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Police at the Funeral (Albert Campion Mystery, #4)

Margery Allingham

Start date: July 13, 2018

Finish date: August 10, 2018

Discussion: Buddy reads

Why we're reading this: The next in our series of Allingham buddy reads.
[close] The next in our series of Allingham buddy reads.

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What Members Thought

Mar 05, 2011 Bev rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: british-mystery, vintage-mystery, mystery

Well, I fell in love with Albert Campion all over again. I hadn't read any Margery Allingham books for a good long while and pulled out Police at the Funeral as my final entry in the Out With a Bang Read-a-Thon. I got so wrapped up in Campion's world that I stayed up till midnight just so I could finish it ('cuz I had to know what happened) and claim the whole book for the challenge.

In this novel, Campion is called upon by the fiancée of an old friend to investigate the mysterious disappearance ...more

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May 16, 2011 Abbey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: myst-cosies, myst-set-andor-auth-uk, vintage, myst-fems-project, own, reviewed, myst-pi, series

1931, #4 Albert Campion, Adventurer, London and Cambridge; many secrets come to light when a cantankerous member of a socially prominent - but peculiar - Cambridge family goes missing. Both the book and the tv film are highly recommended for those who enjoy Golden Age puzzle plots. four-and-one-half stars.

The autocratic - and personally remarkable - Mrs. Caroline Farraday rules over her odd family with an iron grip - no soft edges for *this* late-Victorian matriarch, thank you very much! Althoug 1931, #4 Albert Campion, Adventurer, London and Cambridge; many secrets come to light when a cantankerous member of a socially prominent - but peculiar - Cambridge family goes missing. Both the book and the tv film are highly recommended for those who enjoy Golden Age puzzle plots. four-and-one-half stars.

The autocratic - and personally remarkable - Mrs. Caroline Farraday rules over her odd family with an iron grip - no soft edges for *this* late-Victorian matriarch, thank you very much! Although very subtle in her actual wording and behavior, she holds the purse strings and rules her dependents' lives completely, and arbitrarily. And almost all the members of her large family are dependents, having failed at their businesses and, seemingly, their lives as well, and come home to live with Mother/Aunt/Grandmother. Now in her eighties, she may move physically slower now, but her hold on her family is still as strong as it was when she was A Force to Be Reckoned With in society in the 1880s and 1890s.

Pretty much trapped in their gloomy old house of Socrates Close in academic Cambridge, the family bicker among themselves year after year, and slowly disintegrates from within. When the occasionally provocative (in a juvenile way) sixty-year-old Andrew, a bitter but still intelligent and erudite man, goes missing, the family lawyer calls in Campion to try and track him down without publicity or fuss. Things go downhill rapidly, from there, however, and when the first murder victim is found the police must be called in.

Campion moves into the house and finds that the atmosphere is not only cloying, it's lethal, as he strives to come to an understanding of this psychologically damaged - and dangerous! - family, and to solve the murder(s) without those he's come to like being hurt, if possible. Darkly psychological, very slow-paced and introspective, this is still an entertaining read, and likely was very frightening when first published in 1931.

Allingham's writing is, I have found, rather darker than Christie's, more psychologically dependent, and - beneath the foppish mask of the brainless-appearing Campion - very sharply observes society and the many sorts of people therein of the period. She's a very acute observer and an intelligent writer. I always enjoy her work, and this is no exception. Almost her very best writing, it's rather slow-moving for modern tastes, but still fascinating - and dark, dark, dark! Wonderful stuff.

The tv film version of this is superb - it has Peter Davison as Campion and is filled with many familiar faces from British dramas of the 1980s and 1990s ("Andrew" is a particularly familiar face...). Plus the atmosphere of that house and the family dynamics are beautifully rendered. While they do rewrite a bit of the plot here-and-there (i.e., the family members are far more likeable), the revisions are not obtrusive, and the film is, in itself, a lot of fun to watch and puzzle through.
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Jan 18, 2019 Jan C rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery, england, 2019

Fourth in the series. From 1931. Enjoyable Golden Age mystery.

Albert Campion leaves Lugg behind in this one. He does a favor for a friend. There's been a death in his girlfriend's family and the victim's brother is the prime suspect and he doesn't know where he was. The brothers were walking home from church and another fight/dispute and split up. What happened? William doesn't know and Andrew is missing.

One of the quirks of fate that Allingham frequently employs determines that Little Albert ( ...more

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Mar 03, 2009 Susan in NC rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I picked this up at McKay's used bookstore on a whim; I hadn't read an Allingham in years, and like another review I read, I think I tried her when I was reading Sayer's Peter Wimsey mysteries, and what could stack up to them? Well, I'm glad I gave them another try - her writing is crisp, her characters funny and interesting and well-drawn, and I like her humor (typically British and dry - two of my favorites!) I love the period as well, between the wars in Britain (I'm a freak for the Golden Ag ...more

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Dec 31, 2017 Teri-K rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-golden-age, historical-mystery, z-own-kindle

A very good example of the country house murder, where clearly a member of the family is killing everyone else off. I loved all of it until the very end, where incredulous was the only word I could think of. It's very clever, but I can't be happy with such an unlikely series of events, especially the ease with which Campion broke the suspect down. Much too convenient for my taste. Still, 95% of the story was excellent. ...more

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Jan 09, 2018 Yorky Caz rated it it was amazing

My first read of this author and very impressed! Main character is very likeable and does the clever feat of fitting in with the family and the police. Its a bizarre household most of which you wouldnt be sorry to lose but as the book goes on you warm to the characters. Will definitely read more by Allingham.

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