Valentine Feris
is a designer of one of London’s top fashion houses. She finds herself falling
in love with the owner of an airplane manufacturing company, until stage
actress Georgia Wells manages to mesmerize the man.
Wells has
something of a history: her first fiancé disappeared and his remains only found
very recently. He had killed himself. She’s married to something of an
obnoxious aristocrat, whom she met while she was engaged. And now she’s on to
Val’s boyfriend.
This is a Margery Allingham
mystery novel, and you might expect Georgia to become a murder victim. Instead,
her husband is killed, and superficial evidence points to Valentine and a case
of a poisoning meant for Georgia going wrong.
Fortunately for
Valentine (nicknamed Val), her brother is Albert Campion, the amateur detective
known for his ability to solve difficult cases. In fact, it is Campion who
finds the body of the unfortunate suicide.
Allingham’s The
Fashion in Shrouds was originally published in 1938, and it is just as
entertaining and intriguing today as it was almost 80 years ago.
 |
| Margery Allingham |
The author wrote
numerous mysteries and other works, and what’s interesting about this one is
how much attention is paid to the descriptions of the characters. At times, the
narrative becomes a series of almost psychological character studies. We get
inside the characters’ heads in ways I haven’t seen in the previous Allingham novels
I’ve read.
Campion finds
himself solving a nest of crimes connected to the suicide and murder, while
desperately trying to keep his sister from being arrested. He moves from the
glamour of high society fashion and hotels to the low life of Soho dives. And
he eventually finds himself in personal danger.
The Fashion in Shrouds is an excellent, satisfying mystery,
showing Allingham at the height of her writing power.
Related:
Top photograph: women’s fashions in 1938.
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