Tether's End/(English Title = Hide My Eyes/Variant Title = Ten Were Missing)

Rating:
Summary: Now You See Him ...
Review: "Tether's End" is one of Margery Allingham's more atypical works. Rather than take their normal place as main characters, Albert Campion and Charlie Luke appear only occasionally. In each case they serve to provide vital context and to move the plot along, but they do not take part in direct action until the book is almost over.

Instead the tale is about a seemingly unconnected series of killings which Luke is convinced are related somehow. A bus with a strange old couple in it is used to transport a victim from a crime scene and then vanishes. Another old couple sets out for South Africa and disappear. Jewelry from an unsolved murder turns up unexpectedly. All of these event seem to be related to Luke's old stamping grounds, Goff's Square, and Garden Green

While Campion and Luke try to fit the pieces together, the narrator moves on, shifting from the murderer's point of view to that of several important and delightful characters. Annabel Tassie has come t!o London at the invitation of her Aunt Polly. Polly runs a museum of peculiarities that were originally collected by her late husband. Having never met Aunt Polly, Annabel calls on her Richard Waterfield, an old friend to keep an eye out for her. Richard, who is starting out his professional life in the big city, hasn't seen Annabel since he failed to marry her sister and is greatly affected by the changes in his old chum. I believe it takes him about 5 seconds to fall totally under her spell.

It is Richard and Annabel who are the true main characters. Their separate adventures, Annabel with Aunt Polly, and Richard with the murderer that Luke and Campion are hunting, provide the main backdrop for the tense and chilling story of a killer who is gradually spinning out of control. Their paths weave through restaurants, clubs, barbershops, and city dumps until, at last, they come together in the small museum across from Garden Green.

"Tether's End" is an intricate an!d thrilling tale, a disturbing look into the mind of a charming sociopath, and an intriguing study of London life at the end of the 1950's. As she did in "Tiger in the Smoke," Margery Allingham turns from comfortable writing habits to show a rare expertise with psychological fiction. I like this book better than "Tiger in the Smoke," but I'm quite confident that the Allingham fan will find both irresistible.

Rating:
Summary: caveat emptor
Review: Beware -- this book is also published (by The Hogarth Press) under the title "Hide My Eyes." Don't make my mistake and buy the same book twice.