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Mystery Mile
Margery Allingham
#UB9052
Paperback, 256 pages; 2006 (1930)
$14.95
 Members' Price: $12.71
Margery Allingham is widely regarded as one of the three queens of classic British crime fiction, along with Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers. To my mind, Allingham may be the best of the group: her puzzles are as complex and meticulously structured as Christie's, but her prose and her insights into character are wittier and more sophisticated. In Mystery Mile, first published in 1930, detective Albert Campion—an ever-so-slightly-irritating gentleman sleuth—tries to safeguard an American judge from a nefarious gang that has sworn vengeance. (As a reader, you love Campion, you cheer for him, and occasionally you join his companions in wishing he would for heaven's sake put a sock in it.) As with other classics of the golden age of English crime fiction, the Campion series is not for readers who enjoy reading about mean streets, tough guys, and violence. But if your tastes run more toward witty dialogue, clever clues, and 1930s glamour, then Albert Campion and Mystery Mile will be just your cup of tea (with a lovely toasted teacake on the side).
(MT)
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