[✈] Died in the Wool by Ngaio Marsh - 3 stars

[Theresa]

It's the middle of WWII, 1943 to be exact, when Inspector Alleyn is sent to the antipodes to investigate a murder on a remote sheep farm while also sniffing out just who is leaking military weapon development secrets from the R & D lab located there. The higher ups suspect there is a connection. The murder mystery opens with Alleyn being picked up at a cross roads in the middle of nowhere by Fabian, the current owner of "Mount Moon homestead was eighty years old and that is a great age for a house in the antipodes." Fabian inherited Mount Moon from his uncle Arthur. It is Arthur's wife Flossie who was murdered, found smushed in a sheep bale sent to market. Fabian is also half of the team of researchers developing some weaponry for the military on the farm. The other half of the team is Captain Douglas Grace, Flossie's nephew, heir to her money, and former military. "His accent was slightly antipodean but his manners were formal. He called Alleyn ‘sir’ each time he spoke to him." Yes, he's just as irritating and pompous as he sounds.

Also on the ranch, having remained after Flossie's death are Ursula who was taken under Flossie's wing when orphaned, currently in love with Fabian, and "Terence [who] had been five years in New Zealand. Equipped with a knowledge of shorthand and typing and six letters of recommendation, including one from the High Commissioner in London to Flossie herself, she had sought her fortune in the antipodes." Also on the farm at the time Flossie was murdered was her husband Arthur, an older man in ill-health who died not long after his wife.

Then there is Flossie herself who thought she was a riotous success with the men working the sheep, addressing them with a pose of easy jocularity that set their teeth on edge. "They took it, with a private grin, I fancy. She imagined she had converted them to a sort of antipodean feudal system." Basically, Flossie was pretty solidly unlikeable although she was a popular politician representing her antipodean district both in the antipodes and in England.

This is only one of 4 mysteries that antipodean Queen of Crime Ngaio Marsh set in the antipodes. The structure of this mystery in the antipodes is classic for the era (written in the 40s): Upon Alleyn's arrival at the farm, all gather in the drawing room beneath Flossie's portrait to tell their version of events while Alleyn takes notes and occasionally interposes a question. It's like a grand confessional. Many many clues are dropped, lies told, information omitted but as each person's story unfolds (each gets a chapter) and a few events happen over the next couple of days, Alleyn of course completes both his missions just as he's yearning to leave the antipodes and head back home to his wife Troy and England.

It took me a while to settle into the vocabulary and style both because it is dated and because (I suspect) it is antipodean. The style is one not used so much these days by crime fiction writers and that actually was rather refreshing as was being in the antipodes on a sheep farm. Also, there is something about the tone that is overly arch, like fast paced dialogue in a sophisticated comedy of the era. Which of course is no surprise given the author's love of and work in the antipodean theater. In fact, it's very like reading or even watching a play -- dialogue driven, with monologues interspersed with action and interruptions, and the ending comes as a curtain dropping shocker - unless you have followed all the clues to the only conclusion it could be.

This was great fun and definitely has me wanting to revisit more of one of the grand dames of mystery. It was also fun to read something so antipodal, an antipodean mystery that was written contemporaneiously with the period of the mystery but to us reads like an historical novel full of period detail like using candlelight because in rural areas of the antipodes electricity was expensive and not generally available the more remote you were.

And just in case you are wondering:

Antipodean
/anˌtipəˈdēən/
adjective

1.
relating to Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere):
"Antipodean wines"
noun

1.
a person from Australia or New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere):
"a brisk Antipodean, she moved with speed and efficiency"

New Zealand is frequently described as the Antipodes due to its location on the far ends of the Southern Hemisphere. At least in the 40s. How charmingly antipodal.

[Book Concierge]

Oh ... I have to read this. Or maybe I'll just re-read your review about a dozen times!