Scales of Justice is a 1955 mystery novel by Ngaio Marsh. It's the eighteenth Roderick Alleyn novel.
In the rural village of Swevenings, the local baronet Sir Harold Lacklander has just died, and his last words were the cryptic "Vic... Vic...". He entrusted the publication of his memoirs to his neighbour Colonel Carterette. Sir Harold's son George is having an affair with Mrs. Carterette, while George's son Mark is in love with the Colonel's daughter Rose. The Colonel's ambition is to catch the enormous trout living in the river. Then, shortly after Sir Harold's death, the Colonel is found murdered on the riverbank with the trout beside him.
The book was adapted to television in 1994.
Contains examples of:
- Contrived Coincidence: Lady Lacklander just happens to know Alleyn's mother, which prompts her to personally ask for him to handle the case, and she just happens to make this request right before he's assigned to the case anyway.
- Crazy Cat Lady: Mr. Phinn is a rare male example. He has at least eight cats and is highly eccentric.
- December–December Romance: Or at least October-October Romance; Nurse Kettle is implied to be middle-aged and Commander Syce is definitely middle-aged.
- Formally Named Pet: One of Mr. Phinn's cats is named Miss Paddy-Paws.
- Gold Digger: Kitty had a relationship with a much older man, married another much older man, and is having an affair with yet another older man who she wishes she could marry solely because he is rich, has a title, and owns a large estate.
- Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: Thomasina Twitchett. Mr. Phinn describes her name as "arising out of the usual mistake".
- Master Archer: Commander Syce's hobby is archery, and he's very good at it. This is why Mr. Phinn refuses to believe Syce accidentally shot one of his cats.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Kitty wants to marry George for his money. She's very inconveniently already married, so she decides to murder her husband.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Mr. Phinn outlived his only son Ludovic.
- Parental Marriage Veto: George forbids Mark to marry Rose after an argument with the Colonel.
- Pun-Based Title: The scales in the title aren't the weighing sort, they refer to the fish that plays a major role in solving the crime.
- Red Herring: A literal fish, no less! The trout found by the Colonel's body was planted there to cast suspicion on Mr. Phinn.
- Shout-Out:
- Mr. Phinn named one of his cats after a character in Beatrix Potter's books.
- Rose sings the Clown's song from Twelfth Night, which famously also provided the title for Sad Cypress. It's hard to tell if the intended reference is to Shakespeare, Christie, or both.
- Roderick quotes from Othello. Syce recognises the quotation and points out that although accurate, it was said by Iago, who was hardly a paragon of virtue.