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Roderick Alleyn #13
Died in the Wool
Ngaio Marsh returns to her New Zealand roots to transplant the classic country house murder mystery to an upland sheep station on South Island -- and produces one of her most exotic and intriguing novels. One summer evening in 1942 Flossie Rubrick, MP, one of the most formidable women in New Zealand, goes to her husband's wool shed to rehearse a patriotic speech -- and disappears. Three weeks later she turns up at an auction -- packed inside one of her own bales of wool and very, very dead!
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
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1,080 people want to read
About the author
Ngaio Marsh
192books781followersDame Ngaio Marsh, born Edith Ngaio Marsh, was a New Zealand crime writer and theatre director. There is some uncertainty over her birth date as her father neglected to register her birth until 1900, but she was born in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.
Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.
Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.
All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.
Series:
*
Of all the "Great Ladies" of the English mystery's golden age, including Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh alone survived to publish in the 1980s. Over a fifty-year span, from 1932 to 1982, Marsh wrote thirty-two classic English detective novels, which gained international acclaim. She did not always see herself as a writer, but first planned a career as a painter.
Marsh's first novel, A MAN LAY DEAD (1934), which she wrote in London in 1931-32, introduced the detective Inspector Roderick Alleyn: a combination of Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey and a realistically depicted police official at work. Throughout the 1930s Marsh painted occasionally, wrote plays for local repertory societies in New Zealand, and published detective novels. In 1937 Marsh went to England for a period. Before going back to her home country, she spent six months travelling about Europe.
All her novels feature British CID detective Roderick Alleyn. Several novels feature Marsh's other loves, the theatre and painting. A number are set around theatrical productions (Enter a Murderer, Vintage Murder, Overture to Death, Opening Night, Death at the Dolphin, and Light Thickens), and two others are about actors off stage (Final Curtain and False Scent). Her short story "'I Can Find My Way Out" is also set around a theatrical production and is the earlier "Jupiter case" referred to in Opening Night. Alleyn marries a painter, Agatha Troy, whom he meets during an investigation (Artists in Crime), and who features in several later novels.
Series:
*
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 266 reviews
January 12, 2019
A little disappointing
This was a reread for me, but from a long time ago.
The main thing that surprised me was how little this murder mystery evoked New Zealand for me, in spite of the setting on a South Island sheep farm. This was because the majority of the main characters were either British or had strong British links, so this felt like any other early Marsh with people fond of melodramatic utterances. The exceptions were the murder victim herself, who really seemed so much like a female NZ MP. A remarkable characterisation, especially NZ only got their first female MP in 1933 & this title was first published in 1945. & the other was a minor character, the laconic Jack Merrywether. The Kiwi touches in the last third really improved though.
I guessed the murderer quite easily & also the one red herring.
The Reading the Detectives Group is reading Marsh in the order they were written. I'll rejoin them for at the end of the year.
A little Marsh goes a long way with me.
This was a reread for me, but from a long time ago.
The main thing that surprised me was how little this murder mystery evoked New Zealand for me, in spite of the setting on a South Island sheep farm. This was because the majority of the main characters were either British or had strong British links, so this felt like any other early Marsh with people fond of melodramatic utterances. The exceptions were the murder victim herself, who really seemed so much like a female NZ MP. A remarkable characterisation, especially NZ only got their first female MP in 1933 & this title was first published in 1945. & the other was a minor character, the laconic Jack Merrywether. The Kiwi touches in the last third really improved though.
I guessed the murderer quite easily & also the one red herring.
The Reading the Detectives Group is reading Marsh in the order they were written. I'll rejoin them for at the end of the year.
A little Marsh goes a long way with me.
December 19, 2018
Like the previous Roderick Alleyn mystery, “Colour Scheme,� this novel is set in her native New Zealand. Published in 1945, this is also set during wartime, with Alleyn doing extremely secret, counter espionage work in the country. It is never really explained why he should be called to do war work so far from home, but still, this is an interesting mix of crime and spy story.
Unusually, the crime in this novel � the murder of Flossie Rubrick � took place in 1942, while Alleyn does not visit her remote sheep farm until 1943. Living at Mount Moon are various members of staff and servants, plus four young people; a young man, Fabian, carrying out secret work, Captain Douglas Grace, Mrs Rubrick’s nephew, plus two young women; her secretary and her ward.
In a way, the murder is something of a side issue, as it is obvious that Alleyn’s purpose is to discover who may be involved in spying on the top secret invention that Fabian Losse is working on. However, it is murder that makes up most of the story. It is clear that just about everybody at Mount Moon has a reason to want Flossie dead and much of the book involves Alleyn interviewing members of the household. As such this is little more than endless interviews, as Alleyn tries to uncover the truth. Like Alleyn himself, I rather missed Fox and Bathgate, and hope the next in the series sees us back on more familiar ground.
Unusually, the crime in this novel � the murder of Flossie Rubrick � took place in 1942, while Alleyn does not visit her remote sheep farm until 1943. Living at Mount Moon are various members of staff and servants, plus four young people; a young man, Fabian, carrying out secret work, Captain Douglas Grace, Mrs Rubrick’s nephew, plus two young women; her secretary and her ward.
In a way, the murder is something of a side issue, as it is obvious that Alleyn’s purpose is to discover who may be involved in spying on the top secret invention that Fabian Losse is working on. However, it is murder that makes up most of the story. It is clear that just about everybody at Mount Moon has a reason to want Flossie dead and much of the book involves Alleyn interviewing members of the household. As such this is little more than endless interviews, as Alleyn tries to uncover the truth. Like Alleyn himself, I rather missed Fox and Bathgate, and hope the next in the series sees us back on more familiar ground.
May 18, 2021
This Alleyn mystery is set in a New Zealand isolated sheep farm where Mrs Rubrick a woman not well liked and a busy body is murdered. She is put in a wool bale and found a few weeks later.
Lots of suspects her nephew Grace who inherits her money, her husband, Ursula her ward or Cliff a boy she lavished with education and ideas above his class and to the chagrin of his communist father. There is also Terrence the secretary who may have a motive. Of is it Markin the valet who worked for a Japanese spy.
The farfetched development of a weapon on an isolated sheep farm is best to ignore. Alleyn arrives to investigate espionage and the murder. Lots of red herrings but the solution if you step back and think about it with the statements of each suspect is solvable.
Lots of suspects her nephew Grace who inherits her money, her husband, Ursula her ward or Cliff a boy she lavished with education and ideas above his class and to the chagrin of his communist father. There is also Terrence the secretary who may have a motive. Of is it Markin the valet who worked for a Japanese spy.
The farfetched development of a weapon on an isolated sheep farm is best to ignore. Alleyn arrives to investigate espionage and the murder. Lots of red herrings but the solution if you step back and think about it with the statements of each suspect is solvable.
November 13, 2024
3.5 Stars. I bumped it up to 4 because of the setting in New Zealand. I did not know this when I picked it off my book shelf, a nice surprise, as I will be visiting both North & South Islands over the Christmas holidays! The plot and murder were quite unique, being on a sheep farm at shearing time. I thought I had it all figured out but was wrong. I believe this was my first Ngaio Marsh/Inspector Alleyn book, but liked it enough to read more, especially as I noticed there is another in the series set in NZ.
April 30, 2020
I do believe Ngaio Marsh is fast becoming my favorite mystery novelist.
We get a great set up. An obnoxious, annoying woman disappears. Three weeks later her body is found inside a bale of wool from her farm. Because this is 1942, someone at the farm thinks it might be related to espionage.
Enter Inspector Alleyn. The novel is structured in a way that goes back and forth between the present and each person's viewpoint of the murdered woman as well as what they were doing the day she disappeared.
Several chapters are entirely devoted to one person's narration. I think this must be extremely hard to do because you're having to incorporate several different narratives and give them each a unique voice.
The picture we get of the woman is that no one liked her, she had an emotional hold on all of them, but was it enough to murder her? Surely there was an escape. Go live or work somewhere else.
Why was she murdered? This Inspector Alleyn finds out by slowly putting each testimony together, plus some unexpected conclusions from the testimonies that at least some of the witnesses were not anticipating.
I read this book with increasing excitement and the last couple of pages I had to put my hand against the pages so I wouldn't scan ahead.
The ending was as satisfying as the entire book. I'm so glad I found Marsh's entire collection of novels, minus three, on eBay.
We get a great set up. An obnoxious, annoying woman disappears. Three weeks later her body is found inside a bale of wool from her farm. Because this is 1942, someone at the farm thinks it might be related to espionage.
Enter Inspector Alleyn. The novel is structured in a way that goes back and forth between the present and each person's viewpoint of the murdered woman as well as what they were doing the day she disappeared.
Several chapters are entirely devoted to one person's narration. I think this must be extremely hard to do because you're having to incorporate several different narratives and give them each a unique voice.
The picture we get of the woman is that no one liked her, she had an emotional hold on all of them, but was it enough to murder her? Surely there was an escape. Go live or work somewhere else.
Why was she murdered? This Inspector Alleyn finds out by slowly putting each testimony together, plus some unexpected conclusions from the testimonies that at least some of the witnesses were not anticipating.
I read this book with increasing excitement and the last couple of pages I had to put my hand against the pages so I wouldn't scan ahead.
The ending was as satisfying as the entire book. I'm so glad I found Marsh's entire collection of novels, minus three, on eBay.
January 27, 2021
Don't sit down to tea before starting this book! Actually this is my first experience with Ngaio Marsh and a very pleasant one indeed.
January 11, 2019
Died in the Wool (1945) by Ngaio Marsh finds Inspector Alleyn still in New Zealand hunting spies in World War II. Alleyn had already been hard at work in the counter-espionage business in Marsh's previous novel, Colour Scheme. This time he's asked to investigate the death of a member of New Zealand's Parliament--Florence "Flossie" Rubrick. The Rubricks own a large country property which includes sheep herds and wool processing quarters. She had gone missing one evening after announcing she was headed to the wool shed to practice an up-coming speech. It isn't until sometime later that her body is found packed into a bundle of wool that has been sold.
Her nephew, Douglas Grace, fears that a spy is at work on the farm. He and Fabian Losse (nephew to Flossie's husband Arthur) have been working on a top-secret, hush-hush gadget that will greatly aid the war efforts and Grace is certain that Flossie must have discovered proof of the spy's identity and been killed because of it. Losse doesn't believe in the spy theory, but he does want the murder solved and after the local police flounder for over a year he writes to the "big wigs" and asks for Alleyn to drop in...dangling the possibility of a spy in front him as justification.
Since the case is so cold (no clues lying helpfully about to be picked up), Alleyn spends most of his time listening to every member of the household's account of the night in question and their impressions of Flossie. Arthur is no longer around--he died shortly after Flossie disappeared--but the two nephews, Flossie's ward Ursula Harme, and Terence Lynne, Flossie's secretary all give Alleyn their version of events. It isn't long before Alleyn realizes that there are several currents of motive running beneath the surface. There's a local boy who was Flossie's favorite until they had a grand row. And there's the growing affection between Terry (Terence) and her employer's husband. Not to mention the sudden fall from favor that Douglas experience with his aunt. A late-night hunt in the wool shed (yes--even all this time later) is called for and Alleyn becomes the target for the murderer himself before the curtain falls on this one.
What is particularly nice about this one is the way Alleyn's interviews so clearly underline that no one is the same person to each person they interact with. Every member of the household produces a different Flossie for the Inspector to understand. Marsh uses the psychology of each person's version to help Alleyn to understand what Flossie did in the days leading up to her murder that made her death imperative for the killer. Some may find this a bit slow going--there's a lot of talk and little action until the last third or so of the book--but in this instance I think it works. A good closed group mystery with excellent setting and background. ★★� and 1/2.
First posted on my blog . Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
Her nephew, Douglas Grace, fears that a spy is at work on the farm. He and Fabian Losse (nephew to Flossie's husband Arthur) have been working on a top-secret, hush-hush gadget that will greatly aid the war efforts and Grace is certain that Flossie must have discovered proof of the spy's identity and been killed because of it. Losse doesn't believe in the spy theory, but he does want the murder solved and after the local police flounder for over a year he writes to the "big wigs" and asks for Alleyn to drop in...dangling the possibility of a spy in front him as justification.
Since the case is so cold (no clues lying helpfully about to be picked up), Alleyn spends most of his time listening to every member of the household's account of the night in question and their impressions of Flossie. Arthur is no longer around--he died shortly after Flossie disappeared--but the two nephews, Flossie's ward Ursula Harme, and Terence Lynne, Flossie's secretary all give Alleyn their version of events. It isn't long before Alleyn realizes that there are several currents of motive running beneath the surface. There's a local boy who was Flossie's favorite until they had a grand row. And there's the growing affection between Terry (Terence) and her employer's husband. Not to mention the sudden fall from favor that Douglas experience with his aunt. A late-night hunt in the wool shed (yes--even all this time later) is called for and Alleyn becomes the target for the murderer himself before the curtain falls on this one.
What is particularly nice about this one is the way Alleyn's interviews so clearly underline that no one is the same person to each person they interact with. Every member of the household produces a different Flossie for the Inspector to understand. Marsh uses the psychology of each person's version to help Alleyn to understand what Flossie did in the days leading up to her murder that made her death imperative for the killer. Some may find this a bit slow going--there's a lot of talk and little action until the last third or so of the book--but in this instance I think it works. A good closed group mystery with excellent setting and background. ★★� and 1/2.
First posted on my blog . Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
September 14, 2011
Died in the Wool is one of four Alleyn tales Marsh set in her native New Zealand, and is made even more interesting as it was actually published during the Second World War, and incorporates aspects, issues, and perspectives on the war climate into the murder mystery plotline. Being written before Marsh would have even known when or how the war would end, some of the settings and characterisations can give insights into New Zealand at that time that no recently written historical novel, no matter how well researched, can match.
One summer evening in 1942, formidable Member of Parliament Florence “Flossie� Rubrick goes to the wool shed on her high country property to rehearse a patriotic speech, and disappears. Three weeks later, she’s found � dead inside a bale of wool at an auction. Inspector Alleyn, in New Zealand on war security matters, comes to the high country sheep station more than a year later, after Rubrick’s husband has also passed away from illness, and tries to piece together what really happened to the polarising MP, based on the testimonies of several acquaintances. At the same time, concerns are raised about the top-secret security work being carried out by two young men � have the blueprints for the new anti-aircraft device been leaked?
In effect, Marsh has transported the classic British ‘country house� murder mystery, with its closed environment and small amount of characters � all of whom have a motive for killing the victim, into a rural New Zealand setting during the war. But she also does a few things differently that help Died in the Wool stand out. Alleyn arrives months after the murder, so can’t rely on the crime scene clues and observations usually available to detectives � instead he has to weigh the differing recollections of the residents (each has its own chapter, eg “According to Terence Lynne�). This device gave Marsh not only a different structure and investigative method, but the opportunity to ‘voice� varying views and concerns about what was going on during the war, through her different characters.
In general, Marsh’s plots weren’t quite as intricate as Christie’s puzzles, but she was the superior writer when it came to setting, description, and giving her characters more depth and layers. Compared to today’s crime novels, the pace is somewhat languid, and at times, the language used dates the book, but decades after it was published, Died in the Wool remains an absorbing, enjoyable read.
One summer evening in 1942, formidable Member of Parliament Florence “Flossie� Rubrick goes to the wool shed on her high country property to rehearse a patriotic speech, and disappears. Three weeks later, she’s found � dead inside a bale of wool at an auction. Inspector Alleyn, in New Zealand on war security matters, comes to the high country sheep station more than a year later, after Rubrick’s husband has also passed away from illness, and tries to piece together what really happened to the polarising MP, based on the testimonies of several acquaintances. At the same time, concerns are raised about the top-secret security work being carried out by two young men � have the blueprints for the new anti-aircraft device been leaked?
In effect, Marsh has transported the classic British ‘country house� murder mystery, with its closed environment and small amount of characters � all of whom have a motive for killing the victim, into a rural New Zealand setting during the war. But she also does a few things differently that help Died in the Wool stand out. Alleyn arrives months after the murder, so can’t rely on the crime scene clues and observations usually available to detectives � instead he has to weigh the differing recollections of the residents (each has its own chapter, eg “According to Terence Lynne�). This device gave Marsh not only a different structure and investigative method, but the opportunity to ‘voice� varying views and concerns about what was going on during the war, through her different characters.
In general, Marsh’s plots weren’t quite as intricate as Christie’s puzzles, but she was the superior writer when it came to setting, description, and giving her characters more depth and layers. Compared to today’s crime novels, the pace is somewhat languid, and at times, the language used dates the book, but decades after it was published, Died in the Wool remains an absorbing, enjoyable read.
January 14, 2023
My first Ngaio Marsh book and I have to admit, she rightly deserves her place among Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Brilliant characterization, impeccable writing and, to top it off, a sheep farm setting Down Under. Wish I had got my hands on her books earlier (they aren't easily available here) but the payoff was worth the long wait!
June 14, 2018
One and a half stars for this unfortunately talky-talky wartime mystery. Excellent basic idea--rich grazier's wife vanishes, only to turn up weeks later well past her use-by date--but the book was done to death under an avalanche of words, words, words. Any action is crammed unceremoniously into the last quarter of the book.
We start with Alleyn being sent up to the holding as a member of some unnamed wartime special branch, supposedly too hush-hush to even mention but it just reinforces the weakness of the structure. His interview with the suspects turns into a far too longwinded (not to mention unbelievable) group therapy session, with shellshocked soldiers, state secrets, young women whose upper lips are so stiff they can act as corsets for their heaving...emotions, schoolboys who run away to join up, etc etc dreary etc. until oh yes--the mention of spies among us sets everyone on edge.
Bleah.
Marsh continues to be obsessed with people's hands; at one point she describes the butler as standing with his hands at his sides, and "turned outward from the wrists." I've tried that position as well--this time it's physically impossible, at least for normal people. Her editor let her down too; at one point, for example, she tells us that "the habit was habitual with him." Well, it would be.
Add to this that the killer was predictable from the outset and the ending was ALSO pure tell-not-show (epistolary ending, no less!) and you have the reason I shelved this as "stonking great disappointment." Marsh's penchant for dividing each chapter into several numbered parts, as if it were a TV drama with commercial cues at all tense points (though yes I know TV hadn't taken off yet, that's how it felt) did not help matters.
I wanted to enjoy this book, but it simply wasn't possible.
We start with Alleyn being sent up to the holding as a member of some unnamed wartime special branch, supposedly too hush-hush to even mention but it just reinforces the weakness of the structure. His interview with the suspects turns into a far too longwinded (not to mention unbelievable) group therapy session, with shellshocked soldiers, state secrets, young women whose upper lips are so stiff they can act as corsets for their heaving...emotions, schoolboys who run away to join up, etc etc dreary etc. until oh yes--the mention of spies among us sets everyone on edge.
Bleah.
Marsh continues to be obsessed with people's hands; at one point she describes the butler as standing with his hands at his sides, and "turned outward from the wrists." I've tried that position as well--this time it's physically impossible, at least for normal people. Her editor let her down too; at one point, for example, she tells us that "the habit was habitual with him." Well, it would be.
Add to this that the killer was predictable from the outset and the ending was ALSO pure tell-not-show (epistolary ending, no less!) and you have the reason I shelved this as "stonking great disappointment." Marsh's penchant for dividing each chapter into several numbered parts, as if it were a TV drama with commercial cues at all tense points (though yes I know TV hadn't taken off yet, that's how it felt) did not help matters.
I wanted to enjoy this book, but it simply wasn't possible.
February 1, 2022
2022 Review
Read this one as a lead-up to the next one mostly. I remembered most of the details, which means it's one of the more memorable ones in the series. As I mentioned in my earlier review, the NZ settings is probably the high point.
2016 Review
I find I really like the New Zealand ones in this series. This one is also set in NZ, during WWII.
Alleyn's essentially counter-intelligence, investigating a potential information leak (and associated murder) on a New Zealand sheep farm.
I like the reduced cast of characters. I like the setting. And it struck me in this one that I definitely have a better sense of Alleyn as a character now. One could argue that 13 books in is too late - I don't disagree. I will only say that it probably happened a few books ago, and I didn't notice until now, but I definitely have a better sense than in the early novels.
Also, no case of insta-love. There is an engaged couple, but they've known each other for a year or so, so y'know, fair.
And, I'm pleased that Ngaio Marsh was clearly planning on finally developing something with Alleyn/Troy in the next book. It shows in this one. If the next book is a disappointment, I'm going to be sad...
Read this one as a lead-up to the next one mostly. I remembered most of the details, which means it's one of the more memorable ones in the series. As I mentioned in my earlier review, the NZ settings is probably the high point.
2016 Review
I find I really like the New Zealand ones in this series. This one is also set in NZ, during WWII.
Alleyn's essentially counter-intelligence, investigating a potential information leak (and associated murder) on a New Zealand sheep farm.
I like the reduced cast of characters. I like the setting. And it struck me in this one that I definitely have a better sense of Alleyn as a character now. One could argue that 13 books in is too late - I don't disagree. I will only say that it probably happened a few books ago, and I didn't notice until now, but I definitely have a better sense than in the early novels.
Also, no case of insta-love. There is an engaged couple, but they've known each other for a year or so, so y'know, fair.
And, I'm pleased that Ngaio Marsh was clearly planning on finally developing something with Alleyn/Troy in the next book. It shows in this one. If the next book is a disappointment, I'm going to be sad...
February 19, 2019
Definitely not my favorite - published in 1945, my paperback -2013 Felony & Mayhem
New Zealand is the site of all the action, a very well known lady shows up dead rolled up in wool at her sheep farm even though she'd had a house full of guests who were helping her look for a diamond clip along the paths surrounding the estate. Alleyn is called in to thoroughly investigate how this came about and who was responsible as he is UK's man on the scene in New Zealand on the watch for spies. It is wartime.
There are some interesting characters, as usual, but the dialogue is cliche and the pace is very sluggish.
I had to turn to a couple other books to force myself to finish this one off. Can't please all the people all the time eh? Part of my irritation is the physical torment I went through to get on a cold train last weekend and hike it to the library and then back to station without even visiting my downtown digs due to weather. Whine much? I think the other Marsh I chose has more promise - it has a very lively opening, at least.
New Zealand is the site of all the action, a very well known lady shows up dead rolled up in wool at her sheep farm even though she'd had a house full of guests who were helping her look for a diamond clip along the paths surrounding the estate. Alleyn is called in to thoroughly investigate how this came about and who was responsible as he is UK's man on the scene in New Zealand on the watch for spies. It is wartime.
There are some interesting characters, as usual, but the dialogue is cliche and the pace is very sluggish.
I had to turn to a couple other books to force myself to finish this one off. Can't please all the people all the time eh? Part of my irritation is the physical torment I went through to get on a cold train last weekend and hike it to the library and then back to station without even visiting my downtown digs due to weather. Whine much? I think the other Marsh I chose has more promise - it has a very lively opening, at least.
January 9, 2019
I do like Inspector Alleyn, and enjoyed the descriptions of the vast landscapes of New Zealand’s South Island in this mystery thriller set in 1942.
Alleyn is far from his usual supporting cast in NZ during WWII, sussing out espionage after the body of a female MP is found in the middle of a bale of wool. Alleyn visits the sheep station where the murder occurred to try and solve the case, but also learn if secret weapons research being carried out there is being leaked to the enemy.
I’ve not read this whole series, but look forward to filling in the gaps; I found this interesting, as I don’t know a lot about the Australian and New Zealand homefront during WWII.
Alleyn is far from his usual supporting cast in NZ during WWII, sussing out espionage after the body of a female MP is found in the middle of a bale of wool. Alleyn visits the sheep station where the murder occurred to try and solve the case, but also learn if secret weapons research being carried out there is being leaked to the enemy.
I’ve not read this whole series, but look forward to filling in the gaps; I found this interesting, as I don’t know a lot about the Australian and New Zealand homefront during WWII.
June 20, 2018
Unusual setting.
The action takes place in New Zealand in the war so a classic murder story is set away from a British location with the addition of espionage to add to the interest . The author writes well as she should about her home country and draws the characters interestingly and differently from what might be expected in a classic murder mystery. It’s thoroughly enjoyable with plenty of twists and turns so the murderer only becomes guessable towards the end.
The action takes place in New Zealand in the war so a classic murder story is set away from a British location with the addition of espionage to add to the interest . The author writes well as she should about her home country and draws the characters interestingly and differently from what might be expected in a classic murder mystery. It’s thoroughly enjoyable with plenty of twists and turns so the murderer only becomes guessable towards the end.
January 21, 2019
Another solid Marsh mystery. I was able to guess the killer towards the end, but there were plenty of suspects to choose from. She also offered up a unique landscape that is was part English countryside, part new Zealand wilderness. My previous experience with GA mysteries had solely been from the Christie canon, so it has been refreshing to get another perspective and writing style. Many times a bit outlandish and over the top, but almost always fun.
January 26, 2021
B-:
Marsh offers yet another distinctly different unfurling of mystery here, conjuring up a retrospective portrait of a formidable woman from the views of those who knew (and loathed) her most. It makes for an interesting whodunit, although I wasn't as enthralled as I have been in the past (the characters in this one are particularly annoying). I rather like that her wartime books signal a departure from normality for Alleyn, and that his role as an Antipodean hunter of espionage demonstrates the need for flexibility when fighting a greater enemy.
Marsh offers yet another distinctly different unfurling of mystery here, conjuring up a retrospective portrait of a formidable woman from the views of those who knew (and loathed) her most. It makes for an interesting whodunit, although I wasn't as enthralled as I have been in the past (the characters in this one are particularly annoying). I rather like that her wartime books signal a departure from normality for Alleyn, and that his role as an Antipodean hunter of espionage demonstrates the need for flexibility when fighting a greater enemy.
September 3, 2014
Has the most insidious manner of hiding the body of any mystery I've ever read.
January 23, 2018
Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn, in New Zealand during World War II to track down spies, both from outside and from within, travels to the countryside where ranchers keep sheep to investigate a year-old murder and potential espionage in Ngaio Marsh's Died in the Wool. Flossy Rubrick, a member of the New Zealand Parliament, disappeared a year earlier, only to be found rolled up in a bale of hay five weeks later. So the four people who live at her and her late husband Arthur's home in Mount Moon host Alleyn after a year of little success at locating the murderer. Alleyn does not serve in his regular role as homicide detective during the war. However, he takes this job because the two young men, Fabian Losse and Douglas Grace, both invalided out of the army, have been working on a top secret device for the military and have had concerns over espionage.
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July 12, 2024
This is not one of the best of the series. It starts out well, with a missing woman's body found in a bale of wool. Alleyn goes to the scene, and then... Everyone talks. They take turns talking. And talk some more. I can see how this book would be fun to write - Marsh is clearly enjoying showing her victim from different perspectives using the witnesses own words. But I found the first half dull to read. I kept hoping they'd stop talking and do something exciting - like take a walk or something. lol I did feel it improved when Alleyn actually did a little investigating and asked some questions, instead of just listening to people ramble on. Still, it will never be my favorite. And the WWII espionage plot line felt really weak and tacked on.
September 11, 2017
Not one of my favourite Inspector Alleyn whodunnits. A nice New Zealand high country setting, and an inventive murder, but Alleyn, arriving long after the event, and concerned with war-time treason as well as murder, has to recover past events by a round-table recounting of the past by the inhabitants of the farm estate. Rather static. No Troy, no Inspector Fox.
GR blurb:
One summer evening in 1942, Flossie Rubrick, goes to her husband's wool shed to rehearse a patriotic speech - and disappears. Three weeks later she turns up at an auction, packed inside a bale of wool.
GR blurb:
One summer evening in 1942, Flossie Rubrick, goes to her husband's wool shed to rehearse a patriotic speech - and disappears. Three weeks later she turns up at an auction, packed inside a bale of wool.
May 24, 2021
Wie dacht dat de detectives van de hand van Ngaio Marsh met Roderickj Alleyn in de hoofdrol met het dertiende boek op rij voorspelbaar werden, komt bedrogen uit.
Het grootste deel bestaat uit de verschillende hoofdpersonen die hun persoonlijke gechacthen over het slachtoffer blootgeven. En dat nog wel in groep met de andere verdachten waarbij Alleyn optreedt als zo onopvallende moegelijke waarnemer. Vlak voor wereldoorlog II is er sprake van industriële spionage en een gruwelijke moord die op basis van de verklaringen onmogelijk kan hebben plaatsgevonden. Maar er is het lijk natuurlijk...
Pas in het laatste deel komt er echt aktie en wordt het ook gevaarlijk, een volgende moord wordt wel erg waarschijnlijk. In de bijtende kou moet Alleyn leugens, bedrog en valse schijn van de waarheid scheiden om een volgende moord te voorkomen. Daarbovenop moet hij de moordenaar ook nog eens in de val proberen te lokken en bovenal het er zelf levend proberen af te brengen.
Van deze schrijfster verwachten we toplektuur en dat krijgen we ook.
Het grootste deel bestaat uit de verschillende hoofdpersonen die hun persoonlijke gechacthen over het slachtoffer blootgeven. En dat nog wel in groep met de andere verdachten waarbij Alleyn optreedt als zo onopvallende moegelijke waarnemer. Vlak voor wereldoorlog II is er sprake van industriële spionage en een gruwelijke moord die op basis van de verklaringen onmogelijk kan hebben plaatsgevonden. Maar er is het lijk natuurlijk...
Pas in het laatste deel komt er echt aktie en wordt het ook gevaarlijk, een volgende moord wordt wel erg waarschijnlijk. In de bijtende kou moet Alleyn leugens, bedrog en valse schijn van de waarheid scheiden om een volgende moord te voorkomen. Daarbovenop moet hij de moordenaar ook nog eens in de val proberen te lokken en bovenal het er zelf levend proberen af te brengen.
Van deze schrijfster verwachten we toplektuur en dat krijgen we ook.
May 23, 2020
I didn’t enjoy this as much as most of Marsh’s other novels. It’s a reasonably clever mystery but to be honest, I find it dragged for most of the book.
Essentially, the first half of the book is one long conversation- because of that it loses a lot of the background setting that is usually so strong in Marsh’s novels. Pretty much all the characters, other than Alleyn, aren’t particularly likeable which really doesn’t help either.
I’m glad I read it for completeness, but it wasn’t one I’d return to.
Essentially, the first half of the book is one long conversation- because of that it loses a lot of the background setting that is usually so strong in Marsh’s novels. Pretty much all the characters, other than Alleyn, aren’t particularly likeable which really doesn’t help either.
I’m glad I read it for completeness, but it wasn’t one I’d return to.
March 9, 2023
Although I missed the Alleyn and Fox repartee, and the other NZ set novels haven't been my favorite, this one was quite good. Lots of plausible red herrings, and the suspects weren't so abominable that I wished they'd all been the victims instead (I'm looking at you Colour Scheme). Really enjoyed this one, although I am still grossed out by the decomposing body in a wool bale.
May 1, 2018
While I liked the New Zealand setting, this entry in the Inspector Alleyn series was not one of Marsh's better efforts.
November 3, 2021
When we first meet Florence `Flossie� Rubrick, Member of Parliament, it is 1939 and she has thrust her way into the wings of an auditorium where a wool auction is taking place, much to the embarrassment of her husband Arthur who feels that her proper place is seated with the other wool sellers and buyers of the wool they have produced on their sheep farm, Mont Moon, a large and remote station on the South Island of New Zealand.
The next time we encounter her in 1942 it is as a decomposing body compressed into a bale of wool from their farm. Without doubt the scene of the crime was Mount Moon but believing that she had left on a trip related to her parliamentary duties the trail had gone cold. The action of the detective novel doesn’t really take off until the arrival of Chief Inspector Alleyn of the Metropolitan Police Force in London arrives fifteen months later in 1943.
This novel, published in 1945, was the thirteenth of thirty-two detective novels in which Roderick Alleyn, a `gentleman detective� was the central character. Marsh split her time between Britain and New Zealand and this novel is one of four in the series that is set in New Zealand. Alleyn is there for most of the war working under an assumed name on counter-intelligence work so investigating Flossie Rubrick’s murder is just a cover for his real concern the leak of information about a secret development project taking place at Mount Moon.
Alleyn was invited to investigate the murder by Arthur Rubrick’s nephew Fabian Losse who is doing the secret work but doesn’t believe there is a spy until Alleyn confirms it. Since it is wartime the cast of characters present when Flossie disappeared is still at Mount Moon although Arthur Rubrick has since died. The farm workers were together at a party the night in question, so the inhabitants of the main house are the chief suspects.
Douglas Grace, Flossie’s nephew works with Fabian. He had studied Germany until the war but then served in the British and New Zealand military. Both have been invalided out of the war, Fabian with a head wound which still causes moments of unconsciousness and Douglas had “got pinked in the bottom by the Luftwaffe�. Miss Terence Lynne, Flossie’s secretary, now staying on as a gardener, and Ursula Harme, Flossie’s ward makes up the family group and then there is a housekeeper Mrs. Aceworthy, an elderly cousin of Arthur’s, a cook Mrs. Duck and a man servant called Markins. The only outside staff anywhere near the house at the time were Thomas Jonas, the farm manager, his son Cliff and Albert Black an odd job man. They had all been in the garden together searching for a lost brooch at the time Flossie strode off to practice her next speech in the wool shed and the apparent timeline seemed to have made it impossible for any of them to be guilty.
Like all great detectives Alleyn doesn’t interrogate, he just lets people talk and reveal themselves. Initially they all talk about what drew them to Flossie Rubrick and what they owe to her, only later one by one do they reveal points of conflict with their host and benefactor. Marsh skillfully takes us down blind alleys. Secrets are revealed which at times point you to possible suspects, relationships are revealed that at first appear to provide sufficient motivation for the crime. In the meantime, Alleyn takes nothing at face value pursuing the one crime on the surface while simultaneously tracking down the traitor.
Marsh’s book is a page turner because of way the plot is developed but also because the rich description of the landscape and the gradually fleshing out of all the characters. Alleyn listens more than he speaks and by the end of the book you realize that every word counts even when the speaker doesn’t understand what they have just revealed. This is the first book I have read by Ngaio Marsh but having done so I realize why she is considered one of the four original "Queens of Crime" � Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Dorothy Sayers who dominated the genre of crime fiction in the 20s and 30s.
The next time we encounter her in 1942 it is as a decomposing body compressed into a bale of wool from their farm. Without doubt the scene of the crime was Mount Moon but believing that she had left on a trip related to her parliamentary duties the trail had gone cold. The action of the detective novel doesn’t really take off until the arrival of Chief Inspector Alleyn of the Metropolitan Police Force in London arrives fifteen months later in 1943.
This novel, published in 1945, was the thirteenth of thirty-two detective novels in which Roderick Alleyn, a `gentleman detective� was the central character. Marsh split her time between Britain and New Zealand and this novel is one of four in the series that is set in New Zealand. Alleyn is there for most of the war working under an assumed name on counter-intelligence work so investigating Flossie Rubrick’s murder is just a cover for his real concern the leak of information about a secret development project taking place at Mount Moon.
Alleyn was invited to investigate the murder by Arthur Rubrick’s nephew Fabian Losse who is doing the secret work but doesn’t believe there is a spy until Alleyn confirms it. Since it is wartime the cast of characters present when Flossie disappeared is still at Mount Moon although Arthur Rubrick has since died. The farm workers were together at a party the night in question, so the inhabitants of the main house are the chief suspects.
Douglas Grace, Flossie’s nephew works with Fabian. He had studied Germany until the war but then served in the British and New Zealand military. Both have been invalided out of the war, Fabian with a head wound which still causes moments of unconsciousness and Douglas had “got pinked in the bottom by the Luftwaffe�. Miss Terence Lynne, Flossie’s secretary, now staying on as a gardener, and Ursula Harme, Flossie’s ward makes up the family group and then there is a housekeeper Mrs. Aceworthy, an elderly cousin of Arthur’s, a cook Mrs. Duck and a man servant called Markins. The only outside staff anywhere near the house at the time were Thomas Jonas, the farm manager, his son Cliff and Albert Black an odd job man. They had all been in the garden together searching for a lost brooch at the time Flossie strode off to practice her next speech in the wool shed and the apparent timeline seemed to have made it impossible for any of them to be guilty.
Like all great detectives Alleyn doesn’t interrogate, he just lets people talk and reveal themselves. Initially they all talk about what drew them to Flossie Rubrick and what they owe to her, only later one by one do they reveal points of conflict with their host and benefactor. Marsh skillfully takes us down blind alleys. Secrets are revealed which at times point you to possible suspects, relationships are revealed that at first appear to provide sufficient motivation for the crime. In the meantime, Alleyn takes nothing at face value pursuing the one crime on the surface while simultaneously tracking down the traitor.
Marsh’s book is a page turner because of way the plot is developed but also because the rich description of the landscape and the gradually fleshing out of all the characters. Alleyn listens more than he speaks and by the end of the book you realize that every word counts even when the speaker doesn’t understand what they have just revealed. This is the first book I have read by Ngaio Marsh but having done so I realize why she is considered one of the four original "Queens of Crime" � Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Dorothy Sayers who dominated the genre of crime fiction in the 20s and 30s.
January 27, 2021
"I'll have to hand it to you in one respect, sir. She's not dead wool."
December 19, 2016
Like "Colour Scheme," this book is set in wartime New Zealand, and while I give it the same rating as its immediate Marsh predecessor, this seems a better book. The story takes place on an isolated South Island sheep station, apparently near Canterbury (though the book never makes the location clear). It's the third of four Alleyn mysteries set in New Zealand (though "Surfeit of Lampreys" is also partially set there), with the last one not coming until 1980.
It's just a good story. Marsh has by now developed as a writer, so that her characters do not seem to be similar to those in previous books. Flossie Rubrick, mostly in absentia, is the protagonist, and a wonderful character. But several others are also well-crafted, especially Fabian Losse and the teen-aged Cliff Johns. And we have a new Inspector Alleyn here, less fey and effete, essentially all-business and devoid of eccentricity. Because this takes place in New Zealand, he is missing his usual team (especially "Br'er Fox"), so one loses the engaging by-play usually seen with his normal group.
For the first time, I did guess "who did it." though I was hardly sure until the book confirmed it. The plot is a little less ornate and confusing than in previous books, though once again it would have benefited from a map of the sheep station (it has quite a few buildings), and perhaps a diagram of the shearing building.
A bonus here is a picture of everyday New Zealanders during World War II, and life on a sheep station. Electricity had essentially not arrived, the phone was a party-line, and the nearest neighbors are generally several miles away. It takes several hours to get a doctor. There are bits of interplay between what is British and what is Kiwi, which are fun.
Yes, this is a bit of a period piece, and perhaps you need to share my commitment to reading the Marsh series in order to get the full benefit, but I found it fun.
It's just a good story. Marsh has by now developed as a writer, so that her characters do not seem to be similar to those in previous books. Flossie Rubrick, mostly in absentia, is the protagonist, and a wonderful character. But several others are also well-crafted, especially Fabian Losse and the teen-aged Cliff Johns. And we have a new Inspector Alleyn here, less fey and effete, essentially all-business and devoid of eccentricity. Because this takes place in New Zealand, he is missing his usual team (especially "Br'er Fox"), so one loses the engaging by-play usually seen with his normal group.
For the first time, I did guess "who did it." though I was hardly sure until the book confirmed it. The plot is a little less ornate and confusing than in previous books, though once again it would have benefited from a map of the sheep station (it has quite a few buildings), and perhaps a diagram of the shearing building.
A bonus here is a picture of everyday New Zealanders during World War II, and life on a sheep station. Electricity had essentially not arrived, the phone was a party-line, and the nearest neighbors are generally several miles away. It takes several hours to get a doctor. There are bits of interplay between what is British and what is Kiwi, which are fun.
Yes, this is a bit of a period piece, and perhaps you need to share my commitment to reading the Marsh series in order to get the full benefit, but I found it fun.
April 15, 2024
A clever enough mystery but I think the author overestimated the ability of the bizarre style of murder to carry the reader thru almost 3/4 of the book without any plot or action. She really just likes her "witty banter "
March 24, 2019
A few chapters in, I'm abandoning this one. What a disappointment. Ngaio Marsh is widely considered to be among the top four Golden Age mystery writers (along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham), so I was really looking forward to sampling her work. But Ngaio Marsh doesn't "play fair" with her mystery readers, at least not in this novel. While each of the characters is right in the middle of telling the story of the day in question, the author suddenly switches from dialogue to third person narration. It's understood that the same character is still talking, but it's not written as dialogue. It was jolting and confusing and I felt cheated because part of solving the mystery is knowing not only what the suspects said but HOW they said it. :(
July 2, 2018
This is the most interesting INspector Alleyn story I have read so far. Set on a sheep station in New Zealand in WW2, it concerns the murder of the sheep station owner's wife. A very strong minded, ambitious MP, she is found dead inside a bale of wool. inspector Alleyn, who happens to be in New Zealand doing espionage work, comes to stay on the sheep station and unraveling the mystery. there are some interesting characters and some lovely descriptions of the New Zealand scenery. however, it was fairly easy to work out who the murderer was, and the motive, which is always slightly disappointing.
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