of-view from the perspectives of a number of the core characters keeps us well informed.
Life is interesting in Swevenings with feuds over fishing rights, accusations of murder against Commander Syce — and those terrifying memoirs. It’s damned sad that saving face is so much more important than the truth. Yes, exposing the truth won’t bring back the dead, but it “should” be a relief to the survivor.
Rose needs to stop sacrificing herself. If her dad can handle all these diplomatic missions, he should be able to handle his own life OR get himself an aide. Lady Lacklander still has that sense of noblesse oblige and appears to run Chyning and Swevenings. Marsh does a nice job of working with Lady Lacklander’s excessiveness. Very realistic, lol. I had to laugh even more when Sir James claims Danberry-Phinn as their village idiot.
Kitty Cartarette, well, while she’s no better than she should be, she does have some sense. She is, however, an outsider and has the nerve to think Syce should have helped her out? I don’t think so. Bitch. Then she’s pissed that a hoped-for lover backs away. What does she expect??
Oooh, some back history on Alleyn. He left the diplomatic service twenty-five years ago to become a cop and he had worked under Sir Harold. Fox is so cute and so earnest about learning French. His conversation about it with Nurse Kettle seems to have sparked something. On his side.
I’d sure like to know why Commander Syce was “axed” from the Navy. Of course, things might be looking up for the commander, with his new interest in Nurse Kettle *eyebrow waggle*. It would be good for EVERYone around if they did get together!
As usual, Marsh is quite mean in letting us know what Alleyn is thinking. She’ll start off with an intro of Alleyn saying he’ll explain, “claiming” the explanation is detailed and exhaustive, and then ending it without telling US anything. Hmph. it is a good ploy and keeps me reading along.
I do appreciate the intelligent prose; it’s a treat to read in spite of that scary comment that the facts should never be confused with the truth. Even more confusing, or should I say unexpected!, is the truth behind the murder . . . whoa!
The Story
There have been harsh words amongst the four families, especially when Colonel Cartarette is put in charge of Sir Harold’s memoirs. It’s the battle over the Old ‘Un that presents the opportunity to eliminate a problem.
And it’s the Old ‘Un and Thomasina Twitchett who then provide the crucial clues.
The Characters
Chief Detective-Inspector Roderick Alleyn is with CID at Scotland Yard. Lady Lacklander knows Roderick’s mother, Helena, who’s always been terrified of Hermione Lacklander. Alleyn is married to a famous painter, Agatha Troy, and they have a son, Ricky.
Scotland Yard
Fox, a.k.a. Brer Fox, is Alleyn’s partner. Detective-Sergeants Bailey‘s and Thompson‘s specialties are fingerprints and photography, respectively. Dr Curtis is the police surgeon. Dr S.K.M. Solomon is the expert and leading authority about trout. Sir William Roskill is a Home Office analyst.
Swevenings
The principal householders are:
Octavius Danberry-Phinn, a.k.a. Occy, a widower who lives in Jacob’s Cottage (Alleyn reckons it might have been the dower house to Nunspardon), is a bit of a nutter with a clowder of cats, including Fatima, Miss Paddy-Paws, and Thomasina Twitchett who recently bore kittens: Ptolemy, Alexis, and Edie Puss. Madame Thorns, Thomasina’s mother, is no more, alas. Ludovic “Viccy” had been Ocatavius’ son and in the Foreign Service as another of Sir Harold’s young men. In fact, Viccy was Sir Harold’s personal secretary.
Commander Godfrey/Geoffrey Syce, a bachelor who lives at Uplands and is retired from the Navy, is drowning his sorrows in alcohol and archery — and has a talent for sketching! A boy from the Boy and Donkey pedals up the commander’s supply.
The country-loving Colonel Maurice Cartarette, who married the ambitious Kitty de Vere, a dancer he met in Singapore, loves to go fishing, and is vulnerable when at loose ends. Hammer Farm is the estate to which he and his family retired. Rose Cartarette is the colonel’s daughter who had been keeping him occupied and out of mischief. Skip is the colonel’s faithful spaniel. Their gardener’s little girl has medical issues.
The “Lucky” Lacklanders live at Nunspardon Manor (Henry VIII presented a nunnery to the Lacklanders) and include George, the heir who is something of an idiot, who loves golfing. Scarily enough, he’s also a Justice of the Peace. George’s mother, Hermione, Lady Lacklander, a.k.a. Gar, does watercolours. Dr Mark Lacklander is George’s son who has to make his own way. And he’s in love with Rose. George’s father (Mark’s grandfather), Sir Harold, is very ill. He’d been the chargé d’affaires in Zlomce and had also been one Alleyn’s “great white chiefs” in the Foreign Service. William is a footman.
Nurse Kettle, a district nurse, has been looking after the people of Swevenings for thirty-five years. As Lady Lacklander notes, Kettle is a gossip, but not a malicious one. Araminta is what Miss Kettle calls her car.
Police-Sergeant Bert Oliphant, based in Chyning, Barfordshire, starts the investigation. Police Constable Gripper is the only other copper in Chyning. Sir James Punston is the chief constable; he had been a chief commissioner of police in India. Lord Tenchard is responsible for reorganizing the British police force.
The wily Old ‘Un is a huge trout that has escaped capture. Brierley and Bentwood are publishers. Timothy Bentwood is attempting to correspond with the colonel. Thompson and Bywaters are a reference to a pair of lovers who were convicted of murdering Thompson’s husband.
The Cover and Title
Ooh, the cover is so pretty in its colors with grass green being the background. The top “half” is a gradation from the darker top and sides getting lighter in the bottom center. The title is a gradation of white to a darker grass green. The middle is bisected with a stretched out banner of pale green with the author’s name in a mix of black and sketched black lines in an art deco font. The bottom of the cover is bordered on the sides by four scalloped lines in white raying out from the bottom center to the sides. Between each scalloped line is the same gradation as the top. An arched banner in a slightly darker pale green proclaims the series information in white. The graphic in the bottom center is a golden Old ‘Un leaping out of the sky blue waters.
The title comes about through the colonel’s book, The Scaly Breed, in which he speaks of the Scales of Justice.
