Reviews

I just kind of think mystery and thrillers are stupid I find it very hard to like them. I thought this plot was original and clever but the portrayal of meg was patronizing and sexist and absolutely no one did any detecting this whole book. Unmemorable characters so the stakes dont feel as high as they should be

maplessence's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5★

This is only my second Allingham and is reputed to be her best work.

Based on this I may not go to any extraordinary effort to find any more of this author's works.

The beginning was quite wonderful where we are introduced to the widowed Meg and her new swain Geoffrey.

Allingham in a little note before the book begins says she means London is "The Smoke." But it certainly feels like the "pea-souper" fogs are The Smoke and it becomes almost another character in this book which is set just after World War Two.

Wonderful characters are introduced and there are many vividly written descriptive scenes, but some plot details don't make much sense and there are long periods where the story drags. I didn't have any trouble putting this book aside for days.Above all

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even Meg's dead husband treats her like a child and, in a letter assumes she will always be a child - so patronising

A promising idea let down by an untidy execution.

offenbach's review against another edition

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2.0

Not a fan. This is one of those books you have to pay close attention in order to avoid missing the plot (somehow, important points hare hidden or offered in a backhanded way). Which is fine, but the whole thing has so much extraneous description and unnecessary background that it's exhausting to do so.

Also, the women all seem rather helpless.

tombomp's review against another edition

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3.0

The first third or even half of the book promises a lot - there's a lot of threads that hint at interesting connections and the pacing is really good. After that it sort of loses momentum - too much is delivered pure dialogue exposition with limited detective work (and Campion barely features) and although it almost turns into pure thriller it doesn't really have the right pacing. The ending was fine but although I don't think any major plot lines were left hanging it still felt a bit skimpy for some of them. At the same time it was enjoyable and the whole thing did hang together well even with the odd issue or irritating bit

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That section with the old church guy going to confront the vicious murderer alone wasn't bad exactly but the attempts at semi-profound musings didn't really connect at all and it was kind of annoying that they drew heavy attention to the fact that what he was doing was stupid and made no sense... but he did it anyway for some reason

On a sort of "moral" level... it's incredible how little sympathy gets extended to the army veterans in the marching band. It's true that

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their motives are hardly pure, looking to get their hands on the "treasure"

but even outside of that they get scorned and judged both by the narrative voice and the characters themselves. It makes a stark contrast to the dignified nobility of the heroes, who even when they're struggling financially (while, inevitably, it not showing at all) are just Better! Having said that, a major villain in the book who seemingly is from a rough background gets treated kind of weirdly

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Mrs Cash is not only a truly evil and cruel loan shark, she's been aiding and abetting her murdering son (which at least the old church guy probably guessed at before) and she's been doing it seemingly from a *totally free accommodation given to her by the rector*... even though it turns out she was a loan shark to his wife and seemingly even caused her death. Yet he never kicked her out and even at the end when she's arrested it's unclear what exactly she'll be charged with or anything like that. It's hard to explain exactly? There's just a weird contrast.

adperfectamconsilium's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

'Mourning is not forgetting,' he said gently, his helplessness vanishing and his voice becoming wise. 'It is an undoing. Every minute tie has to be untied and something permanent and valuable recovered and assimilated from the knot.'

This crime thriller was not quite what I expected.

The fog bound London setting is eerily evocative and fits the mood of the story but it feels like a Dickensian drama rather than post World War 2.
Maybe it's intentional to convey the impression that the few years after the Blitz were similar to Victorian England but I did find it odd that I kept thinking I was reading a story based in the late 1800s when in actual fact it was at least fifty years later.

The other thing I found strange was that it was billed as an Albert Campion mystery.
I'd not read a Campion book before but I'm left wondering what the others are like as I got no real sense of who he was from this novel.
He's very much in the background, doesn't seem to detect anything and disappears altogether for parts of the story.

Putting these issues aside it's a well written crime thriller with a decent plot and some interesting characters.
There's also an element of theological philosophy in the story with the main villain, the knife wielding 'Tiger' adhering to a science of luck.

It's quite rightly considered a classic of golden age crime and well worth reading but unfortunately fell short of the high expectations I had for it.

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