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The Margery Allingham Omnibus
This volume includes the detective novels Mystery Mile, the Crime at Black Dudley and Look to the Lady.
Allingham's nerdy detective, Albert Campion, has few social skills but a razor sharp mind. "His friends invariably underestimated Campion - so did his victims."
Allingham's nerdy detective, Albert Campion, has few social skills but a razor sharp mind. "His friends invariably underestimated Campion - so did his victims."
592 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1983
About the author
Margery Allingham
261 books613 followersAka Maxwell March.
Margery Louise Allingham was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a family of writers. Her father, Herbert John Allingham, was editor of The Christian Globe and The New London Journal, while her mother wrote stories for women's magazines as Emmie Allingham. Margery's aunt, Maud Hughes, also ran a magazine. Margery earned her first fee at the age of eight, for a story printed in her aunt's magazine.
Soon after Margery's birth, the family left London for Essex. She returned to London in 1920 to attend the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), and met her future husband, Philip Youngman Carter. They married in 1928. He was her collaborator and designed the cover jackets for many of her books.
Margery's breakthrough came 1929 with the publication of her second novel, The Crime at Black Dudley . The novel introduced Albert Campion, although only as a minor character. After pressure from her American publishers, Margery brought Campion back for Mystery Mile and continued to use Campion as a character throughout her career.
After a battle with breast cancer, Margery died in 1966. Her husband finished her last novel, A Cargo of Eagles at her request, and published it in 1968.
Also wrote as: Maxwell March
Margery Louise Allingham was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a family of writers. Her father, Herbert John Allingham, was editor of The Christian Globe and The New London Journal, while her mother wrote stories for women's magazines as Emmie Allingham. Margery's aunt, Maud Hughes, also ran a magazine. Margery earned her first fee at the age of eight, for a story printed in her aunt's magazine.
Soon after Margery's birth, the family left London for Essex. She returned to London in 1920 to attend the Regent Street Polytechnic (now the University of Westminster), and met her future husband, Philip Youngman Carter. They married in 1928. He was her collaborator and designed the cover jackets for many of her books.
Margery's breakthrough came 1929 with the publication of her second novel, The Crime at Black Dudley . The novel introduced Albert Campion, although only as a minor character. After pressure from her American publishers, Margery brought Campion back for Mystery Mile and continued to use Campion as a character throughout her career.
After a battle with breast cancer, Margery died in 1966. Her husband finished her last novel, A Cargo of Eagles at her request, and published it in 1968.
Also wrote as: Maxwell March
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 4, 2020
DAME AGATHA AND PEERS COLLECTTIONS
I've read the first 3 in Allingham's Albert Campion (Ode to the one and only Agatha Christie? The reason it often feels as if Campion is just there as a placeholder? Neither? Both?) and here is my summary:
......................>......................My Rating-----------Goodreads Rating
The Crime at Black Dudley 1.4 ----------------------3.62
Mystery Mile 3.0----------------------3.90
Look to the Lady 2.6---------------------- 3.95
AVERAGE 2.39---------------------3.82
This tells us obviously...absolutely nothing.
But let's move on to a later Campion book to see if we can find some kind of trend:
Flowers for the Judge--------------- 3.4-----------------------3.99
This tells us, perhaps, that we agree Allingham improves further along in her career. And, it also tells us that goodreads readers as well as myself feel that The Crime at Black Dudley, on average, is the weakest of the four, and that we agree Flowers for the Judge is the strongest. Then again, one can argue again none of this means anything other than we like authors from The Golden Age of Mystery, an absolute certainty.
I've read the first 3 in Allingham's Albert Campion (Ode to the one and only Agatha Christie? The reason it often feels as if Campion is just there as a placeholder? Neither? Both?) and here is my summary:
......................>......................My Rating-----------Goodreads Rating
The Crime at Black Dudley 1.4 ----------------------3.62
Mystery Mile 3.0----------------------3.90
Look to the Lady 2.6---------------------- 3.95
AVERAGE 2.39---------------------3.82
This tells us obviously...absolutely nothing.
But let's move on to a later Campion book to see if we can find some kind of trend:
Flowers for the Judge--------------- 3.4-----------------------3.99
This tells us, perhaps, that we agree Allingham improves further along in her career. And, it also tells us that goodreads readers as well as myself feel that The Crime at Black Dudley, on average, is the weakest of the four, and that we agree Flowers for the Judge is the strongest. Then again, one can argue again none of this means anything other than we like authors from The Golden Age of Mystery, an absolute certainty.
October 10, 2019
Margery Allingham's series of short stories has a tribute by Agatha Christie who praises her as a "shining light". One of the characteristics of her writing is that often a story or book has an element of eerie, memorable, scenes as the first story in our Book.But then Allingham's second story has a bitterly sweet, cynical element to it. Each story helps you realize what a consummate Writer she is and how in a few pages she will set an atmosphere... so remarkable... as to leave you within it for a day or two.
This book is a series of stories from a Golden Age Writer at the top of her ability. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Five Stars.
My thanks to Netgalley and Agora Books
This book is a series of stories from a Golden Age Writer at the top of her ability. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did. Five Stars.
My thanks to Netgalley and Agora Books
March 27, 2010
These didn't just blow my mind, but several of the stories had a delicious creepiness to them that merited the 4th star in my opinion. I was also surprised to find that these weren't detective/mystery short stories. They were more spooky than that.
January 7, 2016
The mysterious Albert Campion and his gloriously named general factotum Magersfontein Lugg were the wonderful creations of Margery Allingham, who in the golden age of mystery writing was every bit as good as Josephine Tey, Ngnaio Marsh or Dorothy L Sayers in the plots and parless adventures she gave Campion and Lugg to battle through.
Country houses, lush English countryside and gritty cityscapes give Allingham's Campion plenty of ground to cover and the collection of flatfooted policemen, gossipy duchesses and ditsy society girls that are strewn in his path all add to the fun.
A great collection for a winter's day by the fire.
Country houses, lush English countryside and gritty cityscapes give Allingham's Campion plenty of ground to cover and the collection of flatfooted policemen, gossipy duchesses and ditsy society girls that are strewn in his path all add to the fun.
A great collection for a winter's day by the fire.
September 16, 2018
Margery Allingham, Agatha Christie, and Ngaio Marsh are my absolute favorites from this Golden Era of murder mysteries. For me Dorothy L. Sayers comes in at #4.
March 21, 2024
The Campion Omnibus features The Crime At Black Dudley, Mystery Mile and Look To The Lady. The first book is the weakest, but then we have a young author at the beginning of her career; Campion is not even the main character in the book, just an entertaining minor player. The story itself is quite melodramatic an unsatisfactory, and sometimes when I start reading my Campions again, I miss it out. Nonetheless, the setting is well-drawn and the dialogue is well written.
The second story, Mystery Mile centres on Albert Campion, and is more satisfactory, although published only a year later. Like the previous book, it takes the idea of a professional criminal gang operating across borders, with ruthless efficiency and great secrecy. The book is mostly set in rural England, but there is a chapter in London with Thomas Knapp and his grotesque mother which is hilarious. The action is well-described and fast-moving, and the final denouement with the criminal kingpin wasn't like anything I have read before. A really excellent adventure with hilarious dialogue and plenty of incidents. The characters involved in the romantic aspect of the story are stock characters, but the gallery of rogues and minor criminals are funny and menacing where they need to be.
The third book, Mystery Mile, really made me appreciate Ms Allingham's ability to create a setting. It starts off in a very overheated London, and then moves to the gloriously sunny Suffolk countrywide, with forays out into the evening to investigate possible supernatural occurrences. Is this just a criminal case - or are there supernatural elements to be overcome? Read and find out!
I enjoyed the three stories for different reasons, and I do think you can see the author quickly developing her characters. She has the ability to conjure up a very threatening atmosphere, and Campion is a witty companion who talks hilarious nonsense - sometimes annoying his companions when he does so.
I suppose I should add that this book was written by a privileged young woman, and is set among upper class "old money" types. It is more than suggested that Campion himself is the son of a very aristocratic family, and that he is operating under an assumed name. Most of the working class or peasantry are there to provide either local colour or criminal connections, which we are assured, are a class of people that Campion knows very well, and is known to them under a variety of assumed names.
I would recommend this entire series. I haven't gone into great detail about incidents in the individual plots, because I don't like to risk introducing spoilers, but trust me, they are there! Ms Allingham set her books contemporaneously, and we see locations and attitudes change over the course of the 40 years she was writing. As I said, she is excellent at conjuring up threatening atmospheres, entertaining dialogue, and the plots improve as her writing develops.
The second story, Mystery Mile centres on Albert Campion, and is more satisfactory, although published only a year later. Like the previous book, it takes the idea of a professional criminal gang operating across borders, with ruthless efficiency and great secrecy. The book is mostly set in rural England, but there is a chapter in London with Thomas Knapp and his grotesque mother which is hilarious. The action is well-described and fast-moving, and the final denouement with the criminal kingpin wasn't like anything I have read before. A really excellent adventure with hilarious dialogue and plenty of incidents. The characters involved in the romantic aspect of the story are stock characters, but the gallery of rogues and minor criminals are funny and menacing where they need to be.
The third book, Mystery Mile, really made me appreciate Ms Allingham's ability to create a setting. It starts off in a very overheated London, and then moves to the gloriously sunny Suffolk countrywide, with forays out into the evening to investigate possible supernatural occurrences. Is this just a criminal case - or are there supernatural elements to be overcome? Read and find out!
I enjoyed the three stories for different reasons, and I do think you can see the author quickly developing her characters. She has the ability to conjure up a very threatening atmosphere, and Campion is a witty companion who talks hilarious nonsense - sometimes annoying his companions when he does so.
I suppose I should add that this book was written by a privileged young woman, and is set among upper class "old money" types. It is more than suggested that Campion himself is the son of a very aristocratic family, and that he is operating under an assumed name. Most of the working class or peasantry are there to provide either local colour or criminal connections, which we are assured, are a class of people that Campion knows very well, and is known to them under a variety of assumed names.
I would recommend this entire series. I haven't gone into great detail about incidents in the individual plots, because I don't like to risk introducing spoilers, but trust me, they are there! Ms Allingham set her books contemporaneously, and we see locations and attitudes change over the course of the 40 years she was writing. As I said, she is excellent at conjuring up threatening atmospheres, entertaining dialogue, and the plots improve as her writing develops.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews