Reviews

Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham

lory_enterenchanted's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense

4.0

Compared to the other theatrical mysteries I've read this month, this was immensely more intelligent and interesting. I can believe in the characters, and the crime and solution come out of believable situations and personality traits. They aren't just cardboard figures being moved around by a manipulative author. The nagging question I had throughout of why a suspect would invite an investigator to his home was cleverly, and movingly, answered at the end. And the glimpse into backstage life rang true, with the unsavory side behind the glamour, as well as the talent that often dances on the edge of desperation.

melissa_who_reads's review against another edition

4.0

Nice twist at the end, which is set up at the beginning and then lost in the mind games that Albert Campion plays on himself.

lgpiper's review against another edition

3.0

I had some issues getting into this, and I found it somewhat meandering and confusing. Maybe part of the problem was that I originally thought I was reading Josephine Tey, and wondered how she'd gotten Campion into her book. Maybe part of it was my going on vacation in the middle of the book and getting lost on the back roads of Maine multiple times, so that I was tired for a couple of days. Whatever, I'm pretty sure the other Allingham books I've read previously were more engaging.

tansy's review against another edition

lighthearted mysterious tense

3.5

I found this one quite a tough read. There's less focus on the mystery and more on the emotional reactions of everyone involved, including Campion, who is reluctant to investigate the crime due to his powerful attraction to another character. It's strange to have a detective novel where the detective spends a lot of time trying to get out of doing any detecting.

bookpossum's review against another edition

4.0

A most enjoyable outing with Mr Campion. I guessed “whodunnit” I thought, and was quite wrong! Very satisfying, especially as Mr C was wrong as well (with a different suspect) until almost the end.

bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition

4.0

Dancers in Mourning is Margery Allingham at her best. This is classic Albert Campion at his most charming and his most fallible. Campion is called in by theatre giant and dazzling dancer, Jimmy Sutane to get to the bottom of a spate of cruel practical jokes which begin backstage at the Argosy Theatre and follow Sutane to his country estate. At first the pranks are merely annoying....garlic scented flowers, smashed glass on his photograph outside the theatre, and people wandering through his garden at night. But the pranks take on a more sinister look when members of the cast of his current musical are killed one by one. Campion is happy to try to sort things out--not only for Sutane, but for "Uncle" William Faraday, author of the book upon which the musical is based. That is, until he meets, and subsequently falls in love with, Sutane's wife. He finds himself caught in any number of ethical dilemmas and committing all sorts of sleuthing "sins"from suppressing evidence and misleading the doctor called in on the first "accident" to delaying the finale as long as possible. He becomes more miserable the more evidence is gathered--all because he thinks the evidence can point in only one direction.

I think I found this mystery so delightful because of the dilemma in which Campion places himself. He is trying very hard to be the "good sportsman" and live up to British honor and all that...and all the while he really would like to have his host's wife. He doesn't feel like he can tackle the problem correctly since he is emotionally involved and takes himself off to London and out of the fray. That very wife comes to ask him to return and help them out of the mess. He can't refuse and risking personal heartache...as well as heartache for others...he returns to see the thing through. It was also endearing to see him misinterpret the evidence. I quite understand why he chose the culprit he did, but his involvement blinded him to the possibility that the facts could fit anyone else. I saw the other possibility well before Albert Campion-- a rare thing--and an added delight.

I make it sound--oh, I don't know--kind of soppy with "delightful" and "endearing." It isn't that at all. The mystery is quite well done and there are plenty of suspects to sort through. Allingham has done a very good job showing the temperaments and petty quarrels of stage life. Overall, a very solid and interesting novel.

verityw's review against another edition

4.0

Albert Campion is not the run of the mill Golden Age detective. He's conflicted. He's not always on the side of the authorities, you're not always sure he's going to give the culprit up to police and this is a brilliant demonstration of what makes him different.

*******Copy received from the Allingham estate in return for an honest review.*****

cmbohn's review against another edition

5.0

Campion is asked by an old acquaintance (from Police at the Funeral) to find out who's at the bottom of a series of nasty practical jokes aimed at the principal figure in a London theatrical production. Just as he begins his inquiry, a woman is murdered and things take a darker turn. Campion soon finds himself taking a very personal interest in the case, which might just cloud his judgement.

I really love Campion. Not crazy about the lurid cover on my copy, but there you are!

CMB

crowyhead's review against another edition

4.0

This is an excellent mystery featuring Albert Campion. Campion is asked to investigate a series of nasty practical jokes that have plagued Jimmy Sutane, a dancer and the star of many popular musicals. The more Campion becomes involved, however, the less he wants to know what's going on, particularly when he finds himself falling in love with someone utterly inappropriate, and particularly when dead bodies start cropping up.

Now that I've run out of Dorothy Sayers mysteries, I've turned to Margery Allingham. Albert Campion is an excellent antidote to Lord Peter Wimsey withdrawal, and I'm looking forward to reading more of his adventures.

ssejig's review against another edition

3.0

Eager to get away to his country escape and practice his new play, Jimmy Sutane is also eager to avoid the practical jokes that have been plaguing him. But the jokes follow him to the country and escalate to the point of death. It's up to Albert Campion, also at the house party, to figure out who wanted to kill an aging actress (once a beautiful starlet.) But he's grappling with his own set of problems; falling in love with Jimmy Sutane's wife just isn't a gentlemanly thing to do.

I have seen the television show with Peter Davison and thought that it was very true to this book. Scenes from those episodes kept running through my brain. It took me quite awhile to get through this book and I'm not sure why but it is highly enjoyable.