Sweet Danger

Summary: Campion and friends seek to prove a rural family to be the rightful heirs of Averna, an oil-rich see side village on the Adriatic while pursued by an unscrupulous financier.

Campion and his friends Guffy Randall, Eager-Wright, and Farquharson meet up in the scenic village of Averna, on the Adriatic coast. The district is rich in oil. Campion is seeking proof that the Fitton family are rightful heirs. Their pursuit of proof takes them from Averna to a rural village, Pontisbright, in Suffolk, where they arrange to stay as paying guests of the Fitton family.

Campion isn’t the only ones seeking proof of their ownership. An unscrupulous financier, Savanake, also wants to lay claim to Averna, and along with a band of thugs is in hot show more pursuit, attacking and rifling the contents of the family home. Amanda Fitton captures Campion’s attention. She is a spirited red-head, seventeen and an adventurous tomboy who runs the mill and has even hooked up an electric generator. She’s clever, resourceful, and determined. She leads Campion to clues involving a crown, a drum, and a bell.

For a time, Campion abandons the scene, supposedly to go to Peru, only to show up unexpectedly in woman’s garb. Interestingly, Campion takes out an insurance policy leaving a tidy sum to Amanda. Along the way Campion and friends encounter a crazy doctor and Campion will face a fight for his life with Savanake. Meanwhile, we wait with baited breath to see if the clues will lead to decisive proof that the Fittons, and particularly Amanda’s older brother Hal, are the rightful heirs of Averna.

Allingham’s plotting is especially twisty in this book, and the reader does well to follow closely, or spend a lot of time re-reading. Campion’s attraction to Amanda, and his recognition of her resourcefulness and courage bring energy to the plot and makes me wonder if we haven’t seen the last of her. Of the “Queens of Crime,” Allingham strikes me as the least conventional, the most likely to leave the reader wondering, “where is this going?” And therein lies the fun. show less

This is one of the odder mysteries of the classic British period. It isn't so much a mystery as a political thriller-cum-treasure hunt. Agatha Christie also wrote some political mysteries about high-stakes international tensions, but this is not really similar to those at all--they are usually much more traditional procedurals in which the political element comes out in the motive. In some ways I would say it is closer to Dorothy L. Sayers's masterpiece The Nine Tailors because it's not as much about the mystery as about the development of interesting and strange characters as an excuse for an anthropological examination of archaic British lifeways. It might be my favorite Campion book.

Overall, this one was a bit too much in a lot of ways. The author manages to hold the whole thing together – but only just barely. I think there are a lot of characters and the setting/scenes move around a bit too much. The overarching mystery is also too over-the-top as well. There is just too much going on and it does steal a lot of the reader’s good will, I think.

The fact that Campion is held out just to be “working behind the scenes” makes things feel like a cheat. But because he is so much fun and the main group of characters so likeable, the reader forgives all of this and pretends its perfectly fine. And it is, because I enjoyed the story. Its not my favorite Campion novel – I think the novels are generally uneven, but show more enjoyable. I am still glad to have read it. show less

This was one of the more bizarre Campion mysteries, and also one of the more entertaining ones. Campion and his associates are trying to find the deeds of ownership to a rural estate that was once an independent European kingdom. It has degenerated into a rarely-used mill, home to a salt-of-the-earth group of siblings. Together they try to follow an old riddle describing the location of the crown and the founding documents. A London business mogul is also interested, which leads to danger for everyone at the mill.

As bizarre as all of this sounds, it works. The Campion mysteries have more to do with espionage than others in this genre, and that is true in this volume. The build-up at the beginning, getting everyone to Pontisbright and show more involved in the mystery, is longer and more detailed than it really needs to be. Once everyone gets to Pontisbright things start moving quickly. In this volume we get to learn a bit more about the enigma that is Lugg, and Lugg is given the opportunity to engage in some hooligan tendencies. show less

Yet another Campion book that leaves me divided because Goodreads doesn't do half stars. This is definitely better than 3 stars, but there is a very annoying section in it that deserves less than four. Oh well, the exciting ending makes up for it, I guess.

This is not my preferred kind of story. It just seems a bit silly. The plot this time is that Campion is on a treasure hunt to find various artefacts that prove Britain owns an inconsequential country someplace that due to an earthquake is suddenly a prime spot of real estate in the 1930s when world powers are trying to beat each other in the arms race. What this boils down to is looking for clues and solving a riddle, which feels totally unrealistic and ridiculous. Not helped by too show more much description of what rooms look like, a fanciful ploy by the bad guys to get Campion out of the way and his own vanishing act for quite a large portion of the story. However, the lunatic doctor and the murderous villain add enough thrills towards the end to make the book come alive.

Again it has gleams of elements from the previous books in the series. For a start, Guffy Randall is a main character, first seem riding by with a fox hunt in The Crime At Black Dudley and inadvertently saving the day. Since he's a keen 'sportsman', I can't stand him. Added to the fact that he is a complete moron, his presence isn't exactly welcome. The treasure hunt for old things reminds me of Look To The Lady with all that stupid Gyrth Chalice stuff, although this is less dumb. Once again we have a noble family fallen on bad times, although at least in this case the children have always been poor, the bad times having happened two generations beforehand. Having most of the characters (including the audience) unaware of something Campion is up to repeats a similar trick in Mystery Mile and was in both cases a terrible idea, because you spend too much time stressing about something that doesn't matter and not enough time with the most interesting character these books have to offer. The villain's comeuppance is very similar too to that in Mystery Mile.

Campion is joined on this adventure by his three chums, Eager-Wright, Farquharson and Guffy. And I'm not sure why. Eager-Wright and Farquharson simply don't have enough personality to differentiate them, while Guffy, as mentioned above, is a drivelling imbecile who does nothing of any use. This book marks the introduction of Amanda Fitton, who is seventeen but is treated like, acts like and is portrayed as a much younger girl, which is frankly kind of weird, since I know who she is to become later in the series. In this book, she becomes Campion's 'lieut' and is a charming character who can banter with Campion, while having her own quirk for breathless gabbling of every inconsequential detail that comes to mind and wondering why people are struggling to follow her, she's smart and brave, and thinks of herself in a refreshing non-feminine manner (i.e. if there is 'man's' work to be done, it doesn't occur to her that that wouldn't include her). Trouble is, we see barely any of her interaction with Campion because it is all done off screen. Instead, she brazenly goes around doing what she wants (as we find out later following his orders) while her family think she has betrayed them. This section is incredibly annoying. Especially as we are stuck with Guffy while Campion drops out of the story, and he just stands around doing nothing and being an idiot.

The villains also seem to go unchecked. The Fittons get attacked at least three times, and nearly murdered by an insane doctor. What is the point of having three or four adventurous young men staying with you, if they fail to prevent these kinds of things?

I really think Allingham missed a trick by not showing us Campion and Amanda working together. The version of this section of the story that the audience gets is really quite irritating and we miss out on seeing the start of what is surely supposed to be the most important relationship of Campion's life. So, in conclusion, the overall plot seems pretty silly - artefact treasure hunting just doesn't seem believable to me, no matter how many adventure stories use it for a plot. There is a very annoying section in which Amanda's actions appear infuriating and Campion is entirely absent, and we are left with a handful of not very compelling characters to carry the story for a few chapters. There are a number of comic scenes and over-the-top scenery that seem to exist more to entertain the author than to progress the plot. BUT, I did like Amanda. And the ending is incredibly exciting and action-packed, and when Campion is around he's still hilariously irreverent. Not one of the best, but entertaining enough. show less

One of the earlier Campion books, Sweet Danger is in turns charming, funny, beautifully rendered, confusing, and unbelievable. There is more than enough to keep one's attention on the book generally speaking, but the unevenness of the craft does distract from the pleasures of the read.

This is my favorite of all the Margery Allingham I have read.

As you can see, reviewer opinions vary. If you like a serious mystery, this is probably not for you. It's not intended to be taken seriously.

But if you like something closer to Indiana Jones, this might be what you're looking for--a fun ride, some really interesting characters, and a lot of humor in how they interact, and Albert pulls one rabbit out of the hat after another.

I find that I don't really like the Margery Allingham novels where she was trying to be serious. They're mostly rather staid, boring things that are, well, serious.

The other one of Allingham's that comes the closes to this is Mystery Mile: also very funny, Albert at his comedic best, and lots of other show more interesting characters to boot. If she had kept writing light stories like that, she'd be far and away my favorite novelist. But then she had to write those boring, serious things. show less