Black Plumes

by Margery Allingham

Overview

A classic from the Golden Age of Detective Fiction. “One of the best books by a mystery novelist whose work is always of first rank.” —The New York Times
 
Something is afoot at the Ivory Gallery in London. A string of suspicious incidents—a Kang-Tse vase broken, a specially commissioned catalog burned, and now a painting slashed—has young Frances Ivory on edge. She suspects that the instigator is her stepsister’s husband, Robert Madrigal, but there’s not much she can do about it while her father is out of the country.
 
Robert is even interfering in Frances’s love life, encouraging her to marry his loathsome assistant. To stop his infernal matchmaking, Frances agrees to a sham engagement with the painter whose work was defaced. But when Robert disappears after a confrontation with the artist, he’s found stashed in a cupboard, dead. Frances is now drawn into a mystery that will have her second-guessing her family, her fiancé, and even herself . . .
 
Praise for Margery Allingham
 
“Margery Allingham stands out like a shining light.” —Agatha Christie
 
“The best of mystery writers.” —The New Yorker
 
“Don’t start reading these books unless you are confident that you can handle addiction.” —The Independent
 
“One of the finest Golden-Age crime novelists.” —The Sunday Telegraph

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781504087964
Publisher:	Open Road Media
Publication date:	05/30/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	224,975
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Margery Allingham, born in 1904 to Emily and Herbert Allingham, was an esteemed English novelist, author, and editor of Christian Globe and the New London Journal. Considered one of the four “Queens of Crime” from the golden age of detective fiction, Allingham began writing stories and plays at a young age and published her first novel, Blackkerchief Dick, at 19. She later studied drama and speech training at Regent Street Polytechnic in London. Allingham is best known for her character Albert Campion, a sleuth first introduced in The Crime of Black Dudley. Campion was featured in seventeen subsequent novels, and even more short stories. Allingham continued to write until her death on June 30, 1966.

Date of Birth:

May 20, 1904

Date of Death:

June 30, 1966

Place of Birth:

London

Place of Death:

Colchester, Essex, England

Education:

Endsleigh House School, Colchester; the Perse School, Cambridge; and the Regent Street Polytechnic, London

Editorial Reviews

Although Black Plumes gets off to a slow start, once the body of Robert Madrigal is found stuffed in a cupboard in the garden room, the story begins to develop interest. Allingham, known for her brilliant and witty "cozy cottage" mysteries featuring Albert Campion, departs from her usual form. Campion does not appear here, and his presence is sorely missed. Allingham had developed an intriguing and interesting personality for Campion; this book doesn't have a character to fill that center-stage position. In fact, there are actually too many characters, none well enough developed to attract the listener's sympathy. Still, Francis Matthews does an excellent job portraying the cast. Most libraries would be better off with one of Allingham's Campion novels (e.g., The Fear Sign).-Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

“Margery Allingham stands out like a shining light. And she has another quality, not usually associated with crime stories, elegance” Agatha Christie

“My very favourite of the four Queens of Crime is Allingham” J. K. Rowling

“Always of the elect, Margery Allingham now towers above them” – The Observer

From the Publisher