An Albert Campion Mystery
1 primary work • 10 total works
Book 4
'So where exactly did Albert Campion stand on the Abdication?' 'Behind the throne, slightly to the left?' suggested Commander Charles Luke.
Margery Allingham's Mr Campion finds himself masquerading as technical advisor to a very suspicious but glamorous Italian film producer and her crew hunting for buried treasure that never was in the Suffolk village of Heronhoe near Pontisbright which used to host trysts between Edward VIII and Mrs Wallis Simpson.
'When it came to the Abdication Crisis in '36 those dirty week-ends in Heronhoe were quickly forgotten, except not by the Prince. The story goes - that when he married Mrs Simpson, in 1937 that would be, he actually sent a valuable thank you gift to Heronhoe. That was what became known as the Abdication Treasure although there's no record of anything going to Heronhoe Hall, or of anybody ever receiving anything from the Duke of Windsor and nobody anywhere claims to have actually seen anything resembling treasure.'
'So how is Albert Campion involved? You said the treasure doesn't exist.'
'It doesn't,' Lord Breeze said firmly, 'and I have been instructed to tell you to tell Campion, that unless he wants to risk embarrassing Buckingham Palace, he'd better lay off. There's no such thing as the Abdication Treasure, so there's nothing to find and Campion had better make sure he doesn't find it!'
A request from the Danish Ambassador leads Albert Campion into a baffling murder case in this finely crafted historical mystery.
The Danish Ambassador has requested Albert Campion's help on 'a delicate family matter'. He's very concerned about his eighteen-year-old daughter, who has formed an attachment to a most unsuitable young man. Recruiting his unemployed actor son, Rupert, to keep an eye on Frank Tate, the young man in question, Mr Campion notes some decidedly odd behaviour on the part of the up-and-coming photographer. Before he can act on the matter, however, both the Ambassador's daughter and her beau disappear without trace. Then a body is discovered in a lagoon.
With appearances from all of Margery Allingham's regular characters, from Campion's former manservant Lugg, to his wife Lady Amanda Fitton and others, this witty and elegant mystery is sure to delight Allingham's many fans. The dialogue is sharp and witty, the observation keen, and the climax is thrilling and eerily atmospheric.
"Pop has never talked about what he did in the war . Whatever he did, it was pretty secret stuff": the intriguing new Albert Campion mystery.
Campions young and old, extended family members and loyal friends are gathered at the Dorchester Hotel to celebrate Albert Campion's seventieth birthday - along with some intriguing, unrecognizable guests. Who exactly are the mysterious, aristocratic, scar-faced German, Freiherr Robert von Ringer, and the elegantly chic Madame Thibus - and what is their connection to Mr Campion?
Campion has decided the time has come to enthral his guests with his account of his wartime experiences in Vichy France more than twenty-five years before, but in doing so he unveils a series of extraordinary events. Why here, and why now? Not least as Campion's shocking revelations have repercussions which reverberate to the present day, putting one of his guests in deadly danger . . .
An intriguing case of higher education and lower morals: the entertaining new Albert Campion mystery.
Suffolk, 1970. Albert Campion is back in Black Dudley, once the scene of murder and mayhem but now home to the brand-new University of Suffolk Coastal. Appointed to the role of the university's Visitor, Campion finds he has a curiously vague remit, but his initial visit to the concrete campus takes an unexpected turn when the body of charismatic Chilean professor Pascual Perez-Catalan, a rising star and genius scientist in the field of geochemistry, is fished out of the ornamental lake.
It seems Pascual was unpopular among his fellow academics and lecturers, his trail-blazing research taking up most of the university's new computing capacity . . . and he was also a keen ladies man. Drawn into another puzzling murder, Campion must negotiate internal politics, seething jealousy and resentment, blackmail, betrayal and a phantom trumpeter as he searches for a ruthless killer.
"Ripley spins a head-scratching whodunit while effectively recreating Allingham's tone and characters. This clever continuation of a beloved series keeps getting better" - Publishers Weekly Starred Review
The truth is stranger than fiction for Albert Campion in this gripping mystery where murder, detective novels and the supernatural collide.
1946, London. The eagerly anticipated new detective novel from Albert Campion's godsibling, bestselling author Evadne Childe, is proving to be another runaway success. Unfortunately, it has also caught the attention of Superintendent Stanislaus Oates for reasons that go beyond its superior plotting.
The crime at the heart of The Bottle Party Murder bears a number of striking similarities to a very real, recent and unsolved murder at the Grafton Club in Soho. Evadne wrote the book before the murder occurred, yet predicts it remarkably accurately - is it just a weird coincidence, is Evadne getting her information from 'the other side', or is something more sinister afoot?
The repercussions of this extraordinary and complex case will reach out over the next fifteen years, drawing in three of Mr Campion's favourite policemen - Oates, Yeo and Luke - before finally coming to its violent conclusion in 1962.
Albert Campion is in the bleak, remote and very muddy village of Wicken on the Essex coast on a mission to rescue Dame Jocasta's dog, but soon finds himself sinking into something far more dangerous.
East coast of England, 1971. Harvard student Mason Clay is writing a thesis on a group of settlers who travelled to America from the remote Essex coastal village of Wicken-juxta-Mare 300 years ago. Clay plans to visit Wicken as part of his research, and who better assist him with all things Essex than Albert Campion?
But Wicken is already firmly on Campion's radar thanks to Dame Jocasta Upcott's luxury yacht found beached on a mudbank close to the village, its captain very stuck - and very dead - in the mud. Was it a bizarre accident or something more sinister? Agreeing to Dame Jocasta's request to recover her beloved pet pooch, Robespierre, Campion finds himself in Wicken, surrounded by suspicious locals and tales of witchcraft, and soon discovers its past is linked to a number of current disturbing events . . .
A gruesome discovery at an aircraft hanger leads Albert Campion into a turbulent mystery set in Cambridge in the middle of the Cold War.
"Ripley again marries a crafty plotline with a persuasive evocation of Allingham's style and characterizations. Fans of the originals will be delighted"- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
"I have often said that my wife is a constant surprise to me."
Cambridge, 1965. The honorary doctorate ceremony for Albert Campion's wife takes a dramatic turn when Lady Amanda is arrested by Special Branch for breaking the Official Secrets Act.
Never before having taken much interest in his wife's work in cutting-edge aircraft design, Mr Campion sets out to discover more about the top-secret Goshawk Project in which Amanda is involved. He quickly realizes he is not the only one keen to learn the secrets of the project.
When a badly mutilated body is discovered at the Goshawk Project's hangar - the result, it would appear, of a bizarre accident - Campion is drawn into a turbulent mix of industrial espionage and matters of national security. And as he attempts to get to the bottom of the deadly goings-on, it seems that the bicycles and punts are almost as dangerous as the aircraft . . .
Albert Campion travels to Dorset as he attempts to get to the bottom of a series of shocking events connected to a TV adaptation of one of Evadne Childe's famous novels.
"Ripley's brilliant inventiveness demonstrates that golden age characters and tropes can still work for contemporary fair-play fans"- Publishers Weekly Starred Review
London, 1972. The Evadne Childe Society has gathered in honour of what would have been the author's eighty-second birthday, and Albert Campion is there as a reluctant guest speaker and ceremonial birthday cake cutter.
But Campion's oratory skills aren't the only thing in demand. A TV remake of a twenty-year-old film adaptation of one of Evadne's classic novels, The Moving Mosaic, has been derailed by someone attempting to murder the leading man - the latest in a series of increasingly disturbing incidents - and the society wants Campion to investigate. Who is determined to sabotage the production at any cost, and why?
Travelling to the picturesque village of Kingswalter Manor in Dorset where filming is due to start, Campion soon stumbles upon dark secrets, ghosthunters, an impressive mosaic, and murder.
