Do you love Wooster and Jeeves? Imagine Wooster and Jeeves solving a murder mystery. A mystery where the same man is dead twice and once murdered! And the man a school bully known to everybody as 'Pig' Peters. This mystery narrated by Albert Campion has a definite Wodehouseian feel to it. The interactions between Campion and Lugg, the village and its characters are straight out of a Wodehouse novel.
The story starts with the announcement of R I Peters funeral in the 'Deaths' column in the newspaper and an anonymous letter addressed to Campion about Peters' death. As a school boy, Campion promised to attend 'Pig' Peters funeral after an unpleasant bullying incident in school. And Campion attends the funeral as promised.
Few months later, Campion starts a murder investigation. Who do you think is dead, this time? It's our late Pig Peters again. So what is happening here? Who killed Peters? Who is sending the anonymous letters to Campion? If Peters was dead this time, who died before? Whose funeral did Campion attend? Can one person die twice?
While part of the mystery may be guessed, part of it is not so obvious, this is a short novel with lots of fun.
Posts
8 comments:
I have read a couple of Allingham short stories and enjoyed them immensely. You're right about the Wodehousian feel though. There is something about her portray of British nobility and the upper crusts that strike a Wodehouse-like chord.
Valli - I'm so glad you featured an Allingham book. She had so much talent and her Albert Campion novels really added to the genre - in a Wodehouse kind of a way ;-). Nice choice!
Peter and Margot -I always wished Wodehouse has written a mystery. I am quite happy to have found Allingham, I plan to read all her mysteries, at least those I can easily find. Thanks for stopping by!
This is a great choice for the Crime Fiction Alphabet. I have read all of Allingham's books and want to reread some of them. This sounds like a good place to start.
What an interesting premise. I love that there is a character with the name RI Peters. I haven't read any of her books but I'll give this one a go. Thanks for the review.
Another classic author :)
@ Clarissa, this is a very short novel around 150 pages can be read in a couple of hours. Happy reading!
@Scott, yes another classic authour :)
@TracyK I would like to read all her books too. I am picking The Tiger in the Smoke next. Happy Reading!
Post a Comment