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Advantages: Golden age of crime Disadvantages: Maybe dated for the modern reader
Think film noir. Trilby hats. Dark shadows. Blackouts and fifth columnists. The year is 1941 and Britain is at war. Albert Campion awakes in a hospital, with no memory of how he got there. In his amnesiac state, all he is aware of is the importance of the number 15 and that the fate of the country depends on him.
He evades a police guard by setting off a fire alarm, posing as a fireman and stealing a car. Allingham's earlier books introduced the world to Campion, a self-effacing yet highly intelligent, aristocratic detective. With his sidekick, former burglar Lugg, he is more usually engaged in solving a murder in an English village, or the pursuit of a long lost treasure. Allingham published crime fiction right up until her death in the 1970's, but 'Sweet Danger' and 'Mystery Mile', both published in the 1930's marked ...
Advantages: Strong storyline, good characterisation Disadvantages: Over-complicated ending
Introduction
Margery Allingham is known as one of the Queens of Crime, and brought her fictional detective stories to the fore between the two world wars. Her main character is Albert Campion, televised by Peter Davison (although frankly, having seen the TV show the other night, I'm not sure that Peter Davison fits my image of Campion). This book is one of the Campion series, yet the detective hardly features in the book, which I actually feel is an advantage - Campion is known as a 'silly-ass', but is really quite a bland character, who adds little to Allingham's novels. If you want to start by reading a book that focuses mainly on Campion to get a feel for him as a character, 'Sweet Danger' or one of the earlier books is a good place to start.
The author
Allingham began her career as a writer by writing film plays into stories ...
