Campion’s Motivations

The following is a summary of a discussion which we held on the AlbertCampion list in April 2009 on the subject of our eponymous hero’s motivations.

Margery Allingham – The China Governess

A short discussion of The China Governess (1962), and then some debate on the nature/nurture questions it provokes, from May/June 2006. 

Margery Allingham – Hide My Eyes

There have actually been two discussions of Hide My Eyes (aka Tether’s End) (1958) on the AlbertCampion list – in April 2006, and again on a particular aspect of the book in April 2009. It is impossible to discuss this book without spoilers. The exact ending is hidden and I will not reveal it, but the general plot is not in the form of a mystery.There is certainly no question of whodunnit, but if you have not finished the book it still might be wise to ignore this post until you have.

Margery Allingham – Coroner’s Pidgin

Some very brief notes on Coroner’s Pidgin (1945).

Margery Allingham – The Fashion in Shrouds

The discussion of The Fashion in Shrouds (1938) was one of the most lively which has occurred on the AlbertCampion list. This is not surprising as it is a book which has provoked sharply divided reactions among mystery readers since its publication: from adulation to condemnation. Quite often those reactions are expressions of the critic’s own view as to what a mystery story should comprise.

Margery Allingham – Dancers in Mourning

Another batch of my writings from the AlbertCampion list this time on the subject of Dancers in Mourning (1937).

Margery Allingham – Flowers for the Judge

This is a summary of my observations on Flowers for The Judge (1936) made during a discussion on the AlbertCampion Yahoo list in March 2005. References are made to other list participant’s posts.

Margery Allingham – Traitor’s Purse

The Spring 2010 issue of The Bottle Street Gazette (the journal of the Margery Allingham Society) features, among many other good things, the text of an address to the Society by the mystery writer Janet Laurence. Laurence talks in some detail of the very great Traitor’s Purse (1941) and summarises with admirable precision the masterstroke of series development which Allingham engineered in this book.

John Dickson Carr

The most ambitious programme I embarked upon in the past few months was a chronological reading of the work of John Dickson Carr. Unfortunately this did not get very far because I fairly soon became tired of his books for reasons which I will explain below.

Sara Paretsky

 This is in fact an entry from my old blog which I have decided to transfer here so that I have everything in one place.