Margery Allingham
Amazon Price: $10.17
List Price: $14.95
Usually ships in 24 hours
By: Felony & Mayhem
Amazon Marketplace: 44
new & used starting at $4.50
|
Buy at Amazon.com
|
Browse similar items by category:
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> Contemporary
Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> General AAS
Subjects -> Mystery & Thrillers -> Authors, A-Z -> ( A ) -> Allingham, Margery
Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6
Average rating: 4.5 of 5
Campion's First Starring Role 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 15 people found this review helpful.
One year after his initial appearance in Crime at the Black Dudley, Albert Campion is back. And what a difference a year makes. This Campion is completely fleshed out. He is now, officially the Universal Aunt (`your adventures undertaken for a fee'). Also present are his regular compatriots Lugg (his man) and Stanislaus Oates of Scotland Yard. And let's not forget Autolycus the Jackdaw (who lays an egg). It is as if Campion has been reinvented out of whole cloth. And it's just wonderful. Campion keeps up a steady patter of nonsense, bad jokes and horrible puns, interspersed with the plants and plots the keep him and his fellow characters alive.
American judge Crowdy Lobbett is saved from one of a series of attempts on his life by Albert's timely intercession with a mouse. As a result Campion is taken on to save the judge from an early demise at the hands of Simister (see The Black Dudley). Lobbett has a clue to Simister's true identity and the evil mastermind intends to remove this threat.
In a stroke of brilliance Campion convinces the Judge to move himself and his family to Mystery Mile at the residence of his two friends Biddy and Giles Paget. This has an inauspicious start when Swithin Cush, the vicar, commits suicide after a session with a palm reader. In short order the Judge disappears and Biddy is kidnapped. The Judge's children Marlowe and Isopel get entangled with the Pagets and typical Allingham version of a Chinese fire drill comes to pass. Allingham's books rarely lack for action, and Mystery Mile is no exception.
Campion often loses in love, but Mystery Mile proves he can win our hearts. He lacks the brilliance of Sayer's Lord Peter Whimsey, but he is by far the cleverer. Bit players like Thomas Knapp and his terrifying mother never fail to enchant, as Allingham shows off a knack at capturing British dialects. This volume spells the establishment of one of mysteries most loved series. One that you will enjoy for many years to come.
Editorial Review:
With his first case (see The Crime at Black Dudley), Albert Campion, that chatty, peculiar young man, scored a genteely British coup. His new client, though, is the very American Judge Crowdy Lobbett. His Honor has come into possession of evidence identifying the criminal mastermind behind a gang that is terrorizing New York, and the gang, in response, has begun terrorizing Judge Lobbett. For safety, Campion sends the Judge and his family to Mystery Mile, a secluded house deep in the British countryside. But that safety is illusory: Soon after their arrival the local vicar is killed - a clear message from the gang. The gang, however, has underestimated Campion. Beneath his stream of banter is a razor-sharp detective's intellect, and while he always has a quip at the ready, he is soon sending deadly serious messages of his own. One of the top 50 mysteries of all time - Los Angeles Times
