Mystery Mile - Softcover

Allingham, Margery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0553290134 ISBN 13: 9780553290134

Publisher: Crimeline, 1990

Synopsis

Judge Crowdy Lobbett has found evidence pointing to the identity of the criminal mastermind behind the deadly Simister gang. After four attempts on his life, he ends up seeking the help of Albert Campion.

About this title

About the Author

Margery Louise Allingham is ranked among the most distinguished and beloved detective fiction writers of the Golden Age alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. Allingham is J.K. Rowling's favourite Golden Age author and Agatha Christie said of Allingham that out of all the detective stories she remembers, Margery Allingham 'stands out like a shining light'. She was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a very literary family; her parents were both writers, and her aunt ran a magazine, so it was natural that Margery too would begin writing at an early age. She wrote steadily through her school days, first in Colchester and later as a boarder at the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge, where she wrote, produced, and performed in a costume play. After her return to London in 1920 she enrolled at the Regent Street Polytechnic, where she studied drama and speech training in a successful attempt to overcome a childhood stammer. There she met Phillip Youngman Carter, who would become her husband and collaborator, designing the jackets for many of her future books. The Allingham family retained a house on Mersea Island, a few miles from Layer Breton, and it was here that Margery found the material for her first novel, the adventure story Blackkerchief Dick (1923), which was published when she was just nineteen. She went on to pen multiple novels, some of which dealt with occult themes and some with mystery, as well as writing plays and stories - her first detective story, The White Cottage Mystery, was serialized in the Daily Express in 1927. Allingham died at the age of 62, and her final novel, A Cargo of Eagles, was finished by her husband at her request and published posthumously in 1968.

From AudioFile

Albert Campion takes on the usual collection of unbelievable, yet charming, characters. The eccentric cast, focusing on an American judge pursued by the ominous Simister gang, is given a range of voices by narrator Francis Matthews. Though Matthews has recorded numerous Allingham titles, the husky American accents and servants' dialects are somewhat distracting. The secondary characters are slightly exaggerated while the central characters' accents are restrained. The narrator does lead the reader adeptly through the twists of the tale and presents an accomplished interpretation. Another of Campion's "adventures undertaken for a small fee," this will undoubtedly give satisfaction to the enthusiast. R.F.W. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award winner (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Edition details

• Publisher: Crimeline
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0553290134
• ISBN 13: 9780553290134
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English