A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY

Agatha Christie called her a shining light. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery?

Just returned from years overseas on a secret mission, private detective Albert Campion is relaxing in his bath when his servant Lugg and a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing appear in his flat carrying the corpse of a woman. At first Campion is unwilling to get involved, but he is forced to bring his powers of protection to bear on the case, and to solve not only the mystery of the murdered woman but also the alarming disappearance of some well-known art treasures.

As urbane as Lord Wimseyas ingenious as Poirot Meet one of crime fictions Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

Margery Allingham was born in London in 1904. She sold her first story at age 8 and published her first novel before turning 20. She married the artist, journalist and editor Philip Youngman Carter in 1927. In 1928 Allingham published her first detective story,The White Cottage Mystery, andthe following year, inThe Crime at Black Dudley, she introduced the detective who was to become the hallmark of her sophisticated crime novels and murder mysteries - Albert Campion. Famous for her London thrillers, such asHide My EyesandThe Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham has been compared to Dickens in her evocation of the city's shady underworld. Acclaimed by crime novelists such as P.D. James, Allingham is counted alongside Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Gladys Mitchell as a pre-eminent Golden Age crime writer. Margery Allingham died in 1966.

Agatha Christie called her "a shining light". Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery?>