Mr. Campion and Others

I'm not usually a fan of short stories, but I had to read these because I love Ms. Allingham's Campion books so much. These are good stories. The only fault that I had with them is that we didn't get to see the wonderful Lugge in any of them. But we do see Campion and his friend Superintendent Oates of Scotland Yard. We also get some pretty good glimpses into the enigmatic Campion's life around the books. We see a lot of robbery and confidence crimes in these little stories, but they are each great in their own right. Ms. Allingham's skill of great characterization and plotting transfer themselves quite well to the short story venue. We also get really good glimpses of the social background of England during the time just before the Second World War when most of these stories are set.

While Agatha Christie gave us Hercule Poirot, and Dorothy L Sayers produced Lord Peter Wimsey, Margery Allingham created Albert Campion.The Campion books are my favourites from this era, partly because Albert is such an attractive character, with a deceptively foolish expression and a genuine sense of humour. This book is a collection of short stories,from the 1930s, and I give it four stars instead of five because the limitations of the short story format reduce the amount of plot development and the sense of place. Also Albert's sidekick and future wife Amanda is completely absent. However the stories are still worth reading. My favourite's are "The Question Mark", in which a suspected blackmailer turns out to be a much nicer sort of person entirely, and "The Longer View", in which Albert blunders into a kidnapping case:"Campion did not echo the impulsive promise. Long experience of criminals had made him cautious. But there was a rare spark of anger in the shadows behind his eyes"Find a copy, sit down and enjoy.