Coroner's Pidgin

An Albert Campion Mystery

By: Margery Allingham

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Just returned from years overseas on a secret mission, Albert Campion is relaxing in his bath when his servant Lugg and a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing appear in his flat carrying the corpse of a woman.

At first Campion is unwilling to get involved, but he is forced to bring his powers of protection to bear on the case, and to solve not only the mystery of the murdered woman but also the alarming disappearance of some well-known art treasures.

©2013 Margery Allingham (P)2013 David Thorpe

Critic reviews

"Miss Allingham is one of the few writers who can deal with art. Both her passions and her patterns are beautiful, accurate and serene" ( Daily Telegraph)

"Margery Allingham has worked her way up to a worthy place among the tiny hierarchy of front-rankers in the detective world" ( Tatler)

"The real queen of crime" ( Guardian)

Meh

Not her best. Too many characters. Both convoluted and forgettable. Much War Effort. No Amanda! (Boo Hiss!)

Great fun with lots of twists

A pleasantly confusing mixed group of mysteries well integrated into a single story. Overall, it is a bit light, but there are plenty of twists and turns that require close attention. Well worth reading. I was not thrilked with the performance, with Campion's voice sometimes going from sore-throat alto to screechy tenor. On the other hand, the overall performance handled multiple voices well, so the Campion issue was only mildly distracting.

master

author is a master of keeping you guessing until the end. interesting window into the period of world war II. how life goes on with a sub current.

Best. Ending. Ever.

Strong story, great comedy, and the aforementioned ending add up to a fabulous entry in the series.

An enjoyable entry in the series

I love the era just before WWI and between WWI and WWII. I had read most of the Albert Campion Books years ago but this was a new one for me. The narration was interesting....I'm still not sure about the "voice" used for Albert but it might have grown on me! The mix of characters was delightful. I did figure out who the baddie was early but it didn't take away my enjoyment of the book at all. The mindset is of the characters is old fashioned but not wrong. There was a big surprise at the end and I was delighted by it. I hope to see more Albert Campion books available.