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.

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.

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.*****

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

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.

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.

One of the Albert Campion series published in 1937.

Chloe Pye is a faded revue star making a come back when she dies under suspicious circs at Jimmy Sutane’s house “white walls” in the country. Jimmy is a dancing star with an entourage of employees all present at the time of her death.

Campion a clever yet diffident chap reluctantly agrees to assist with the help of former burgler turned manservant Magersfontein Lugg and “uncle william”.

You think you know how it will end and then bam you dont. Allingham tricks you right up to the end.

I love this series and I loved this book.
I, too, like some other reviewers have a little crush on Albert Campion. He is very smart but he seems human while still being mysterious in some ways if that is possible.
Lugg is hysterically funny, in this book more than usual, when he takes the daughter of one of the suspects under his wing. Their interactions are priceless.
I don't really read these for the mystery, per se, but for the atmosphere and the characters. I almost never guess the murderer, either.