Novel, 1933 A mystery novel, which sets up a very promising ruse and canters along nicely for the first third or so, before it feels as if things run out of steam, just a little, and get ever so slightly bogged down as the action, characters and plot hit a somewhat spooky Suffolk village. There is, happily, a flurry at the end of the book, … Continue reading ‘Sweet Danger,’ by Margery Allingham
Novel, 1945 Crime mystery, set in the last knockings of World War Two, involving a tricky plot of art theft, kidnapping and a cast of fairly diverse and dastardly characters. London has a downbeat, authentic feel to it, with characters raising pigs and living in bombsites, so giving an example of how things are somewhat grim, but treated with a matter-of-fact humour. Albert Campion is … Continue reading ‘Coroner’s Pidgin,’ by Margery Allingham
Novel, 1931 Fairly typical whodunnit, with a gothic edge rendered by an out of the way creepy house and mildly dysfunctional family at the centre of a series of unfolding mysteries. A good pace, too, even allowing for a high number of characters, traits and hints which pull the reader about just like they ought to be. Not a huge amount of peril, but some … Continue reading “Police at the Funeral” by Margery Allingham
Novel, 1955 Essentially, a country house whodunnit, but with mercantile and business characters and some fairly typical moral and other ambiguities popping up here and there. This is a soothing read which handles a large cast of characters and rather fizzles out just as things threaten to really get going. Enjoyable, though neither oddball, tense or mysterious enough to fully grip the attention. The book’s … Continue reading "The Beckoning Lady", by Margery Allingham
Novel, 1937 Lively novel combining crime and mystery, with the familiar characters Campion and Lugg on the side of good, with an unfolding set of events and circumstances which lead to an ever-increasing sense of the inhuman and the grisly. The dead seem to come back to life, local police are found wanting in capability and there are other twists and turns en route. This … Continue reading "The Case of the Late Pig," by Margery Allingham
Novel, 1941 A tangle of a whodunnit in which there’s no corpse and the super sleuth starts the piece far from either super or sleuth-like. While the plot trips over itself a little at times, the pacing and evocation are excellent. There are, in places, excellently evocative passages, and when bits and pieces slowly come together, there’s a pleasure in discovering through the eyes of … Continue reading "Traitor’s Purse," by Margery Allingham
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