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Colour Scheme

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Colour Scheme

By: Ngaio Marsh
Narrated by: Ric Jerrom
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About this listen

Maurice Questing was left to die in a pool of boiling mud. Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn knew that any number of people could have killed him: the English exiles he'd hated, the New Zealanders he'd despised or the Maoris he'd insulted. Even the spies he'd thwarted - if he wasn't a spy himself.

©1943 Original Text of 1943 by Ngaio Marsh (P)2015 Hachette Audio Cosy Crime Fiction Espionage International Mystery & Crime Mystery Spies & Politics Suspense Thriller & Suspense Traditional Detectives Fiction Detective Crime

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Critic reviews

"The brilliant Ngaio Marsh ranks with Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers." ( Times Literary Supplement)
"Nobody begins to touch Ngaio Marsh’s skill at creating corpses and suspects...her dialogue is a continuous delight." ( New York Herald Tribune)
"The queen of the straight crime novel - long may she reign!" ( Sunday Times)
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I have mixed feelings about writing a review on this novel. It is not necessarily typical Alleyne fayre. He doesn't really feature in it and because of your expectation of him doing so, you wonder why you are getting so much backstory! Also you are involved in the daily running and events of the characters and left wondering when anything is going to happen and when it does, when is it going to be resolved or how!

The narration was fine, although I did not enjoy the over frequent shouting and raising of voices, however it was on occasion difficult to discern who was speaking!

Not my most enjoyed Ngaio Marsh book, but it was interesting for all that. I shall probably have to re-listen to it, now that I do not expect Inspector Alleyne to show up after chapter 3!

I t came across as a very 'worthy' piece.

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While Marsh's prose is as wonderful as ever, the story is not up to her usual standard nor is the mystery which struck me as pretty obvious quite early on. Ric Jerrom is absolutely superb in his narration throughout. He's like a one man Shakespearian play with the perfect degree of pluminess in each character's enunciation, especially the great Shakespearian ac-TOR character, Gaunt. l look forward to more of his portrayals of the Marsh novels. l note that some don't like his pronunciation of Inspector Alleyn's (Allen's) name which he pronounces as "A-lane" but l found it quite insignificant relative to his superbly consistent narration.

Good but not one of her best.

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The narrator Ric Jerrom was superb navigating New Zealand accents, Māori, patrician English, actorly English, everyday men and women and a great calm intelligent voice for Alleyn. This quality of narration (Marsh is lucky to have some great men doing the job) makes an excellent story outstanding.

Quite outstanding narrator

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I really love this series but this was my least favourite. There is a lot of shouting, dodgy accents and a rather dull story

Not one of the best

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I could listen to Ric Jerrom all day & all night . To have him read Ngaio Marsh is to add another layer of delight.

Irresistible audio

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I really didn’t enjoy this book at all. I’ve loved listening to the books in this series so far but found this really difficult to finish. The story is so slow & gets bogged down by mundane details. Ric Jerom was excellent as a narrator but was let down by the story itself. You’re two thirds through the book before the death happens which might not be too bad except the characters are irritating & difficult to like or care about. I doubt I’ll ever listen to this one again. Disappointing after the other books have been so good but hopefully the next in the series will be better.

Not my favourite...

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I love the narration on this, he brought all the characters to vivid life! Next download will be another by him!

Fantastic!

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