A review by dimins
Colour Scheme by Ngaio Marsh

adventurous funny mysterious reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

 In a nutshell, this one was spectacularly <i>okay</i>. Ngaio Marsh clearly pays a lot of attention to the cast of characters maybe even more than the mystery, but it still made for an entertaining story. There were a few great twists at the end. What was particularly intriguing to me in this story is the interface between the Maoi people with the English migrants, and how they interacted with each other. I don’t think I’ve read a novel based in New Zealand before, much less in the WW2 era. 

The setting is an English health resort run by the comically dysfunctional Claire family. The father, Colonel Claire, is beset by a slimy money-grabber, appropriately named Questing, who is slowly taking possession over the property. In an attempt to boost the resort’s business, Questing invites famous actor Geoffrey Gaunt, his secretary Dikon Bell, and his dresser to receive treatment from the resort’s famous mud spas for his bad leg. The Claire family is on friendly terms with the Maoi people, on whose lands the health resort is situated. Their maid Huai is a granddaughter of the chieftain Rua. Huai is courted by half-Maoi loiterer Eru Saul as well as general employee Herbert Smith, who is a particular friend of Simon, the son of Colonel Claire. Col Claire’s brother in law, Dr James Ackrington, is a cantankerous long-time resident of the resort, and he is followed by a guest of the resort, Septimus Falls. Questing steps on all the wrong toes and most people have a motive to kill him when he eventually winds up in a pit of boiling mud. 

I mean, you can kinda tell from the above that this story is very much character-driven. In fact, the mystery doesn’t even start proper until about halfway through the book. In the meantime, we learn everything about the dynamics between all the above characters and how things lead up to the actual murder. The tone of the book is always kept rather light-hearted so despite the huge cast of characters, things never feel too dense to handle. 

The most interesting character to me is probably Rua, and what we learn about him and his tribe. He is said to have been a journalist and an MP, but in his old age he has returned to govern his tribe. Unlike many novels where we see white characters being incredibly racist and intolerant to other cultures and practices, this novel seems to present a fairly tolerant and harmonious relationship between the white and Maoi characters, at least as much as can be expected for something written in the WW2 era. We also get references about Maois enlisting for the war effort against Germany too, and just a tiny glimpse about the whole politics behind that. There is even a Maoi concert held to which the Claires and their guests are invited, and during which important plot events happen. When the white characters are caught by surprise by Maoi practices that they aren’t used to, they don’t usually fall back on racist comments or insults. So if anything, this book has just made me even more curious about what the whole climate is like back then between the Maoi and the European migrants to New Zealand. I would be hesitant to call a book written in the early 1940s as progressive, but the treatment of Maoi tribes, folklore, and characters was generally a breath of fresh air in this one, and if anything I’d remember this book for this point especially. 
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