Reviews

Of all the classic detective fiction writers of the so-called Golden Age in Britain (1920s-1930s), Margery Allingham is definitely the best. Unlike the great Raymond Chandler, she doesn't try to "elevate" the genre, she subtly and self-consciously undermines its conventions. Her prose style is somewhat unassuming, but very pleasant and versatile.

"Police at the Funeral" is not quite the mature Allingham, but it is still much more memorable and less dated than the average whodunit by Agatha Christie or Dorothy Sayers. The solution to the mystery in the last 30 pages is preposterous, but playfully so. And the characters are so well drawn and given such rich dialogue and dramatic interplay that the question of "whodunit" is almost beside the point. Interestingly, Allingham's amateur detective, an aristocratic adventurer named Albert Campion, is not an uncanny genius like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot. He has a few brilliant insights and has no qualms about using his fists when necessary, like Sam Spade. But solving the mystery is a team effort.

cimorene1558's review against another edition

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4.0

One of those classic mysteries with a solution so original (at least when it was written), that I can never forget it. I still enjoy rereading it, but I'm never going to forget it.

saroz162's review against another edition

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4.0

After three books, for the first time, Allingham takes Campion out of the thriller genre and into a much more traditional manor house murder mystery. And while she doesn't leave the solution as apparent as, say, Agatha Christie might, most of the major clues are on open display to the reader, and there is every possibility they will be able to guess at the solution before it is revealed. Allingham shows her skill at misdirection to the point where the solution, when it comes, feels almost obvious. How could you miss that? But you do. It's very clever.

Part of Allingham's misdirection is, as always, her presentation of tremendously vivid characters. This time, there's a whole houseful, lorded over by the tiny but dominating personality of eighty-six-year-old Caroline Faraday, who keeps a raven's watchful eye on her flighty and selfish family. We are reminded again and again that all emotion seems to have been driven from her personality in her attempt to keep control, and it is to this end that she enlists Campion as her personal eyes and ears during the investigation. The intellectual dance they keep up through the novel is almost beguiling: one, masked in stoicism, the other, masked as a fool. Their interactions lead to a delightful and surprising resolution.

Police at the Funeral comes at the end of an intense writing period for Allingham, which may explain the lackluster title; after this, she took a longer-than-usual break before the next in the series. Perhaps she even contemplated ending it here. Had that been the case, it doubtless would have ended Mr. Campion's adventures on a very high note; this is a strong, assured piece of work, very engaging and well on-par with more famous mysteries of the period. Like Mr. Campion himself, it deserves better recognition.

geekbrocade's review against another edition

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4.0

Another great Albert Campion novel. This was particularly interesting because it's the first time I have encountered a murderer of this sort. An ingenious string of mysterious murders.

lollybee's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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