Dancers in Mourning

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 show more 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. show less

The edition I read was actually in an omnibus, but I want to review it separately.

This book marks a change in our hero Campion. The beginning of a more mature man. At least that seems to be the idea. I won't know for sure until I read the books after this. I know that Traitor's Purse also has a similar idea, and that is in two books' time. The trouble is, I don't want a more mature Campion. I like, no, I love the silly, egotistical, inane weirdo that Campion is. He's one of my favourite fictional characters from literature, so a more sedate and morose man does not appeal at all. It's also a really weird point in the series to make such a move, coming directly after The Case Of The Late Pig, which must be peak over-the-top Campion, being show more the only novel in the series written in first person.

This is also one of the novels that was adapted for the TV show, so I was unfortunately very familiar with it by the time I came to read the novel. The issue being that, and here comes a spoiler that was actually in the introduction to the story in the omnibus, Campion gets this one wrong. He spends the whole story after the wrong man. So if you already know this going in, it's very hard to understand why he is being so stubborn and frankly blind. In this story Campion falls in love or something. Supposedly this is a more mature love than his previous fancies, and it affects him deeply. This is pretty much the crux the entire novel rests on and unfortunately I didn't really buy it. Why is Campion charmed by Linda? She makes almost no impression on the story at all. She might be a perfectly nice person but she comes across as simply bland and a little helpless, qualities I can't see appealing to Campion. Also, since she is married, he keeps his distance, so I saw no sign of chemistry or rapport between them. Because of his feelings for her, he doesn't want to be involved in solving the crime which he knows will uproot her life, so he spends an awful lot of the story avoiding forwarding the story. Luckily it doesn't get dull, but it is on the verge of becoming annoying. This numbed version of Campion isn't funny, which is a real shame because he is usually hilarious. Allingham still injects some humour into the narrative, but I miss the Albert I have come to know and adore. Another point that is repeated is that previously Campion has only observed the mysteries he has solved whereas now he is involved and therefore feels the pain himself, but this seems like a stretch. Most of the previous mysteries have involved his actual friends, and he always gets involved, and maybe he has grown out of his previous loves but at the time he did seem to be in love with them. Of course he has always managed to love women who love other men, so I don't really see how this one is any different. He mostly just comes across as distant and lazy in this story, and very insular. However this again isn't unique, he has definitely withheld information before in the interests of helping his friends. A line in this book refers to him as an 'unwilling detective' but Campion isn't even a detective, he's just a man for hire.

That aside, it's a well written and engrossing read. The bits that I recognised from the TV show of course played like the actors in my head but the parts that weren't in the TV show were just as vivid, Allingham really brought it all to life, and she has clearly really come into her own strengths as a writer (some of the earlier books were a bit more ropey). I was a little shocked by the seemingly abrupt ending because the TV show added in an explosive finale, but that's not the book's fault. I enjoyed the fact that Uncle William Faraday from Police At The Funeral was back, although not sure why he sticks around for the whole novel, and he provided most of the source of humour - I really like it when a series refers to characters or events from earlier instalments. However, if you haven't read Police At The Funeral, this will kind of spoil it, so definitely don't read them the wrong way round. show less

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. show more 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. show less

Summary: Mean-spirited pranks against the star actor-dancer in a musical becomes something more when as has-been actresses body is thrown of a bridge in front of the actor at his home.

Have you ever looked into a situation only to sense that if you go further, you will find something that you and others would rather not know? That is the dilemma confronting Campion in the ninth of Allingham’s Campion mysteries.

His friends, “Uncle” William Faraday and Jimmy Sutane, are involved in a musical production of a book written by Uncle William in which Jimmy is the lead actor and dancer. Someone has been performing a series of mean-spirited pranks aimed at Jimmy and they have persuaded Campion to find the culprit.

He joins Faraday and Sutane show more at a weekend house party interrupted when guests arrive with invitations to a reception Sutane had never planned. His wife and the household staff manage to pull it off, but the butler, disgusted with irregularities like this and the temperamental houseguests who show up, like composer Squire Mercer or the washed up actress Chloe Pye, who wears outfits to show she still has “it.” It’s a bit of a puzzle how Pye made it into the production. One of the more amusing parts of the story is how Lugg fills the role of butler and befriends the Sutane’s daughter.

Things take a more serious turn the night of the impromptu reception. Sutane had been out in his car and as he approaches home a body falls from an overhead bridge right in front of his car and he cannot avoid running over her. The police find him innocent. Pye had already been dead of a medical condition. Campion, who saw both the body and the scene is not so sure that this was an accident. And the more he looks at the case of Chloe Pye, the more he fears discovering truth he does not want to find. He absents himself, pleading other business, leaving Lugg behind.

When more deaths follow, both Inspector Oates and Sutane’s wife, for whom Campion has developed a fondness, want him to return and help figure out what is going on, compelling Campion to pursue the trail of evidence where it leads, as hard as it may be. How will Campion negotiate the path between love, friendship, and uncovering a killer?

In addition to exploring this classic moral dilemma, Allingham portrays a cast of theatre characters in an unflattering light. I wonder if it was just for the story or if Allingham had deeper reservations with the theatre set of her day. Uncle William, the writer (!), seems the only one who truly comes out well here. show less

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.

In this entry in the series, we find Campion called in to investigate who might be trying to play jokes or intimidate a stage star. Jimmy Sutane has been receiving odd things (garlic in a bunch of flowers) and they are beginning to get on his rather highly strung nerves. Campion is invited down to the country house and there meets the star and all his associated entourage. There's quite a lot of them to kept straight.. Of interest , however, is Campion's reaction to Jimmy's wife Linda, he falls for her. This presents him with a whole host of issues between his heart and head when Sutane appears to murder a woman by running over her after she fell off a bridge in front of his car. It's not that simple, of course. Lugg is sent to the show more house to act as replacement Butler while Campion struggles with his internal conflict of emotions and duty. In the end the solution is uncovered and it involves a lot of back story, some of which has been hinted as at we get to this point. It was rather interesting to see Campion emotions engaged, that is certainly a new angle in this series. I'd not suggest you started here, otherwise the startling element of that would pass you by. show less

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.