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amlibera's review against another edition
3.0
Old school mystery - vintage Campion with classic '30s British mobsters. Great fun.
billd's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
Look To The Lady by Margery Allingham is the 3rd book in her Albert Campion mystery series and about the 10th book I've enjoyed in the series. Yes, I haven't been reading in sequence. (I don't think it matters all that much). Allingham was one of four British female mystery writers who made up the Queens of Crime during the 'Golden Age of Detective Fiction. The others were Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers and Ngaio Marsh. I've enjoyed all of these authors. You should check each of them out.
So.... Look to the Lady finds gentleman sleuth and his man servant, Lugg (and he is one), trying to help a certain Val Gyrth protect a family heirloom. Val has been living rough in London and while trying to sleep on a park bench one night, he sees an envelope on the ground.. addressed to himself. This leads him to a small late night cafe where he is told to go to a certain address, home to the one and only Albert Campion. However, even this trip is filled with adventure as the cab driver tries to kidnap him.
Val's father's estate houses an antiquity related to the royalty, the Gyrth Cup, and when the oldest son achieves his 25th year, there is a ceremony to hand over the responsibility for guarding the cup. Campion was hired to find Val, get him home and protect the cup from a gang of thieves who steal such priceless antiquities.
So there is your story. It's entertaining, peopled with interesting characters, lots of thieves, gypsies, witches... Does the mystery make sense or get resolved... sure... but it's the fun and games that make it entertaining. Campion is an interesting character, somewhat like Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey. It's worth checking out the series and all of these great Queens of Crime. (3.0 stars)
So.... Look to the Lady finds gentleman sleuth and his man servant, Lugg (and he is one), trying to help a certain Val Gyrth protect a family heirloom. Val has been living rough in London and while trying to sleep on a park bench one night, he sees an envelope on the ground.. addressed to himself. This leads him to a small late night cafe where he is told to go to a certain address, home to the one and only Albert Campion. However, even this trip is filled with adventure as the cab driver tries to kidnap him.
Val's father's estate houses an antiquity related to the royalty, the Gyrth Cup, and when the oldest son achieves his 25th year, there is a ceremony to hand over the responsibility for guarding the cup. Campion was hired to find Val, get him home and protect the cup from a gang of thieves who steal such priceless antiquities.
So there is your story. It's entertaining, peopled with interesting characters, lots of thieves, gypsies, witches... Does the mystery make sense or get resolved... sure... but it's the fun and games that make it entertaining. Campion is an interesting character, somewhat like Dorothy L. Sayers Lord Peter Wimsey. It's worth checking out the series and all of these great Queens of Crime. (3.0 stars)
showell's review against another edition
4.0
Extremely well written and occasionally laugh out loud funny.
mckeanja's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
dcsilbertrust's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
saroz162's review against another edition
3.0
The third Campion adventure is an interesting development in that for the first time, Allingham is obviously paying a lot of attention to the ins and outs of the plot. The previous novel, Mystery Mile, is a very characterful thriller, filled with larger-than-life personalities, sudden twists, and genuine surprises. It reads more like a serial adventure, keeping you wanting to turn the page to the next installment.
Look to the Lady - or, as it was published in the United States, the more pragmatic The Gyrth Chalice Mystery - shows Allingham maturing as a writer of novels. This is, solidly, a book, not an extra-long newspaper serial, and she is careful to pace things accordingly. What that means is a little less shock and surprise along the way than there was in Mystery Mile or The Crime at Black Dudley, but ultimately, the resolution of the plot is more satisfying. Allingham takes the time to seed the elements of her conclusion early; perhaps some of them are a bit expected, but the sense of anti-climax which hovers over the previous two books - that element of "Wait, did I miss something?" - has also been eliminated. Allingham may not be a master yet, but she's growing.
The weakest area of the book, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the characters. After a lovely introduction at his flat, Albert Campion seems strangely muted through most of the story; his friend, Professor Cairey, has most of the joie de vivre usually associated with the detective. Even his manservant, Lugg, has more of a personality. And after three books, Allingham's kindly, supportive, but ultimately useless young women are starting to frustrate; every novel, they seem to need rescuing, and every novel, there comes a time when Allingham discards them to focus on the "men's work." Generations later, it does feel a little unnecessary to use them as little more than props (and fortunately, Allingham will start responding to that criticism within a couple of books); worse, though, the antagonist character of "Mrs. Dick" here verges on the worst kind of "mannish" stereotype, vicious and black-hearted merely because she is unfeminine.
It's worth noting that Allingham wrote the first four Campion novels in the space of three years. Any shortcomings they have, therefore, have to be attributed - at least in part - to the sheer speed of their composition. Still, the groundwork has been laid for an ultimately successful and long-running series. Hopefully, before too long, Campion will feature in a book possessed of both a strong plot and the vivid, memorable characters for which Allingham is rightly remembered.
Look to the Lady - or, as it was published in the United States, the more pragmatic The Gyrth Chalice Mystery - shows Allingham maturing as a writer of novels. This is, solidly, a book, not an extra-long newspaper serial, and she is careful to pace things accordingly. What that means is a little less shock and surprise along the way than there was in Mystery Mile or The Crime at Black Dudley, but ultimately, the resolution of the plot is more satisfying. Allingham takes the time to seed the elements of her conclusion early; perhaps some of them are a bit expected, but the sense of anti-climax which hovers over the previous two books - that element of "Wait, did I miss something?" - has also been eliminated. Allingham may not be a master yet, but she's growing.
The weakest area of the book, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the characters. After a lovely introduction at his flat, Albert Campion seems strangely muted through most of the story; his friend, Professor Cairey, has most of the joie de vivre usually associated with the detective. Even his manservant, Lugg, has more of a personality. And after three books, Allingham's kindly, supportive, but ultimately useless young women are starting to frustrate; every novel, they seem to need rescuing, and every novel, there comes a time when Allingham discards them to focus on the "men's work." Generations later, it does feel a little unnecessary to use them as little more than props (and fortunately, Allingham will start responding to that criticism within a couple of books); worse, though, the antagonist character of "Mrs. Dick" here verges on the worst kind of "mannish" stereotype, vicious and black-hearted merely because she is unfeminine.
It's worth noting that Allingham wrote the first four Campion novels in the space of three years. Any shortcomings they have, therefore, have to be attributed - at least in part - to the sheer speed of their composition. Still, the groundwork has been laid for an ultimately successful and long-running series. Hopefully, before too long, Campion will feature in a book possessed of both a strong plot and the vivid, memorable characters for which Allingham is rightly remembered.
kvedja's review
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
mrears0_0's review
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.25