The Tiger in the Smoke (Portway Large Print Series) [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Margery Allingham (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1990 | Series: Portway Large Print Series

Mild-mannered amateur detective Albert Campion finds himself and his family caught up in a terrifying series of events. Meg Elginbrodde has believed herself to be a widow for five years. Yet since she announced her intention to remarry, she has been receiving some very odd communications: photographs of her husband, Martin, looking very much alive. But why? Is it blackmail, or something more sinister? Chief Inspector Luke joins forces with Campion to uncover the truth. And, amid the gloom of London's November smog, they begin to draw the net round a man who's 'killing mad'.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered" --P.D. James --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Margery Allingham wrote her first Albert Campion novel is 1928 when she was 23. She acquired a reputation as a serious writer, her books being recognized for their satire and her analysis of the problems and pleasures of post-war youth. She lived inEssex with her husband Philip Youngman Carter. She died in 1966. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: G K Hall & Co; Large Prnt edition (December 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745172318
• ISBN-13: 978-0745172316
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,843,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

62 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Allingham's best, and I've read them all., January 15, 2000

By 

Charles Warman (Wichita Falls, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Tiger in the Smoke (Hardcover)

Tiger in the Smoke is the almost unbearably tense story of a homicidal maniac on the loose in fogbound London. Although her stock characters (Campion, Amanda, Lugg, Luke, et al) are all present, this story is utterly unlike Allingham's other mysteries (only Tether's End is even remotely similar). The villain, whose identity is known early on, is possibly the most terrifying in all of the classic British mystery genre.

I could go on, but you probably get my drift. It's astonishing that the same author who gave us leisurely, almost light-comedy mysteries such an More Work for the Undertaker and The Beckoning Lady (two more of her best) could, using the same cast of characters, produce such a taut, no-words-wasted chase tale as this. Allingham was certainly the most versatile, and probably the most gifted, of all the classic British mystery writers.

One last general comment for those of you unfamiliar with Allingham's work. Her cast of characters ages along with the author. Albert Campion was born in 1900; in the first book (The Crime at Black Dudley), published in the early 20s, he appears as a slightly silly recent college graduate. By the time of Ms. Allingham's death in the early 60s, Campion was in *his* 60s, and fading a bit. The other characters age correspondingly (except for the inimitable Lugg, who couldn't). We watch Campion fall in love, experience rejection, fall in love again, get married, raise a family, and become a grandfather - his character showing added depth and breadth all along the way. So, my second time through (which I just completed), I read them in order of publication, and I recommend that you do the same. You'll appreciate her extraordinary gift for character development all the more.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling tale of good vs. evil, November 16, 2000

By 

Sheila L. Beaumont (South Pasadena, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Tiger in the Smoke (Allingham, Margery) (Mass Market Paperback)

"The Smoke" is fogbound post-WWII London. "The Tiger" is the truly evil Jack Havoc, who has escaped from prison by feigning mental illness to get sent to a psychiatrist, whom he fools and then murders. In his quest to get hold of a priceless hidden treasure, he doesn't care how many people he kills. This thriller, one of the best I've ever read, is notable for its graphic contrast of good, personified in the saintly Canon Avril (Albert Campion's uncle), and evil, personified in Havoc. There's also a most entertaining Dickensian cast of cockney characters. "The Tiger in the Smoke" is well worth reading and re-reading.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gone for Soldiers Everyone, June 2, 2001

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Tiger in the Smoke (Allingham, Margery) (Mass Market Paperback)

Meg Eginbrodde has cause to be upset. On the eve of her wedding to Geoffrey Levett photographs of her first husband, who died in the war, suddenly start turning up. Someone wants her to think Martin Elginbrodde is still alive, and she doesn't know what to do. At a loss, Meg and Geoffrey turn to Albert Campion and Charlie Luke to help solve the problem. Campion and Luke are sure that Martin is dead, but they don't understand why someone is bent on proving otherwise. First an actor dies, then Geoffrey disappears, then a series of brutal killings points to someone who is desperately seeking information that Martin left for his wife before he died.

The police discover that the killer is escaped convict Jack Havoc, a sociopath who believes in the science of luck; heartless, intelligent and deadly. Havoc is assisted by a motley crew of war veterans, who are every bit as terrifying as Havoc himself. The investigation becomes a desperate race against time, as Campion tries to outwit a criminal who is every bit as sharp as he is.

"The Tiger in the Smoke" is an entirely different Margery Allingham story than we are used to. In the ever-present fog, the genial good humor and comedic sense of other Campion stories evaporate. Instead, we find ourselves confronting larger issues of good and evil, personified by Canon Hubert Avril (Campion's uncle) and the diabolic Mr. Havoc. One cannot help but compare Havoc's artificial family of ex-soldiers welded together by fear and distrust with the easy interplay amongst the characters that stand with Canon Avril, a man who refuses to lie.

Avril, Luke and, for that matter, Havoc have larger roles than Campion does, which has not happened since "Crime at the Black Dudley." But the key character is Margery Allingham herself, whose own character and beliefs are the moving force behind the story. In "The Tiger in the Smoke" she demonstrates a great deal of depth that has hitherto been disguised. Expect something different and unnerving. This is a far cry from her previous work, and will always stand out as one of the most exceptional works of an exceptional writer.