Thirteen exciting stories Overlaps but does not completely correspond to The casebook of Mr. Campion Different in contents from the Heineman ed. of the same title. ( )

My absolute favorite if Allingham's work --like Ellery Queen and some others, she was a great short story writer but her novels tend to be gloomy. Most of these stories are delightfully light and witty. My favorite is probably "The Old Man in the Window" about a 90 year old actor who covers up his own attempted murder. ( )

A perfectly enjoyable set of stories featuring Albert Campion and of course his foil, Stanislaus Oates. While the formula remains constant, there is enough ingenuity in the plot twists and certainly enough entertainment in the prose that one can finish the collection and still hope for more. These are sentences worth remembering: “After all, as he said, a broken heart takes at least twenty-four hours to mend without a seam and, while he was prepared to believe that life with a young woman of Miss Lea’s uncontrolled and vituperative tongue might drive a man to suicide, he mightyet need a day or two to get used to his merciful deliverance.”

Delightful selection of short stories featuring society detective Albert Campion. Some interesting parallels with Dorothy Sayers stories - try "The Old Man in the Window" and Sayers "Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club" and "The Definite Article" and Sayers' "The Article in Question". Don't know when these stories were originally published so don't know who was first! ( )

Thirteen Mr Campion stories. As the blurb says, 'in nearly every case the trouble is blackmail or the predicament some charming young lady has landed herself in'. The charmingness is more tested than in the novels as yet another undifferentiated heroine sits on Mr Campion's sofa alongside her adoring decent young man, and the plot needs of a short story demand absurd levels of coincidence, but it's entertaining enough stuff.