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The Fashion in Shrouds (Albert Campion Mystery, #10)

Margery Allingham

Start date: November 15, 2019

Finish date: December 9, 2019

Discussion: Archive: Albert Campion reads

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Archive: Albert Campion reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 14, 2019 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Published in 1938, this is the tenth mystery featuring Albert Campion. In this book we get to meet his sister, Val, a fashion designer, as well as becoming reacquainted with Amanda Fitton from an earlier mystery and who, I believe, he marries later in the series.

Campion is involved in the discovery of the remains of a man, lawyer Richard Portland-Smith, once involved with the actress, Georgia Wells. Georgia is a friend of Val and now remarried to Raymond Ramillies. Like so many Golden Age novel ...more

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Mar 24, 2009 Susan in NC rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: tbr-with-gr-groups, reread

3.5 stars - I listened for this reread, knocked down from the 4 stars I gave it years ago on a first read when I first discovered Allingham. I’ve decided after reading Ngaio Marsh, and rereading Allingham, Christie and Sayers, that I prefer the writing styles of the last two. I don’t know if it’s the passage of time, or personal taste, but with Marsh and Allingham, as clever as they are, I often reread passages trying to figure out what they are trying to say.

This story starts out with the disco 3.5 stars - I listened for this reread, knocked down from the 4 stars I gave it years ago on a first read when I first discovered Allingham. I’ve decided after reading Ngaio Marsh, and rereading Allingham, Christie and Sayers, that I prefer the writing styles of the last two. I don’t know if it’s the passage of time, or personal taste, but with Marsh and Allingham, as clever as they are, I often reread passages trying to figure out what they are trying to say.

This story starts out with the discovery of a body, and our hero, Albert Campion, trying to figure out which of the self-centered, wealthy, shallow suspects (including his sister, fashion designer Valentine), may have been responsible. Two more deaths follow, and almost a murder disguised as suicide of Campion himself, before the bad guy is uncovered - an exciting ending. I think the fun and exciting twist of an ending may have sucked me in years ago, and earned four stars!

This time, however, after more years spent reading and rereading mysteries, the ending didn’t quite make up for all the time spent among the truly awful band of suspects - I could cheerfully strangle the obnoxious actress for the misery she single-handedly causes to several characters! - but it did give an interesting look at the Bright Young Things among the wealthy London elite of the 1930s.

I also truly enjoyed, as always, time spent with Lugg, the dogged Inspector Oates, and the delightful Amanda - I may reread the earlier books where we first meet the young Fittons, they were fun.

Here, everyone is terribly sophisticated and blasé about open infidelity, drugs and self-centered society types like the obnoxious actress, Georgia - I’m no prude, but it was annoying. And the proposal received at the end, from a character who had been courting the woman receiving the proposal, until he openly and very publicly dumped her for a selfish, married man-eater, was truly sickening. I know it’s another time and all, but ick!

I prefer a more straightforward murder mystery a la Christie, or shadowing ECR Lorac’s Inspector Macdonald as he hunts down clues in rural England or war torn London! But the audiobook was enjoyably narrated and well acted, and helped convey Allingham’s meaning more than the passages I read in my paperback copy, so I think I’ll stick with audiobooks for future Allingham reads. ...more

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Sep 14, 2013 Ruth rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery

Lovely, mysterious, and peaceful ( for a murder mystery). That said, anyone whining about the cultural milieu needs to realize that time is linear and novels are pinned to when they are written. You don't like the characters, the language, or what the author says? Fine, stick to reading last week's NYT best sellers--they're obviously for you. Oh, and one more thing: it's FICTION folks-- not the flaming Constitution.

Whew. I didn't realize how annoyed I was at the reviewers with modern axes to gri ...more

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

Shelves: british-mystery, vintage-mystery, mystery

The Fashion in Shrouds (1938) is another entry in the annals of Margery Allingham's detective, Albert Campion. This time, as the back of the book tells us, we have homicide with style. Fashion is the by-word of the circle where murder strikes. Among these people, the suicide of Richard Portland-Smith [not George Wells as he is identified in the blurb] is old news. But Campion has refused to accept it as passe...and, in fact, has been asked by the man's father to get to the bottom of it. As Campi ...more

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Jan 18, 2023 dmayr rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-detective-series, best-of-the-author, crime-in-vintage, books-i-really-enjoyed, quirky-characters, all-about-art-and-fashion

Infatuation is a malady that is ludicrous, sad, excruciating and above all, instantly diagnosable, and this is what afflicts Alan Dell upon meeting seductive actress Georgia Wells, who attracts men like flies and who seems to leave a trail of death in her wake. After a suicide and a suspicious death, Campion's investigation centers on Georgia's circle of friends which was complicated by his own sister's involvement along with affairs, blackmail and backstabbings, as he faces a culprit who is a m ...more

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Feb 12, 2008 Nancy Oakes rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-mystery-fiction, crime-fiction, crime-fiction-uk

First, let's get this part out of the way: who would like this book? If you are following Allingham's delightful series, this one is not to be missed; it is one of the most complex mysteries so far with a very good central plot. And if you are starting the series with this book, you'll miss something, because Amanda Fitton makes her return in this installment, so go back and read them one by one from the beginning.

Enough to whet your appetite with no spoilers: Georgia Wells is a successful actre ...more

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