Margery Louise Allingham was an English writer of the “golden age” of detective fiction, placed alongside Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. She was called “the queen of detective fiction,” and according to Christie, Allingham, among her peers, stood out “like a brightly burning lamp.”
She gained her greatest fame from the series about the aristocratic detective Albert Campion. This book includes the seventh and eighth novels of the series, as well as the collection of stories “Mr. Campion, Criminologist.”
For John Widdupson, the reputation of the publishing house has always been the most important thing—twenty years ago, and now, when not only the company’s good name is at stake, but also his cousin’s freedom. Widdupson chooses to defend the honor of his enterprise, while Albert Campion takes on the tragedy all the way through—not only out of professional interest, but because the accused brother of the publisher is his longtime friend, and he must be pulled out of trouble.