The Tiger in the Smoke (Allingham, Margery) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "It may be only blackmail," said the man in the taxi hopefully..." (more)
Key Phrases: man with the cymbals, new bloke, Tiddy Doll, Crumb Street, Miss Warburton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"'Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered' P.D. James" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Meg Elginbrodde's wedding plans to millionaire Geoffrey Levett stop dead when she begins receiving snapshots of a man who could be her husband-if he hadn't been killed at war five years before. When Meg's old friend, the charming and erudite Albert Campion, takes on this case of perplexing identity, it takes him on a spine-chilling manhunt in London's sinister underworld.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (February 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786707194
• ISBN-13: 978-0786707195
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #267,924 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 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 (REAL NAME)

"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.

10 of 10 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 (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

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.