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greybeard49's review against another edition
3.0
Old fashioned crime story and told by one of the best. Margery Allingham writes quality fiction. She captures the time and place exquisitely and elegantly drops the reader into wartime London. Her main character is gentleman sleuth Albert Campion, understated but completely appropriate and an attractive hero to carry the day.
VERY good.
VERY good.
saroz162's review against another edition
4.0
I'm not sure why this entry in Allingham's Campion series isn't a little bit better known. After almost ten years and a couple of novels that try to pull the series in new directions - sometimes feeling as if Campion himself is only included as a necessary marketing measure - Allingham manages to fuse her darker, wartime sensibility with both a plot and a set of characters who are more recognizably of a classic caliber. In fact, one might even be tempted to accuse Allingham of stepping backward if it didn't work so well: Albert Campion is distinctly Albert Campion, but older, more hesitant, and with less of a spring in his step; he and Chief Inspector Oates are growing old together and a little more tired of the "game" they play as talented amateur and established professional. It's probably unforgivable that Lugg appears basically unchanged, there mostly to provide light entertainment, but nobody really minds. Campion's wife, Amanda, is kept at bay until the final page - and that's intentional. This is a book about the old order going grey.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last time we see a "traditional" Campion. It's obvious that Allingham sees the war as a turning point, and the time of Bright Young Things has now passed. Campion spends the entire novel trying to abandon the responsibility thrust upon him and get home on his leave, but it becomes clear by the end that (athough he does get back to Amanda) there's no escape. Something has changed, and there's no turning back.
I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last time we see a "traditional" Campion. It's obvious that Allingham sees the war as a turning point, and the time of Bright Young Things has now passed. Campion spends the entire novel trying to abandon the responsibility thrust upon him and get home on his leave, but it becomes clear by the end that (athough he does get back to Amanda) there's no escape. Something has changed, and there's no turning back.
ajsholland's review against another edition
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
2.0
very very slow paced
tombomp's review against another edition
3.0
Good mystery book, nothing special. From like 1/3 of the way through the plot moves along at a very good pace and it was very "just one more page". But by the end I felt kind of confused. There's a *lot* of elements introduced and most of them tie together but it's not completely neat and I felt there were some things unexplained, and I feel like there's no way it's a "fair play" mystery (although that might just be me not being very smart). Ending spoilers re what I didn't understand
Instead of giving like a full summing up near the end it's mostly implied. Campion mentions the policeman is going to be explaining why Chivers tried to kill Bush and I was thinking... well why did she? Their relationship appears suddenly in the last 5% of the book as the thing that ties everything together but it makes very little sense. If she hated him, why was she willing to do all his dirty work for years and years and then only suddenly try and kill him at the end? Like I say I'm probably missing a bunch it was just... weird. Because I'm not smart I'd have appreciated more explicit detail
Otherwise pretty solid - nothing special to recommend it, although the setting of near the end of the war was pretty interesting and I liked the period details a lot.
Spoiler
What was the whole roses/pearls thing about? It's really strange, the explanation given is Chivers sent roses and pearls to Moppet for years because... she wanted to feel powerful? Or something. And then Moppet sent notes back like "I don't want this but thanks" every single year? And then Johnny remembered that he'd sent something like that to her 7 years ago and got really mad seeing it again, but refused to say why? It was just... really bizarre and although I get red herrings it didn't feel it was handled well.Instead of giving like a full summing up near the end it's mostly implied. Campion mentions the policeman is going to be explaining why Chivers tried to kill Bush and I was thinking... well why did she? Their relationship appears suddenly in the last 5% of the book as the thing that ties everything together but it makes very little sense. If she hated him, why was she willing to do all his dirty work for years and years and then only suddenly try and kill him at the end? Like I say I'm probably missing a bunch it was just... weird. Because I'm not smart I'd have appreciated more explicit detail
Otherwise pretty solid - nothing special to recommend it, although the setting of near the end of the war was pretty interesting and I liked the period details a lot.
bookpossum's review against another edition
3.0
Highly enjoyable plot, complex enough to keep Mr Campion and the reader on their toes.
bev_reads_mysteries's review against another edition
3.0
Pearls Before Swine by Margery Allingham is the last book of my projected choices for the Vintage Mystery Challenge "Dangerous Beasts" Theme....and also, by the way, one really eccentric book. It opens with this scene:
The man and the woman carried the body cautiously up the stairs. Although it was still early evening, the narrow way was grey and shadowy, and it was very cold, colder even than it had been outside amid the thin traffic of a wartime London. The two who were alive in that grim little group which writhed and breathed so hard in the gloom were both elderly people. they were an unexpected couple in any situation; the man was a large, blank-faced Cockney without any pretensions and the woman was out of place beside him, her delicate aristocratic grace accentuating both his clumsiness and the horror of her present task.
And just gets odder as things go on. The man and woman in question are transporting the body to the apartment of Albert Campion, amateur detective and adventurer....and a man who is not supposed to be at home. However, Campion has just returned to England after spending three years doing top-secret war stuff (see quote below) and is making a stop at the London apartment before heading to his country hearth and home (not to mention wife and babes) for some well-deserved R&R. He is lounging in a nice warm bath when he hears footsteps and whisperings in the outer rooms. And makes the mistake of investigating.
He discovers that his old retainer, Magersfontein Lugg and the Dowager Marchioness of Carados, are the whisperers and that they have deposited the body of a woman on his bed. Not only will he miss his train--but he will be chloroformed and kidnapped, become involved in a search for a gang of art thieves, see two more of the Carados entourage nearly killed, and find himself feeling at odds with his friends in the police department. The police are quite sure that the mastermind behind it all is Campion's old friend, Johnny Carados (the Marquess of Carodos)...and although all indications seem to point that way Campion just can't believe it.
There are way too many characters introduced in the opening chapters for me to keep track of. I kept having to regroup and think out who was who and how they connected with the story. And everybody seemed to talk in non sequiturs...or made cryptic remarks that everyone in the story seemed to understand, but I didn't. But even with these two complaints, this is still a very enjoyable story. It was refreshing to have a war-time mystery that didn't focus on a spy ring. And full marks to Allingham for having laid the clues out and completely confusing me with all the characters and conversational hocus-pocus. I didn't see the ending coming. It's worth the price of admission just to meet Miss Dorothy Pork in a little village called Chessing. She's a marvelous upper-class, small village spinster and one of the more delightful speakers in the piece. Three and a half stars.
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any portion. Thanks.
The man and the woman carried the body cautiously up the stairs. Although it was still early evening, the narrow way was grey and shadowy, and it was very cold, colder even than it had been outside amid the thin traffic of a wartime London. The two who were alive in that grim little group which writhed and breathed so hard in the gloom were both elderly people. they were an unexpected couple in any situation; the man was a large, blank-faced Cockney without any pretensions and the woman was out of place beside him, her delicate aristocratic grace accentuating both his clumsiness and the horror of her present task.
And just gets odder as things go on. The man and woman in question are transporting the body to the apartment of Albert Campion, amateur detective and adventurer....and a man who is not supposed to be at home. However, Campion has just returned to England after spending three years doing top-secret war stuff (see quote below) and is making a stop at the London apartment before heading to his country hearth and home (not to mention wife and babes) for some well-deserved R&R. He is lounging in a nice warm bath when he hears footsteps and whisperings in the outer rooms. And makes the mistake of investigating.
He discovers that his old retainer, Magersfontein Lugg and the Dowager Marchioness of Carados, are the whisperers and that they have deposited the body of a woman on his bed. Not only will he miss his train--but he will be chloroformed and kidnapped, become involved in a search for a gang of art thieves, see two more of the Carados entourage nearly killed, and find himself feeling at odds with his friends in the police department. The police are quite sure that the mastermind behind it all is Campion's old friend, Johnny Carados (the Marquess of Carodos)...and although all indications seem to point that way Campion just can't believe it.
There are way too many characters introduced in the opening chapters for me to keep track of. I kept having to regroup and think out who was who and how they connected with the story. And everybody seemed to talk in non sequiturs...or made cryptic remarks that everyone in the story seemed to understand, but I didn't. But even with these two complaints, this is still a very enjoyable story. It was refreshing to have a war-time mystery that didn't focus on a spy ring. And full marks to Allingham for having laid the clues out and completely confusing me with all the characters and conversational hocus-pocus. I didn't see the ending coming. It's worth the price of admission just to meet Miss Dorothy Pork in a little village called Chessing. She's a marvelous upper-class, small village spinster and one of the more delightful speakers in the piece. Three and a half stars.
This review was first posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting any portion. Thanks.
rachelmacdonald's review against another edition
3.0
This was okay, but I think there is room in my heart only for Sir Peter Wimsey. I like Alber Campion, but as more of an aquaintance than an old dear friend...
robinwalter's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
aemsea26's review
3.0
Poor Albert Campion has his first leave in four years and gets sucked into an investigation of murder / art looting. I was pleased to see that for once the American character wasn't a backwoods yokel or a vulgar buffoon.
I found Amanda Fitton supremely annoying in Sweet Danger, so I was surprisingly moved by the ending.
I found Amanda Fitton supremely annoying in Sweet Danger, so I was surprisingly moved by the ending.
besidekick's review
adventurous
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The zaniest murder mystery I think I've ever read.
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