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    Dancers in Mourning
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    Dancers in Mourning
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    Dancers in Mourning
    Ebook388 pages5 hours

    Dancers in Mourning

    By Margery Allingham

    3.5/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Murder takes center stage when a song-and-dance man is targeted, in an Albert Campion whodunit from “the best of mystery writers” (The New Yorker).
     
    When entertainer Jimmy Sutane falls victim to a string of malicious practical jokes, there’s only one man who can get to the bottom of the apparent vendetta against the music hall darling—gentleman sleuth Albert Campion. Soon, however, the backstage pranks escalate, and an aging starlet is killed. Under pressure to uncover the culprit and plagued by his growing feelings for Sutane’s wife, Campion finds himself uncomfortably embroiled in an investigation which tests his ingenuity—and integrity—to the limit.
     
    “Allingham’s work is always of the first rank.” —The New York Times
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateOct 1, 2015
    ISBN9781504048750
    Unavailable
    Dancers in Mourning
    Author

    Margery Allingham

    Margery Louise Allingham is ranked among the most distinguished and beloved detective fiction writers of the Golden Age alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. Allingham is J.K. Rowling's favourite Golden Age author and Agatha Christie said of Allingham that out of all the detective stories she remembers, Margery Allingham 'stands out like a shining light'. She was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a very literary family; her parents were both writers, and her aunt ran a magazine, so it was natural that Margery too would begin writing at an early age. She wrote steadily through her school days, first in Colchester and later as a boarder at the Perse School for Girls in Cambridge, where she wrote, produced, and performed in a costume play. After her return to London in 1920 she enrolled at the Regent Street Polytechnic, where she studied drama and speech training in a successful attempt to overcome a childhood stammer. There she met Phillip Youngman Carter, who would become her husband and collaborator, designing the jackets for many of her future books. The Allingham family retained a house on Mersea Island, a few miles from Layer Breton, and it was here that Margery found the material for her first novel, the adventure story Blackkerchief Dick (1923), which was published when she was just nineteen. She went on to pen multiple novels, some of which dealt with occult themes and some with mystery, as well as writing plays and stories – her first detective story, The White Cottage Mystery, was serialized in the Daily Express in 1927. Allingham died at the age of 62, and her final novel, A Cargo of Eagles, was finished by her husband at her request and published posthumously in 1968.

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    Reviews for Dancers in Mourning

    3.5/5

    122 ratings11 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I found the modern edition somewhat disconcerting (I'm used to reading these in second hand paperbacks), and I also took a while to read it so my sense of it was somewhat disjointed! However it's a good solid early Campion. Albert agonises over the conflict between friendship and conscience as he trys to avoid investigating a series of deaths around the household of dancer Jimmy Sutane and his attractive wife Linda. Interesting to contrast with Ngaio Marsh's works set in theatre. Enjoyable!
    • 4/5
      If you like Lord Peter Wimsey and other classic mystery detectives of the 1930s, you'll probably enjoy Albert Campion, Margery Allingham's detective, as well. In this book, Campion investigates a series of mysterious accidents and dirty tricks that are plaguing a well-known revue dancer, falls in love with the dancer's wife, and then murders ensue. The incomparable Lugg (Campion's ex-con manservant) appears less than in some of the books, but the scenes where he interacts with the dancer's 6-year-old daughter, teaching her three-card Monte and how to pick a lock, are priceless.
    • 3/5
      Song and dance man Jimmy Sutane should have no enemies. Popular and successful, he inspires affection rather than dislike. Except that there is someone out there who doesn't agree. Nasty little tricks are plaguing Sutane - a pin in a stick of greasepaint, a boquet of wild garlic tossed onto the stage. The petty incidents are getting him down, driving him into a state of nervousness that is starting to affect both his work and private life. Sutane's latest hit is based on the (invented) memoirs of Uncle William Farraday (from Police at the Funeral) and it is Uncle William who calls in Mr Campion. Complications abound for Campion as the campaign of petty tricks escalates, one of Sutane's house-guests and co-stars dies in strange circumstances and Campion finds himself losing his usual objectivity as he falls in love with Sutane's wife. I'll admit straight up that I was disappointed with this book (as my rating probably shows). It started off well, but I felt it got mired in its own cleverness. Campion shifted in and out of character, which I guess was part of the point, but it just didn't work for me. We spent the whole book following what in the end proved to be a major red herring and that really annoyed me. It was a pleasure to see Uncle William again, but when he's the best thing in the book and he's still a silly old buffer, it's a fiar indication this isn't the best of the Campion books. Read it for completeness as I did, but I don't personally think it'll be a regular reread.
    • 5/5
      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!
    • 4/5
      In this book, it's not so much the story that matters (although it's quite good), but rather the element of suspense that begins to build and stays throughout the novel.The story begins when our hero (in this, the 8th installment of the series) Albert Campion, is called on to investigate a series of practical but nasty jokes that are being played on Jimmy Sutane, who is a dancer currently starring in a musical at the Argosy Theater in London. Sutane's crew is all staying at his country home, and Campion is invited to go there himself to get a better feel for what's going on. Well, one of the nastier jokes is played while Mr. Campion is in attendance; shortly afterward, one of the women in Sutane's musical is found dead under Sutane's car. Campion must put aside some pretty heavy personal feelings to get to the root of the mystery, and for reasons I won't go into, he is really reluctant to see this one solved.Mr. Campion is really becoming more serious now; he's pretty much morose throughout this entire book (but that goes with the story line). Lugg, his assistant, is funny and charming as usual. I liked this mystery and others who enjoy British mystery at its classic best will enjoy this one as well. Now on to the next one!
    • 4/5
      In this book, William Faraday who appeared as a rather unpleasant character in Police at the Funeral, is a more amiable old rascal who has written wildly unbelievable memoirs which have been turned into a very successful West End Show, but a series of attempts are made to sabotage the show, so Faraday calls in Campion, who continues to investigate as the attacks culminate in murder. The overall tone, as in many of the Campion novels (as distinct from short stores) is gloomier than I like, but I enjoy the opening description of the show.
    • 4/5
      I think, for me, Dancers in Mourning, the 10th book in Margery Allingham's series featuring Albert Campion (or the 9th if you exclude short story collections), is going to mark the point at which I really fell in love with this series and with Albert Campion.Campion is asked by an old friend (a returning character from Police at the Funeral) to investigate some unusual threats that Jimmy Sutane, the star of a West End musical, has received. At first these threats appear to result from no more than the sort of petty jealousies you find in the theatre but things take a more serious turn when one of Sutane's house guests dies whilst Campion is visiting.For once though, the crime and its solution aren't the real focus of Allingham's novel. When Campion first arrives at Jimmy Sutane's house he is completely blown away by Sutane's wife. She isn't the typical wife you might expect a star to have and she and Campion seem to connect quite deeply. The idea that these feelings might be acted on is never raised but when the evidence of Campion's investigation starts to point in one direction, he is aghast at the thought of what this might do to Sutane's wife and almost entirely abandons the whole investigation and returns to London. It's only when an event more tragic than anything Allingham has previously written occurs that Campion very reluctantly comes to terms with his responsibilities and returns to Sutane's house.I can understand that some may find this book less satisfying than some of Allingham's other mysteries as it feels like the crime and its solution really take a back seat to Campion's dilemma. But I felt like Allingham had used this to show readers the real Campion for perhaps the first time in the series; I felt that there was a real emotional depth to Campion in this book and I liked that a lot.
    • 3/5
      I found this mostly plodding, and too many intelligent eyes with too little intelligent behavior. The ageism is appalling and the sexism is uncomfortable as this is written by a woman. Still, for a Brits in Big House mystery, the characters are unusual with appropriate quirks. I just didn't enjoy the house party.
    • 4/5
      Dancers in Mourning by Margery Allingham is the 9th book in her series featuring Albert Campion and was originally published in 1937. I really enjoyed this one as it merged the world of musical comedy with a country house murder. Campion is asked to check out a series of nasty practical jokes that are being played on Jimmy Sutane, the famous dancer who is starring in a production of “The Buffer”, based on the fictional memoirs of Campion’s friend William Faraday.These nasty jokes are escalating and while Campion and a number of others are spending the weekend at Sutane’s country home, the death of a co-star occurs. Although ruled an accidental death, Campion isn’t so sure. He, himself is struggling with this case, as he has fallen in love with Linda, the wife of the star. He tries to remove himself, but then a home made bomb takes a terrible toll and Scotland Yard asks for his assistance.In Dancers in Mourning the readers get to see a different Campion. Instead of the jaunty, unflappable man-about-town, he is preoccupied with his feelings, not wanting to hurt Linda yet afraid that her husband could be implicated in the crimes. Dancers in Mourning is destined to be a personal favorite of mine for a number of reasons but mostly for showing us a new side to Campion as he deals with his emotional uncertainty.
    • 5/5
      Classic British at it's best. This is one of my favorites, while being somewhat different from the usual. Campion is confused by feelings for one of the people involved, leaving him less effective but just as good a reporter. Lugg (always a delight) is called to fill in as a butler; a challenge which leaves him time to teach the child of the house lock-picking & Three Card Monte. A wide selection of police, each delivering a portion of the puzzle. Allingham's use of language remains elegant and on point. If you haven't read Campion, this is a good place to start.
    • 4/5
      I did like this very much. The country house Murder is my favorite trope. A real plus here is the musical comedy theater touches, along with some pretty strong characterization. Especially charming is the interaction of Lugg and a little girl. The downside for me was that I identified the killer early on.