Margery Allingham (1904–1966)

Summary: Mean-spirited pranks against the star actor-dancer in a musical becomes something more when as has-been actresses body is thrown of a bridge in front of the actor at his home.

Have you ever looked into a situation only to sense that if you go further, you will find something that you and others would rather not know? That is the dilemma confronting Campion in the ninth of Allingham’s Campion mysteries.

His friends, “Uncle” William Faraday and Jimmy Sutane, are involved in a musical production of a book written by Uncle William in which Jimmy is the lead actor and dancer. Someone has been performing a series of mean-spirited pranks aimed at Jimmy and they have persuaded Campion to find the culprit.

He joins Faraday and Sutane at a weekend house party interrupted when guests arrive with invitations to a reception Sutane had never planned. His wife and the household staff manage to pull it off, but the butler, disgusted with irregularities like this and the temperamental houseguests who show up, like composer Squire Mercer or the washed up actress Chloe Pye, who wears outfits to show she still has “it.” It’s a bit of a puzzle how Pye made it into the production. One of the more amusing parts of the story is how Lugg fills the role of butler and befriends the Sutane’s daughter.

Things take a more serious turn the night of the impromptu reception. Sutane had been out in his car and as he approaches home a body falls from an overhead bridge right in front of his car and he cannot avoid running over her. The police find him innocent. Pye had already been dead of a medical condition. Campion, who saw both the body and the scene is not so sure that this was an accident. And the more he looks at the case of Chloe Pye, the more he fears discovering truth he does not want to find. He absents himself, pleading other business, leaving Lugg behind.

When more deaths follow, both Inspector Oates and Sutane’s wife, for whom Campion has developed a fondness, want him to return and help figure out what is going on, compelling Campion to pursue the trail of evidence where it leads, as hard as it may be. How will Campion negotiate the path between love, friendship, and uncovering a killer?

In addition to exploring this classic moral dilemma, Allingham portrays a cast of theatre characters in an unflattering light. I wonder if it was just for the story or if Allingham had deeper reservations with the theatre set of her day. Uncle William, the writer (!), seems the only one who truly comes out well here.… (more)

Astonishingly beautiful prose, but not really my thing. I've always meant to read Allingham, as those in crime fiction circles speak very highly of her, and now I see why. Her writing is majestic in its beauty, her characters filled with an admittedly strange and philosophical, but nevertheless palpable inner life, and her sense of irony delightful. I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed the book overly, since it's a kind of British action noir that is not my scene (I've never been into the Hammett/James schools of crime fiction) but one can't deny the richness of the words.… (more)