Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime FREE Returns

FREE delivery Monday, April 3 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Only 1 left in stock - order soon

[{"displayPrice":"$17.04","priceAmount":17.04,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"17","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"04","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"15zhgloHKerEK19IIz%2BrDM%2B9vXprPKneQKfRzsw%2F7Xh7OpOKAV03rD1ZkIzsfpv95UUz7SqRbfv5grZuoj0kPklgk%2FCKHcbOhuZneFan9%2FnBmfnq4kTf%2BQt%2ButoYgcry%2F1gpR3Hv1T6JTB0TKXwClTC8RSipoedfvKTpXQmL9C44tMt6UkhQ8YGOjb2A4qba","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$5.56","priceAmount":5.56,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"5","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"56","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"15zhgloHKerEK19IIz%2BrDM%2B9vXprPKneDWcs2%2B3dBFzaC350jG9vPoJkB0qBU14t4FwU8nPHNK1Ay92%2Fw3UzVhpHQM0qAwft538vkUyvQnipgSaoE3zV6jarDr0Y5Cen6qP2w1MajQkiIwcAvB5y1UEO5lZ%2Bo9DxXo4niR5kv18sHRqyCM8lr2J85VohE07U","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$17.04 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Payment

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

Pharos Bookstore

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Details

Payment

Secure transaction

We work hard to protect your security and privacy. Our payment security system encrypts your information during transmission. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others. Learn more

Ships from

Amazon

Sold by

Pharos Bookstore

Returns

Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

This item can be returned in its original condition for a full refund or replacement within 30 days of receipt.

Read full return policy

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Saturday, April 1 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Friday, March 31. Order within 3 hrs 42 mins

Select delivery location

Used: Very Good | Details

Sold by Jenson Books Inc

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$17.06
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Sold by: AtolyeWish

Added

Not added

$14.50
+ $4.29 shipping

Sold by: ioweiowe57

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Follow the Author

Margery Allingham

The Crime at Black Dudley (Albert Campion) Paperback – June 1, 2006

by Margery Allingham (Author)

1,891 ratings

Book 1 of 21: The Albert Campion Mysteries

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$5.19

—

Audible Audiobook, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$0.00

Free with your Audible trial

Leather Bound

"Please retry"

—

$75.12

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$15.99

$10.23

$5.85

Paperback, June 1, 2006

$17.04

$14.50

$3.61

Mass Market Paperback

"Please retry"

—

$10.00

Audio CD, Audiobook, CD, Unabridged

"Please retry"

$13.17

—

Enhance your purchase

A house-party with a glittering guest-list. An imposing country estate with endless shadowy staircases and unused rooms. The breathless period between the two world wars. It's the ideal setting for the classic English murder mystery, and bringing it to perfection is the introduction?in a supporting role, for the first and last time?of Albert Campion, the consummate (if compulsively quipping) Gentleman Sleuth. The guests take some time to be grateful for Campion's presence; he is a bit peculiar, and they have more than enough distractions, what with various complicated love affairs, a curious ritual involving a jeweled dagger, and a deadly game of hide-and-seek.

Book 1 of 21

The Albert Campion Mysteries
Print length

256 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Felony & Mayhem Press
Publication date

June 1, 2006
Dimensions

5.58 x 0.57 x 7.61 inches
ISBN-10

193339742X
ISBN-13

978-1933397429
See all details

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Margery Allingham Paperback
$17.04
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
Sold by Pharos Bookstore and ships from Amazon Fulfillment.
by Margery Allingham Paperback
$16.00
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Saturday, Apr 1
by Margery Allingham Paperback
$14.99
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
Get it as soon as Saturday, Apr 1

Margery Allingham
1,158
Paperback
16 offers from $6.96
Margery Allingham
990
Paperback
8 offers from $4.95
Margery Allingham
702
Paperback
7 offers from $6.63
Margery Allingham
676
Paperback
7 offers from $6.27
Margery Allingham
795
Paperback
7 offers from $4.88
Margery Allingham
1,264
Paperback
16 offers from $5.99

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An extremely fine tale of death in an English country house" -- New York Times

"In Margery Allinghams hands the detective novel is transformed from a craft into an art" -- Sunday Telegraph (UK)

About the Author

Along with Dorothy L. Sayers and Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham is widely regarded as one of the three queens of British Golden Age detective fiction.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Felony & Mayhem Press; 1st edition (June 1, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 256 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 193339742X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1933397429
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.58 x 0.57 x 7.61 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,347,075 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #16,162 in Traditional Detective Mysteries (Books)

Customer Reviews:
1,891 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Margery Allingham

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Margery Allingham was born in Ealing, London in 1904 to a family immersed in literature. Her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, was published in 1923 when she was 19. Her first work of detective fiction was a serialized story published by the Daily Express in 1927. Entitled The White Cottage Mystery, it contained atypical themes for a woman writer of the era. Her breakthrough occurred in 1929 with the publication of The Crime at Black Dudley. This introduced Albert Campion, albeit originally as a minor character. He returned in Mystery Mile, thanks in part to pressure from her American publishers, much taken with the character. Campion proved so successful that Allingham made him the centrepiece of another 17 novels and over 20 short stories, continuing into the 1960s.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5

1,891 global ratings

5 star		38%
4 star		33%
3 star		21%
2 star		4%
1 star		3%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Susan Artemis

An introduction to Albert Campion

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 3, 2023

Verified Purchase

After having read all of Dorothy Sayers books and stories featuring the amateur detective Lord Peter Wimsey, I was hoping to find another mystery series set in the same period with the same sophistication, humor, subtlety, and excellent character development. Compared to Dorothy Sayers' works, "The Crime at Black Dudley," by Margery Allingham, disappoints. The plot is melodramatic and the characters are one dimensional. The character of Albert Campion, introduced by Allingham to be a parody of Lord Peter Wimsey, is likeable but ridiculous. However, it was Allingham's first mystery novel, I believe. I read a subsequent Albert Campion mystery by Alllingham, "Death of a Ghost," and it was an improvement in terms of the character development of Albert Campion and the other characters, as well as in the plot. I look forward to reading more of her Albert Campion novels, in the hope that they will eventually bring me something close to the rare pleasure afforded me by Lord Peter Wimsey.

Helpful

Lark of The Bookwyrm's Hoard

A so-so start to a wonderful series

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 20, 2015

Verified Purchase

'The Crime at Black Dudley' introduces Margery Allingham’s affable, deceptively foolish young amateur detective, Albert Campion. Like Lord Peter Wimsey, Campion is from an aristocratic family and adopts a silly-ass, never-serious persona. Unlike Wimsey, however, Campion himself is a bit of a mystery. We know very little of him – even his real identity. Campion is just one of his many aliases, at least one of which is mentioned in this book. There are hints in other books that he may be a legitimate or illegitimate scion of one of England’s most respected noble families, perhaps even the extended Royal family, but we never find out for certain. This lends a little soupcon of the unknowable to the detective himself, and adds to the fun of the books.

'The Crime at Black Dudley' is not, however, among the best of Allingham’s books. For one thing, Campion is not the main character; Dr. Abbershaw is, and I don’t find him as interesting as Campion himself.

In typical Allingham fashion, the plot is convoluted and somewhat fantastic (in the “elaborate and not quite real” sense of the word), but it works a little less well here than in some of the other books ('Mystery Mile', for instance.) Criminal gangs headed by ruthless masterminds, a murder with a famous dagger during a house party – it reads like a pastiche of Ngaio Marsh ('A Man Lay Dead'), Agatha Christie, and a sensational pulp-crime novel, but Allingham’s distinctive narrative voice manages to tie it together. Eccentricity and the fantastical are hallmarks of Allingham’s mysteries; it seems to me that in The Crime at Black Dudley she was just beginning to feel her way toward her mature style.

I’m never totally satisfied when the solution relies on various confessions, as is the case here, and the murder motive itself seems both far-fetched and barely tied in to the events of the main portion of the novel. All in all, I’m giving the book 3 of 5 stars – I’m glad to have read the first Campion novel, but I probably won’t reread it.

If you’ve never read any Campion mysteries, I recommend starting with any of the following, all of which I’ve enjoyed: 'Look to the Lady' (also published as 'The Gyrth Chalice Mystery'), 'Death of a Ghost', 'Sweet Danger', 'Dancers in Mourning', or the superlative 'Flowers for the Judge'. They can be read in almost any order.

NOTE: This review was originally published on my blog, The Bookwyrm's Hoard.

23 people found this helpful

Helpful

Kindle Customer

First Appearance of Albert Campion

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 23, 2014

Verified Purchase

How good it is to have the birth of Albert Campion in a large sized paperbound edition, as well, now, on Kindle. The year of original publication was 1929 but nothing about it has grown stale or is dated. Well, not quite nothing. Apparently,solid citizens carried firearms at will and doing 60 miles an hour in a car was flying. More importantly, Campion is not the protagonist but rather is an agent of a nefarious figure. While he plays an important role, it is a young physician, frequently a consultant for Scotland Yard, who is the center of attention.
Naturally, in the tradition of the Classic British Detective Story, the main action takes place in a huge old mansion with many rooms, hidden passageways and spooky traditions. A group of guests, mostly young , have been invited to celebrate the birthday of the elderly gentleman who lives there alone with his servants. The host is the actual owner, the old man is his uncle by marriage. The latter is the one who encourages these affairs with young people. On the night of the celebratory dinner, the guests play an ancient game of the House, in which a dagger is passed around while the lights (not electric) are turned off. Whoever is caught with the dagger when the lights go on again must pay a token forfeit. This night when the lights go on again, the Old Man is found dead. The young doctor, the protagonist, is called upon to sign the death certificate. He suspects foul play but that is just the beginning of what turns into a strange period of threat and danger in the Old Mansion. Just where does Campion fit into all this? Not, it would seem, on the side of the law, yet helpful to the young people.
Overall quite an entertaining book, well-written, easy reading. Aficionados of the Classic British Mystery story will definitely want to read it-- both for its own qualities but also for its place in the Tradition as well. All readers should find the book to their liking—despite questions that can be raised about the quality of the last sections of the book.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

G. M. Sidoli

Albert Campion's first foray into the world of detecting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

A promising start to the career of Albert Campion, the amateur sleuth of Margery Allingham's detective stories. I read it as an exercise in curiosity. I have to say that considering this was published nearly 100 years ago it holds up pretty well. The story is a bit improbable and some of the language is very dated but the characters were interesting and had a certain depth. The most surprising thing was what a minor role Campion had in the story. It is worth reading and I shall definitely more books by this author.

4 people found this helpful

Janetti

Very disappointed

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 1, 2018

Verified Purchase

I've read many Margery Allingham's stories with Albert Campion and enjoyed them. I discovered this one, which is the first in which Albert appears, so looked forward to reading it too. I'm afraid that if I had read this one first I probably wouldn't have bothered with the others. Albert plays only a minor part, a part which is hard to understand. He begins to unfold as a foolish non-descript, then a tough hero, then disappears completely having accomplished nothing in the unravelling of the mystery. The other characters are quite entertaining if you enter into the spirit and the time of writing, but the plot is ridiculous and completely unbelievable. There are many holes in the plot and the actions of the gung-ho group of young men became too absurd for me. I was not surprised at the revelation of the murderer at the end.

5 people found this helpful

Portland Bill

Dull plot which seems to go nowhere

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 20, 2018

Verified Purchase

I love vintage murder mysteries and was keen to read the Campion stories from the beginning, but this book was disappointing and put me off reading the rest of the series. It has a rambling, implausible plot which seems to go round in circles without developing. Campion is a minor character and the mystery is solved by someone else, and the solution to the murder seems to be tacked on at the end and has no relevance to the rest of the story. People scrambling through secret passages which don't lead to anywhere exciting, or anywhere that moves the plot forward, gets boring quickly. I lost interest in the plot and the characters well before halfway through but made myself finish it because I'd paid for it. It put me off reading any more of Allingham's books and the only mystery I could find in it was why it's considered a crime classic.

6 people found this helpful

S Riaz

The Crime at Black Dudley

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 22, 2013

Verified Purchase

Published in 1929, this is the first Albert Campion mystery. My introduction to Campion came through a later book and, disliking reading books out of order, I found that a confusing and difficult read. However, as I enjoy Golden Age detective fiction, I determined to give Margery Allingham another try and to read the first in the series – even though I know that the book has mixed reactions. In a way, that is because this is not a traditional mystery; it has a story set in a traditional country weekend, but then descends into something of a romp concerning criminal gangs, secret passages and only has Albert Campion as a minor character.

Indeed, much of the action is told from the point of view of Dr George Abbershaw, one of the guests of a weekend party at the house of Colonel Gordon Coombe, whose nephew, Wyatt Petrie, organises groups of young people to visit and amuse his uncle. The house is a somewhat forbidding setting for a party, but Abbershaw is more interested in a young lady called Margaret Oliphant than the location. Still, romantic considerations aside, there are a mix of guests, including a keen Cambridge rugger blue, a young doctor, a couple of rather sinister guests of the Colonel and a ‘silly ass’ called Albert Campion, who nobody seems to have invited…

When Petrie tells of a family ritual involving the fifteenth century ‘Black Dudley Dagger,’ the guests agree to play along and, when the lights come back on, it seems that there has been a tragedy. Worst still, the Colonel’s rather unpleasant, and unfriendly, guests, claim to have lost something of great importance and, if it is not returned, there will be consequences. Despite appearing as a rather inoffensive, unintelligent character, Campion turns out to be very useful in the following crisis, as the guests find themselves prisoners in the isolated house, unable to escape. However, this actually turns out to be a murder mystery, wrapped in a tale of criminal gangs. Overall, I am glad I read this first book and would certainly like to read on and discover more about Albert Campion.

8 people found this helpful

J. Brain

Humour, action and Cluedo-esque characters bring mystery and an unexpected hero of the hour

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 13, 2015

Verified Purchase

Margery Allingham lacks the subtlety of Christie but has a theatrical charm about her plots with their air of 'boys own' adventure story mixed with a stiff-upper-lip-ness that results in a quaintly English mystery that twists and turns like the corridors and hidey-holes of Black Dudley Mansion itself. Characters like Inspector Pillow and Colonel Coombe serve to give this story overtones of Cluedo-esque mystery and our hero turns out to be most unexpected and is so loveable and idiotic in equal measure that he ends up both solving the mystery and going on to become the star of a series of books and most deservedly so, in my humble opinion. I like Margery Allinghams writing, it has humour and a vaudevillian style to its progress that results In a good but not too taxing read. Many of her contemporaries wrote, as was the custom of the time with such verbosity, that the words almost prevent the story from emerging but not so the case with Allingham who is worth a try if you haven 't yet taken the plunge.

5 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	Amazon Advertising Find, attract, and engage customers	6pm Score deals on fashion brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectibles	ACX Audiobook Publishing Made Easy	Sell on Amazon Start a Selling Account

Amazon Business Everything For Your Business	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	AmazonGlobal Ship Orders Internationally	Home Services Experienced Pros Happiness Guarantee	Amazon Ignite Sell your original Digital Educational Resources	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services

Audible Listen to Books & Original Audio Performances	Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	Box Office Mojo Find Movie Box Office Data	ComiXology Thousands of Digital Comics	DPReview Digital Photography	Fabric Sewing, Quilting & Knitting

Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	IMDbPro Get Info Entertainment Professionals Need	Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Amazon Photos Unlimited Photo Storage Free With Prime	Prime Video Direct Video Distribution Made Easy

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Great Deals on Quality Used Products	Whole Foods Market America’s Healthiest Grocery Store	Woot! Deals and Shenanigans	Zappos Shoes & Clothing	Ring Smart Home Security Systems

eero WiFi Stream 4K Video in Every Room	Blink Smart Security for Every Home	Neighbors App Real-Time Crime & Safety Alerts	Amazon Subscription Boxes Top subscription boxes – right to your door	PillPack Pharmacy Simplified	Amazon Renewed Like-new products you can trust

Buy new: $17.04$17.04 FREE delivery: Monday, April 3 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon Sold by: Pharos Bookstore

Buy used: $5.56

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

The Crime at Black Dudley (Albert Campion) Paperback – June 1, 2006

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Margery Allingham

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$17.04

FREE delivery: Monday, April 3 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Ships from: Amazon

Sold by: Pharos Bookstore

Buy used:

$5.56