Flowers for the Judge (1936)

Having been disappointed by "Coroner's Pidgin" and slightly revived by "More work for the Undertaker" I was delighted to see that this earlier work is vintage Allingham. Essentially a locked room mystery set in a London publishing house (echoes of PD Jame's Original Sin) this story tells of love, pride and brilliantly realised court scenes (echoes of Dorothy Sayer's "Strong Poison" 1930) . The fog and the finish in France prefigure elements of "Tiger in the Smoke" Very very enjoyable. ( )

Please, can anyone explain the title to me? ( )

Sedate publisher Paul Brande goes missing. His wife calls in Albert Campion to find him. But his body is discovered by the firm's typist and his cousin is arrested for his murder. Campion is not satisfied and investigates. It seems this firm has lots of secrets and a puzzling habit of keeping things hidden.

I enjoyed this one. There's a great BBC adaptation of this one which is very good. ( )

Paul Brande, one of the family partners of the book publishers Barnabas and Company, is found dead in the company's safe one morning. His cousin Mike Wedgwood is put on trial for the murder, inasmuch as he had been in the safe the night before and Paul's body had been lying in the middle of the floor, and Mike had fallen in love with Paul's wife, Gina. As a friend of Mike's Campion comes in to investigate a seemingly open-and-shut case, uncovering secrets in the firm, and details of a 20-year-old disappearance of yet another cousin.

#7 in the Albert Campion series. This installment finds our good friend Mr. Campion involved in a mystery in which a man is found dead in a publishing company's basement. A man is found to be guilty of his murder at the coroner's inquest, but is really the killer? He, of all of the possible suspects has the means, motive and opportunity, but Albert suspects that he's being framed and must find the guilty party before it is too late.

I REALLY enjoyed this one. There's enough of the old smart-mouthed Campion in here (especially in his banter with Lugg), mixed in with the newer, serious Albert Campion to provide a good balance in his character. The mystery keeps you guessing up until the end and it's an all-around good mystery read. Fans of British mystery should really enjoy this one, but do start with #1.

Now I must go out and buy the PBS dvd to add to my growing collection of Campion dramatizations. -sigh - Peter Davison is the perfect Campion, if you ask me! ( )