The Crime at Black Dudley

Rating:
Summary: Campion's First Flowering
Review: Margery Allingham is one of the grand dames of British mystery fiction, usual ranked with Sayers, Marsh and Christie. Pretty heady company!! Allingham has, for the most part, a lighter style than the others. Her hero, Albert Campion has much in common with Lord Peter, but he lacks Whimsey's total perfection and flaunts his heritage (and education) a bit less. Initially cast as a 'zany', he has a great deal of fun in him. In later novels he will gradually mature into a genuinely remarkable character.

The Crime at Black Dudley was the first novel in which Campion appears. Written in 1928 when Allingham was 23 (and just recently married) the book is quite a bit different from later volumes. Campion is only sketched in. While an important character, he is by no means the central hero of the plot. And the story is very youth oriented, composed primarily of post-war (WW I) youth vs. villainous older male criminals. The first time I read this book I was of an age with the younger half of the cast. It was something of a shock to read it when I had more in common with the crooks.

The plot is the purest of British mystery confections. A group of young folk are invited to a gloomy, desolate mansion for a week-end frolic as the request of the uncle of one of their number. During a strange game of hide and seek played with an ancient dagger the uncle is murdered. Campion has wormed his way into the party to recieve a set of plans from the old man, which he promptly misplaces, only to have them taken by the real protagonist of the book George Abbershaw. One of the uncles compatriots turns out to be a German master criminal. He wants the plans very badly. badly enough to take the young folks prisoner and demand that they turn over the documents or else. To complicate matters more, Abbershaw destroys the plans in a fit of what can only be described as British ethicality, making everyone very, very unhappy.

Without fail, the plot thickens. Before the book is over you will have crawled through endless secret passages, been rescued by a fox hunt, and chased a cleverly disguised Rolls Royce across England. There is perhaps a little too much silliness going on, but I have begun to suspect that Allingham was pulling our legs straight through to the somewhat melodramatic ending.

All in all a good read. Certainly The Crime at the Black Dudley is not Allingham's best, but it foreshadows many of the novels to come. In her early work Allingham has a bright and distinctive approach to the problems and pleasures of the young men and women of post-war Britain. This gave her a tremendous and well deserved readership that grew up along with her and her erratic hero. Seventy years later she is still wonderful entertainment!

Rating:
Summary: Campion's First Flowering
Review: Margery Allingham is one of the grand dames of British mystery fiction, usual ranked with Sayers, Marsh and Christie. Pretty heady company!! Allingham has, for the most part, a lighter style than the others. Her hero, Albert Campion has much in common with Lord Peter, but he lacks Whimsey's total perfection and flaunts his heritage (and education) a bit less. Initially cast as a 'zany', he has a great deal of fun in him. In later novels he will gradually mature into a genuinely remarkable character.

The Crime at Black Dudley was the first novel in which Campion appears. Written in 1928 when Allingham was 23 (and just recently married) the book is quite a bit different from later volumes. Campion is only sketched in. While an important character, he is by no means the central hero of the plot. And the story is very youth oriented, composed primarily of post-war (WW I) youth vs. villainous older male criminals. The first time I read this book I was of an age with the younger half of the cast. It was something of a shock to read it when I had more in common with the crooks.

The plot is the purest of British mystery confections. A group of young folk are invited to a gloomy, desolate mansion for a week-end frolic as the request of the uncle of one of their number. During a strange game of hide and seek played with an ancient dagger the uncle is murdered. Campion has wormed his way into the party to recieve a set of plans from the old man, which he promptly misplaces, only to have them taken by the real protagonist of the book George Abbershaw. One of the uncles compatriots turns out to be a German master criminal. He wants the plans very badly. badly enough to take the young folks prisoner and demand that they turn over the documents or else. To complicate matters more, Abbershaw destroys the plans in a fit of what can only be described as British ethicality, making everyone very, very unhappy.

Without fail, the plot thickens. Before the book is over you will have crawled through endless secret passages, been rescued by a fox hunt, and chased a cleverly disguised Rolls Royce across England. There is perhaps a little too much silliness going on, but I have begun to suspect that Allingham was pulling our legs straight through to the somewhat melodramatic ending.

All in all a good read. Certainly The Crime at the Black Dudley is not Allingham's best, but it foreshadows many of the novels to come. In her early work Allingham has a bright and distinctive approach to the problems and pleasures of the young men and women of post-war Britain. This gave her a tremendous and well deserved readership that grew up along with her and her erratic hero. Seventy years later she is still wonderful entertainment!