Colour Scheme by Ngaoi Marsh ~ 1943. This edition: Collins, 1943. Hardcover. 314 pages.
I have found myself dipping into Ngaio Marsh’s mysteries a bit this year, with mixed results. 1962’s Hand in Glove, read for the first time this summer, left me cold. At least on this my first reading.
Colour Scheme, on the other hand, pleased me quite a lot.
Being a classic mystery novel by a deservedly popular author, and sure to be on numerous reading lists, I won’t give much away. Here’s the general gist, as set out in the first edition endpaper blurb.
(M)ore a novel of character and character and atmosphere than it is a detective story. The scene is New Zealand, during World War II, the characters an ill-assorted, bizarre group of New Zealanders, Britishers and Maoris assembled in and around Wai-ata-tapu Hot Springs, a second-class thermal bath establishment belonging to Colonel Edward Claire. The Claires are a hardworking couple who have lost most of their modest inheritance in unsound investments. They have two children, Barbara, aged twenty-five, and Simon, twenty-one.
The family has a genius for collecting impossible people, and at the opening of the novel are burdened with two: a seedy individual named Herbert Smith, who is seldom completely sober; and Mr. Maurice Questing, an unscrupulous business man to whom the Colonel is under heavy financial obligations. The final member of the household is Mrs. Claire’s brother, Dr. James Ackrington, an irascible physician living with the Claires as a paying guest and therefore completely free to criticize and complain. Before long there are two more additions to the establishment, Geoffrey Gaunt, the famous Shakespearean actor, and his secretary, Dikon Bell.
Almost immediately Barbara is fascinated by Gaunt but at the same time Dikon Bell finds himself falling in love with her and Mr. Questing continues forcing his unwelcome attentions on her. The household are united in their dislike of Questing but at odds in practically everything else.
With the first chapter one senses something queer and something very wrong, and the tension mounts as irritations and hatreds grow and as strange signals go out from the cliff above the sea.
Throw in possible German agents, definite Nazi submarines prowling New Zealand shores, seething pools of fatally boiling volcanic mud, priceless Maori artifacts, an Eliza Doolittle scenario, an idealistic young Marxist immersed in the study of Morse Code, and oodles of artistic temperament. Result: a pleasantly nasty sort of Golden Age murder mystery.
My rating: 8/10
Leaves & Pages 
I’m a big fan of Ngaio Marsh, and will every few years, read them all again chronologically. You are right that some are better than others. I especially like the ones with Agatha Troy in them.
Yes, the ones where Agatha Troy is involved are my favourites, too. A Clutch of Constables was my very first experience with Ngaio Marsh many years ago, and I was immediately smitten, not with Alleyn but with his wife!
I have always enjoyed the Ngaio Marsh thrillers, and Supt. Alleyn is one of my favourite police detectives. I think I have read most of them at one time or another but, oddly enough, I actually have only two currently in my possession, one of them being Colour Scheme. My copy is almost falling apart (lol).
The other is Black As He’s Painted, which you might enjoy.
I think Ngaio Marsh is a much better writer of thrillers than Agatha Christie.
I think I agree with you regarding Marsh versus Christie. While both are exceedingly readable, Ngaio Marsh is ultimately the better writer.
Clearly I should go for this one rather than the next you’ve reviewed! I’ve only read Opening Night, and liked it – as you say in the next review, her humour really helps even when the plot is a bit flimsy.
If you have to choose, go for Colour Scheme versus Hand in Glove. Though both are very readable, as are all of Ngaio Marsh’s mysteries. You have a lot to look forward to if you decide to explore this writer’s work.
I particularly like this one – the hotel with the hot springs nearby, the mountains, and the hilarious hotel owners dreading more guests. And she always does theatricals well. Definitely one of her better ones.
Oh, this is one of the weirdest Ngaio Marsh books in the world! I read this one a few years ago and was very surprised Sir Roderick arrived so late. Really enjoyable mystery.
It is an odd one! And it was followed up by (I believe) Died in the Wool, which also takes place in wartime New Zealand, and sticks out in my memory as equally odd. Well, maybe nod odd. Just a bit different in format, perhaps. I remember thinking quite highly of that one, too.