Scales of Justice (Roderick Alleyn, 18), Ngaio Marsh. Felony & Mayhem (ASIN: B00Q3JQMJ0), 2014 (First published in 1955).

Summary: A giant trout beside a murdered aristocrat from one of four families, all having motives or opportunity for murder, in a small rural village.

Nurse Kettle is walking home along the River Chyne when she spots Colonel Maurice Carterette on his side, hat over his head, with a huge trout by his side. Removing the hat, she discovers Colonel Carterette is dead, his skull smashed and pierced by a pointed object. After summoning the local authorities, Lady Lacklander, scion of the leading family in the small village of Swevenings, draws on class ties to summons Roderick Alleyn to investigate.

The murder takes place about halfway into the story, the first half setting up the context in which members of each of the families may be implicated in the murder. The Lacklanders are the leading family. Lady Lacklander’s husband has recently died a troubled death. He entrusted his memoir to Colonel Carterette. One chapter contained explosive material that would be damaging to the whole family if Carterette followed through with publication. Then there is Octavius Danberry-Phinn. He is Carterette’s neighbor and rival in the attempt to catch the Old ‘Un, the huge trout found by the body. Each had access to parts of the river and constantly accused the other of encroaching. Octavius’ son Vic served under Lacklander, committing suicide when accused of passing secrets to the Germans. He may not have wanted Lacklander’s memoir to be published.

Meanwhile, George Lacklander, the son of Lady Lacklander and Kitty Carterette, the Colonel’s second wife are flirting with an affair on the golf course. Yet another possibility is Major Syce, who once was in love with Kitty. He, she, and Colonel Carterette were all in Singapore. He introduced her to Carterette, and upon his return to the village found them married to each other. He’s know for shooting arrows at targets, or when he is under the influence, more widely. Nurse Kettle is treating him for lumbago, enjoying her attentions and stretching out the treatments. Finally, the younger generation is not exempt. Mark Lacklander wants to marry the Colonel’s daughter, a move not universally approved by the two families.

This is the tangled web of close relations and animosities Alleyn finds himself trying to unravel. In the second half of the book, he combines police investigation of clothing, boots, and possible murder instruments with interviews of all the suspects. And a book by Carterette on trout scales gives him one of his most important clues!

I thought this one of Marsh’s best. Not only does she give us an extensive cast of suspects. She also connects them all with each other in the intertwined life of the village aristocracy. Nurse Kettle helps connect the families in the narrative. While Alleyn conducts his measured investigation, he also handles the explosive memoir with care that both protects and restores reputations. Using a classic mystery trope, murder in a small English village, Marsh spins one of her best stories.