Customer Reviews

Death of a Ghost

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I had never read anything before by Margery Allingham but had heard about her. After I read Death of a Ghost, I decided to read all of her books....she is great. She puts together an exciting, different and well-ordered mystery with very good character studies. John Lafcadio was a well-known artist, dead now, whose wife had a big celebration once a year and shows a new painting of his. Everyone who is everyone comes. This time the party does not go smoothly.....for death comes! Albert Campion, friend of the family and some-time crime investigator looks into the murder. It's a good thing he does, because soon another body show up.. He and his friend, Insp. Oates take a journey through the art world, the greed, self-centeredness, hunger fame is all around them.. they talk to John Lafcadio's old models who still live at his house with his wife, Belle. She seems to be the only sane one in the house. The story is smooth, even, well-paced, and give just enough clues, but not too many. The ending is a surprise. I can't wait to curl up with tea, scones and another book by Margery Allingham

"Death of a Ghost" finds Albert Campion in attendance while the family of famous artist John Lafcadio prepares for a posthumous exhibit. Lafcadio, irritated at the thought that another artist, Charles Tanqueray, might outlive him, provided a series of paintings to be shown one at a time, after his death. Max Fustian, art dealer and general popinjay, has prepared a lavish event for this year's unveiling. He is aided in this effort by Belle, Lafcadio's wife and a cast of remarkable zanies that reside in and around the Lafcadio residence.

No sooner does the party start than Tom Dacre, another artist is murdered when the lights suddenly go out. Campion manages to keep his old friend Stanislaus Oates from arresting Lafcadio's daughter Linda who was Dacre's jilted lover, but now must seek a solution to what appears to be a perfect crime. To make matters worse, another household resident is murdered by poison in mysterious fashion. Campion begins to suspect he is facing an ingenious killer with few, if any, moral compunctions.

This is the type of mystery novel I think of as a `set piece.' By that I mean that long before the end the puzzle is completely defined, the rules set out, and it is now up to the detective (and the reader) to fit the pieces together and make it work out. In this case, almost exactly halfway through (shortly after the reader has guessed the killer) Campion half-deduces / half-intuits the criminal. He manages to convince Oates of his conclusion, and it is now up to them to discover motive, means and proof. This is no small task, and before the end Campion must risk his life to bring the case home.

This kind of writing always runs the danger of becoming an intellectual exercise or worse, boring. Allingham's skill is such that there is no danger of this. Instead, "Death of a Ghost" comes close to being a tour de force of characterization, which has always been Allingham's strength. Narrative is strong as well, and the novel, while not among Allingham's very best, is a great success and an enjoyable read.

Years after his death salon painter John Lafcadio continues to haunt the art world with the yearly public unveiling - and subsequent auction - of one of a dozen stored masterpieces. At the revelation of the seventh painting the lights suddenly go out - when they come back on, there is a knife sticking out of the back of young watercolorist Dacre, fiance of the great artist's grand-daughter. Albert Campion, the universal uncle, is there, and doubts the police's initial guess of the culprit. He takes upon himself Mrs Lafcadio's charge to put a stop to the crimes - for soon there is a second murder within the artist's enchanted circle.

A man is murdered at a crowded art show with a most unusual weapon. A wonderful, fake medium (my favorite character) announces, "The vibrations in this house are terrible...The air is full of evil spirits crowding upon one another." In other words, there are lots of suspects, and everybody's universal uncle and deputy adventurer (this is how Campion describes himself) has his work cut out for him.

Allingham's Campion novels can be divided into two groups: (1) the classical whodunit, usually with heavy psychological interplay; and (2) the thriller, which usually includes a mystery but is more heavily into action-adventure. "Death of a Ghost" is an example from group (1) and The Tiger in the Smoke: Albert Campion, #14(P.D. James believes this to be Allingham's best Campion novel) falls into group (2).

Belle Darling, widow of the famous artist, Johnnie Lafcadio (the `ghost' in the title), throws a party to unveil one of her late husband's paintings, and a monster stirs in its den. When the power suddenly fails and the gathering is thrown into darkness, the monster strikes and a guest collapses with a pair of jeweled scissors plunged into his heart.

The second murder is much more cunningly plotted, and although Campion knows the identity of the murderer, proof keeps slipping through his fingers until he puts his own life on the line.

I had to read "Death of a Ghost" twice before I could keep the characters and their complex interactions straight, and even after Campion had revealed the identity of the murderer, I was still in hot pursuit of my favorite red herring. This isn't an easy mystery to follow, but it will reward careful reading.

Here is a complete list of the Campion novels that Allingham wrote ("Cargo of Eagles" was completed by her husband after her death in 1966). There are also short story collections and Campion novels that were written by her husband, Youngman Carter, which I didn't include in this list.

1. The Black Dudley Murder aka The Crime at Black Dudley (1929)
2. Mystery Mile (1930)
3. Look to the Lady aka The Gyrth Chalice Mystery (1931)
4. Police at the Funeral (1931)
5. Sweet Danger aka Kingdom of Death aka The Fear Sign (1933)
6. Death of a Ghost (1934)
7. Flowers for the Judge (1936)
8. The Case of the Late Pig (1937)
9. Dancers in Mourning aka Who Killed Chloe? (1937)
10. The Fashion in Shrouds (1938)
11. Traitor's Purse aka The Sabotage Murder Mystery (1941)
12. Pearls before Swine (1945)
13. More Work for the Undertaker (1948)
14. The Tiger in the Smoke (1952)
15. Estate of the Beckoning Lady (1955)
16. Tether's End (1958)
17. The China Governess (1963)
18. The Mind Readers (1965)
19. Cargo of Eagles (1968)

I would only give one star to the abridged recording of this book. See if you can find the unabridged version of this audiobook read by Frances Matthews it's worth it and I would give that five stars. If not read the book itself and try some of her others.
John Lafcadio was a well-known artist, every year since his death his wife Belle has given a large party to celebrate his life and this includes the unveiling of one of his previously unseen paintings. This year someone is murdered at the event and Belle calls in Albert Campion, a friend of the family to investigate but then there is another death. Albert Campion and Inspector Oates interview some very temperamental and self centred suspects as they make enquiries into the art world which is unfamiliar to them both. They discover the dishonesty, jealousy and greed which is part of that world. Campion knows they are facing an ingenious and ruthless killer and worries who will be the next person to be killed.
I find all of Margery Allingham's books are very enjoyable and have read them all several times. Some are real period pieces with humerous characters who have strong London and Suffolk accents. The audiobooks are especially good when read by Frances Matthews. Try Dancers in Mourning, A Fashion in Shrouds and More Work for the Undertaker.

The late great artist John Lafcadio had left behind twelve crated paintings with instructions that they were to be opened and displayed, one per year, beginning ten years after his death, at a party to be held in his London home/studio. He had a two fold motivation for this scheme, first to keep up demand for his work and second to annoy his chief rival even from the grave. When he made these plans Lafcadio probably never dreamed just how many deaths these arrangements would cause.

Albert Campion is attending the eighth posthumous Lafcadio opening. His hostess, Lafcadio's widow, Belle is very much in charge, of the party, her husbands estate, and her very bohemian family - two of her husbands former models, Lisa and Donna Beatrice; his agent, Max Fustian; their granddaughter Linda and her fiance, Thomas Dacre and his wife Rosa-Rosa. During the party the lights went and when they were restored revealed that a murder had been committed. Campion begins to investigate the crime when all fingers point to Linda. Secrets and long held resentments begin to surface, leading to a second murder but of course, Campion triumphs in the end.

While DEATH OF A GHOST is listed as a mystery, it is more strictly a thriller. The murderer is revealed long before the end of the book, the remaining few chapters involve Campion proving his case. While there is a certain amount of tension involved in the action scenes and a small challenge for the reader to figure out the culprit this is really more of a straight character driven novel rather than either a mystery or a thriller.

Campion has often been compared to Sayers' Lord Peter. In the early novels in particular, Campion bore much in common with Wimsey. The art colony setting for this 1934 novel has a lot in common with Sayers' 1931 FIVE RED HERRINGS. Happily though Campion emerges from Wimsey's shadow and emerges as an interesting character in his own wright.

I'm reading the Campion mysteries in order (I read a few many years ago and didn't really like them, thought they were "Sayers Light"). I realize now how wrong I was - Allingham is a great writer, and Campion in this, his sixth outing, is really maturing. He's no longer just the vacuous "universal uncle", using a well-bred, slightly simple facade to hide his intelligence and slip into the background, observing and solving his mysteries. In this mystery, set among the bohemian artsy set of 1930s London, he's hunting a bold, possibly insane killer; one of the fascinating story angles is that Campion knows fairly early on whodunnit, but Allingham handles the cat-and-mouse between Campion and the increasingly daring and unstable killer masterfully. I see in these reviews some readers were not thrilled with this departure for Campion, but I was really impressed by Allingham's portrayal of the pathos and hypocrisy of aging models, failed artists, and manipulative poseurs who make money off the fruits of the art world.

Margery Allingham once described a mystery novel as if it were a four-sided box: "a Killing, a Mystery, an Enquiry and a Conclusion with an element of satisfaction in it." The first three elements provided her as an author with the discipline that let her imagination have play with the last.

In this book (6th in the series and written in 1934), the book only partly follows the whodunit form as the identity of the killer becomes clear very early on in the book. Instead of being an exercise in detection, it is a meditation on the relationship between detective and killer. Campion meets his nemesis, and the trick becomes how to stop him before he kills again.

As usual, Allingham is a brilliant lens on the issues and problems of Europe between the wars. Artists and their models swirl through society life and the shocked countryside. The girls are entirely modern-- all sharp angles and violent emotions. Campion attends a cocktail party where "a dirty little thought concerning Hitler and the great Duke of Marlborough wafted across the smoke-laden air". These moments are Allingham at her best, and what lifts her books so far above the genre limitations.

Ultimately, it is not the best or most successful Campion novel, in part because of the chances she takes with the relationship between Campion and his "dearest enemy". All the same, it is more than worth reading, and I recommend it highly.

If you are not familiar with Allingham, I suggest that you find a copy of her work if you can. She deserves to be set next to Ngaio Marsh and Agatha Christie as one of the great pioneers of detective fiction.

The best bit is the artistic milieu, especially the industrious Potters who live in a shed in the garden. Though lacking in talent, they are genuinely gripped by art. Mr Campion seems ghostly himself, drifting through, letting others talk and not cracking a single joke. And the lovely Lugg doesn't even get a mention. What was Margery up to?