"The Return of Mr. Campion: Stories" by Margery Allingham

I’ve been a fan of Margery Allingham (1904-1966) and her fictional private detective Albert Campion since I first started reading her novels in the 1970s. Allingham was one of the queens of the Golden Age of Mystery (1920s-1940s), and her books remain in print more than half a century after her death. 

Allingham began publishing in 1923 when she was only 19. But it was The Crime at Black Dudley in 1929 that established her as one of the best mystery writers of the era. That story introduced Campion, a private detective who has assumed his name because he’s actually a title in one of Britain’s leading aristocratic families. His “man” or butler, Magersfontein Lugg, a convicted felon who has seen the inside of prison, also contributed to Allingham’s success. 

Campion lives in a flat on Bottle Street in Piccadilly in London, right above a police station. Bottle Street is a fictitious cul-de-sac, but real institutions close by include the Royal Academy of Arts, Fortnum & Mason, and the Ritz Hotel. Piccadilly Circus is close by on the east, as is Green Park on the west.

The recently published The Return of Mr. Campion is a collection of 13 stories by Allingham, not all of which feature the detective. In fact, most of them don’t include her star character. The stories are all good ones, and the non-Campion stories help display the broader extent of Allingham’s talent. 

In “The Case is Altered,” Campion travels to the estate of friends for a weekend house party, and a letter suggesting a late-night tryst at the fountain in the garden ends up in the wrong hands. “The Dog Day” involves the detective accidentally overhearing the name of a dog, which turns out to be something of a spoiler.

In “The Wind Glass,” a Japanese gentleman studying in Britain falls in love with a young English woman in his class. He formally asks her father for her hand in marriage, and the English family reacts as if insulted. The man is humiliated and sends a gift of wind chimes that will almost be the family’s undoing. “The Beauty King” is about a hairdresser who develops a secret process that can transform women, but he doesn’t realize his greatest triumph. In a similar story, “The Kernel of Truth,” a man is willed a punch recipe that creates a phenomenal sense of well-being, if it’s mixed exactly right. 

Campion is back in “The Black Tent,” and during a party he sees a beautiful teenaged girls use a knife to jimmy open a library drawer – which will lead to the apprehension of a trans-Atlantic blackmailer. In “The Curious Affair in Nut Row,” Campion is merely a listener to a story told by a policeman. “What to Do with an Aging Detective” is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek story, involving both an elderly Campion and an even-more-elderly Magersfontein Lugg. “Tall Story” finds Campion again listening to a policeman’s story about a crime that appeared to be impossible to commit and prove.

Margery Allingham

“Sweet and Low” is something of a love story, involving horses, country estates, and the hero almost ending up with the wrong fiancée. In “Once in a Lifetime,” a well-known actress is on a train, arranging her large number of bags to discourage others from sharing her compartment. One man, however, barges in, and she hopes he doesn’t recognize her as his first young love. Or does she? “Happy Christmas” is about a young family, unexpectedly left to themselves for the holiday, who learn what the spirit of the season actually means. “The Wisdom of Esdras” is a ghost story, set in a large cottage in the country, with a guest who becomes almost desperate to help a ghostly girl. 

The collection includes two non-fiction articles by Allingham. “My Friend Mr. Campion” describes how the author came to invent the detective, explaining how he appeared in the first novel that featured him. And the introduction, “Mystery Writer in the Box,” is a delightful essay on the art of writing mystery stories. 

The Return of Mr. Campion is a welcome addition to the published novels and stories of one of the big names of the Golden Age. It also works by itself and could serve as an introduction to Allingham’s work.

Related:

Campion at Christmas by Margery Allingham.

Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham.

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham.

Two by Allingham: an almost Gothic and a Campion.

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham.

The Mind Readers by Margery Allingham.
The China Governess by Margery Allingham.

The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham.

The Allingham Casebook by Margery Allingham.

Margery Allingham’s The Case of the Late Pig.

Margery Allingham’s Flowers for the Judge.

Margery Allingham’s Death of a Ghost.

Margery Allingham’s Black Plumes.

Margery Allingham’s Look to the Lady.

Margery Allingham’s Police at the Funeral.

The Essential Margery Allingham Collection.

Margery Allingham Box Set #2.

Margery Allingham’s The Fashion in Shrouds.

The Margery Allingham Society.

Top photograph: British actor Peter Davison as Albert Campion in the 1980s television series.

"Campion at Christmas" by Margery Allingham

Private detective Albert Campion celebrated Christmas. Who knew? 

Margery Allingham’s (1904-1966) fictional detective was famous during the Golden Age of Mystery, roughly the 1920s to the 1940s. He starred in 18 of her mystery novels and numerous short stories. Four of those stories have been collected and recently published as Campion at Christmas.

“On Christmas Day in the Morning” poses a “locked room” kind of mystery, but without the locked room. A postman is found by the side of the road, the victim of a hit-and-run driver. A suspect is in custody, having crashed his car sometime later. But the old lady in a cottage some distance off the road received her daily mail – at the time the postman would have been killed.

“Happy Christmas” finds a young couple named the Robinsons facing a guest-less Christmas. They’re rather well known for collecting Victoriana artifacts, and a living Victoriana artifact is in the flat at the top of their building – an aging lady whose heyday was the Victorian period. She’s becomes part of their neo-Victorian holiday celebration, but is everything really as it looks?

“The Case of the Man with the Sack” involves Campion being invited to a country house celebration for Christmas. And it promises to be a rather tense, depressing affairs. Some valuable jewels are stolen, and it looks like Santa Claus is the thief.

And “Word in Season” has Poins, the red setter belonging to Campion and his wife Amanda, pondering whether or not he should speak. Very few people know that dogs have the gift of human speech during the hour before midnight on Christmas Eve. Poins knows of both good and bad things that have happened to his canine friends when they exercised this ability. And a sharp disagreement (one can’t imagine Campion having a fight) between the Campions looks like it will force the dog’s hand, er, paw.

Margery Allingham

Allingham began publishing in 1923 when she was only 19. But it was The Crime at Black Dudley in 1929 that established her as one of the best mystery writers of the era. That story introduced Campion, a private detective who has assumed his name because he’s actually a title in one of Britain’s leading aristocratic families. His “man” or butler, Magersfontein Lugg, a convicted felon who has seen the inside of prison, also contributed to Allingham’s success. 

Campion at Christmas is an easy, fast read (it can be read start to finish in less than an hour). It’s also rather a charming collection of stories, and a treat for those of us Campion fans who still enjoy the detective whom everyone usually overlooks.

Related:

Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham.

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham.

Two by Allingham: an almost Gothic and a Campion.

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham.

The Mind Readers by Margery Allingham.
The China Governess by Margery Allingham.

The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham.

The Allingham Casebook by Margery Allingham.

Margery Allingham’s The Case of the Late Pig.

Margery Allingham’s Flowers for the Judge.

Margery Allingham’s Death of a Ghost.

Margery Allingham’s Black Plumes.

Margery Allingham’s Look to the Lady.

Margery Allingham’s Police at the Funeral.

The Essential Margery Allingham Collection.

Margery Allingham Box Set #2.

Margery Allingham’s The Fashion in Shrouds.

The Margery Allingham Society.

Top photograph by Craig Whitehead via Unsplash. Used with permission.

"Dancers in Mourning" by Margery Allingham

As William Farraday writes his memoirs, he realizes that much of his life has been something less than exciting. So, he embellishes a bit. Even more than a bit. When the book is published under the title “Memoirs of an Old Duffer,” it becomes a hit. And then it becomes a successful musical in London’s West End, starring one of the top performers in the business, Jimmy Sutane.

For one performance, Farraday brings his friend Albert Campion. The purpose is for Campion to meet Jimmy Sutane after the show. Someone has been playing pranks on Sutane, and the pranks are becoming increasingly vicious.

Campion visits the Sutane home, 20 miles outside London, and discovers tensions simmering just below the polite surface. He also finds Sutane’s wife, Linda, and Campion finds himself complicating what he’s supposed to be doing by falling in love. The other guests are all connected to the theater and “those theatrical people” are always overly dramatic.

And then a dancer is killed in what appears to be an accident. More deaths follow. Because of Linda, Campion tries to avoid getting entangled. But his entanglement is inevitable.

Dancers in Mourning was first published by Mystery Golden Age writer Margery Allingham (1904-1966) in 1937. The mark of an Allingham novel is a good mystery combined with a touch of romance, but it’s surprising that the romance in this story involves Campion and the wife of one of the suspects.

Margery Allingham

Allingham began publishing in 1923 when she was only 19. But it was The Crime at Black Dudley in 1929 that established her as one of the best mystery writers of the era. That story introduced Campion, a private detective who has assumed his name because he’s actually a title in one of Britain’s leading aristocratic families. His “man” or butler Magersfontein Lugg, a convicted felon who has seen the inside of prison, also contributed to Allingham’s success, and in this story Campion loans him to Linda when her butler quits.

Dancers in Mourning is an excellent mystery, one that jeeps the reader guessing (and Campion himself guessing) all the way to the end.

Related:

The White Cottage Mystery by Margery Allingham.

Two by Allingham: an almost Gothic and a Campion.

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham.

The Mind Readers by Margery Allingham.
The China Governess by Margery Allingham.

The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham.

The Allingham Casebook by Margery Allingham.

Margery Allingham’s The Case of the Late Pig.

Margery Allingham’s Flowers for the Judge.

Margery Allingham’s Death of a Ghost.

Margery Allingham’s Black Plumes.

Margery Allingham’s Look to the Lady.

Margery Allingham’s Police at the Funeral.

The Essential Margery Allingham Collection.

Margery Allingham Box Set #2.

Margery Allingham’s The Fashion in Shrouds.

The Margery Allingham Society.

Top photograph: the Palace Theatre in London’s West End, which first opened in 1891.

"The White Cottage Mystery" by Margery Allingham

Margery Allingham (1904-1966) published her first novel in 1923, when she was all of 19 years old. Although the novel didn’t do well financially, she continued to write and publish plays, verse and stories. And then, in 1929, she struck gold with a new detective Albert Campion, and it was Campion that rocketed his creator into the front ranks of the Golden Age of Mystery writers.

Two years before Campion’s first appearance, Allingham wrote a serialized story for the Daily Express, entitled The White Cottage Mystery. It was published in book form in 1928. It’s a complete story, but it has the feel of a serialized narrative – dramatic, cliffhanging chapter endings and sudden narrative developments that keep the reader guessing.

Jerry Chaloner is a young man with a fast sports car. Driving through a small town, he gives a pretty girl a lift; she’s walking with a limp from a blister on her foot. She lives with her sister and brother-in-law at what’s called White Cottage. The girl goes inside, and Jerry begins to talk with a passing policeman, until they hear a gunshot. They rush inside the house and discover a body with a gunshot to the chest. The victim turns out to be Eric Crowther, the next-door neighbor.

As it turns out, just about everyone has a motive, and the opportunity, to have shot Crowther. The suspects include Norah Bayliss, the young woman with the blister; Eva Christenson, Norah’s sister and mistress of White Cottage; Eva’s husband Roger, confined to a wheelchair because of a war injury; several servants at White Cottage; and even several members of Crowther’s household next-door.

Margery Allingham

As it turns out, Jerry Chaloner’s father is Detective Chief Inspector W.T. Chaloner of Scotland Yard, which Jerry announces rather breathlessly and dramatically at the end of the first chapter. And DCI Chaloner is known for catching his villains. And in this case, he will chase suspects from rural England to the French Riviera and back again.

Except this time, he might not catch his villain. By choice.

The White Cottage Mystery is a fast-paced, fun read, occasionally verging on the melodramatic but stepping back before it becomes too unbelievable. It also offers a small window into how newspapers once serialized fiction.

Related:

Two by Allingham: An almost Gothic and a Campion

More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham.

The Mind Readers by Margery Allingham.
The China Governess by Margery Allingham.

The Beckoning Lady by Margery Allingham.

The Allingham Casebook by Margery Allingham.

Margery Allingham’s The Case of the Late Pig.

Margery Allingham’s Flowers for the Judge.

Margery Allingham’s Death of a Ghost.

Margery Allingham’s Black Plumes.

Margery Allingham’s Look to the Lady.

Margery Allingham’s Police at the Funeral.

The Essential Margery Allingham Collection.

Margery Allingham Box Set #2.

Margery Allingham’s The Fashion in Shrouds.

The Margery Allingham Society.

Top photograph by Annie Spratt via Unsplash. Used with permission.