Review: Black as He's Painted

Black As He's Painted by Ngaio Marsh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I liked this book, though the comments of some of the anti-black characters struck my 21st-century ear as out of line. For a book written in 1973 they were probably not outrageous.
One of the characters is a funny old bachelor with a cat and I found him quite charming. There was a lot about Alleyn's relationship with his old school chum (now President of an African nation) which I liked as it showed me another side of our hero. I thought the conspiracy at the heart of the mystery was a bit overly-complex and the business with the medallions for the members of the conspiracy was ridiculous.

This is my first book read for the What's in a Name 8 Challenge (a colour in the title).