Customer Reviews

Scales of Justice (Inspector Roderick Alleyn Mysteries)

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I really enjoy Marsh's mysteries, and this one was no exception, in that there was a clever plot with a really devious method of committing murder. However, the characters in this book were not as compelling to me as ones from previous books (_When in Rome_, _Death in a White Tie_, etc.). Still, a very enjoyable read, and a great way to pass the time.

Swevenings is an isolated and insular English district where nothing unpleasant ever seems to happen--until the celebrated Lord Lacklander, on his death bed, passes his memoirs into the hands of Col. Cartarette. And when Col. Cartarette is found unexpectedly murdered on the banks of the Chyne River, Inspector Roderick Alleyn of Scotland Yard must determine whether foul play arises from an unknown explosive in Lacklander's memoirs or from a less obvious but no less lethal source.

As is often the case with Marsh, the beauty of the SCALES OF JUSTICE lies not so much in the unfolding plot as it does in the characters and their setting, and Swevenings and the Chyne Valley offers her tremendous scope, ranging from the formidable Lady Lacklander to the eccentrically cat-happy Mr. Danberry-Phinn to the alcoholic archer Commander Syce. Among her most interesting creations here is Nurse Kettle, a commonsense if excessively arch woman whose pleasing personality actually tempts Alleyn's sidekick Fox to reconsider his bachelor state!

Marsh often writes in such a way as to allow the reader to anticipate the killer, but such is not the case with SCALES OF JUSTICE, and many will find the means of the crime ingenious and the solution startling, with both a legendary fish locally known as "The Old 'Un" and the wandering feline Thomasina Twitchett providing unexpected clues along the way. A thoroughly enjoyable outing from start to finish.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

Swevenings is a post card pretty little English village. The cottages are, with two known exceptions, tidy. The villagers are happy and like things just the way they are. Lord and Lady Lacklander are respected and admired. Then, suddenly after the death of the old lord things get messy. It turns out that Swevenings may look like heaven but is actually hiding a very painful and ugly secret, one that the old lord wanted exposed and one that costs his best friend his life.

You have the sensible nurse, the village drunk, the not crazy at all eccentric, the grande dame, the cloying young lovers and of course the bleached blonde outsider. Into this mix comes our handsome detective. He's not a flashy genius or a talented amateur. He's a cop, albeit one with a distinguished family background. His humor is gentle, his habits are unremarkable. He just keeps plugging away until he solves this case becuase it's his job and becuase the crime offends his sense of decency.

Scales of Justice is classic example of the cozy msystery and it pretty much unrolls the way you'd expect it to. By the end of the book things have been set right and life in Swevenings goes back to the bland sweetness of before. It's a pleasant way to spend a few hours.

Despite the difficulties for contemporary Americans with Marsh's use of the British language (i.e. lots of odd & rather opaque & perhaps dated colloquialisms), she definitely has a way with words. The title is a pun on fish scales since trout are prominent & important to the storyline--and the solution to the mystery. I liked her droll humor in "doling out the lesser stimulants of courtship in positively homeopathic doses...Mrs. Cartarette swung, as Lady Lacklander angrily notices, everything that a woman could swing" & Phinn's description of portly Lady Lacklander: "Lady Brobdignagia [from Swift], the Dowager Tun, the Mammoth Matriarch." I found the book clever and quite enjoyable. Better than several of Marsh's other works--though, perhaps not her best. The murder method is unusual, the red herrings many, the usual cast of police characters (Alleyn, Fox, etc.), but the characterizations were IMHO a bit extreme--somewhat one-dimensional for some, except for the scene between Mrs. C. & the nurse. This novel is included in some multi-novel books such as FIVE COMPLETE NOVELS SCALES OF JUSTICE DEATH OF A FOOL TIED UP IN TINSEL GRAVE MISTAKE PHOTO FINISH. Enjoy!

I blame the person who wrote a review for: Artists in crime, for my intense dissapointment. Marsh's work was compared favorably to A. Christie in that review. How sadly not true for me. I enjoy Christie but Marsh's silly phrases and characters, incomprehensible words even by the aid of a dictionary (tarradiddle, shooting stool), gushing old fashioned emotionality and naivity, do not appeal to me. I've read two books by Marsh. I hurried through the end of both to get rid of the "oh so boring" characters not because I was so excited over who the killer was. A dissapointing ending to say the least. "A do not read" is my opinion.

English countryside, aristocratic detective, quirky characters, humor -- what more does one want. This was the first Inspector Alleyn I've read and the best so far.