Welcome Introduction & Biography Title Listings Mysteries & Detective Stories The White Cottage Mystery The Crime at Black Dudley Mystery Mile Romances & Adventures Autobiographical Writing as 'Maxwell March' Notes on the Title Listings Short Story Cross Reference 'Campion' (BBC TV) Bibliography & Links the Margery Allingham Society Credits, Thanks & Mail

The Crime at Black Dudley (1929) Also published as The Black Dudley Murder (US). George Abbershaw, a young doctor frequently consulted by Scotland Yard, goes to a country house party hosted by his friend, Wyatt Petrie. Petrie is the master of Black Dudley, where a sinister Renaissance dagger holds sway over the memory and lore of a vast home, once a monastery. It is during a performance of the Ritual of the Dagger that Petrie's uncle, the invalid Colonel Gordon Coombe, is murdered. As several guests of the Colonel reveal their true colours, the situation turns from sinister to desperate. Somewhere in the house is a secret, a secret for which the Colonel has been murdered, and all the rest of the house will be held to ransom, until it is discovered. The situation would seem hopeless, were it not for the presence of an odd young man whom no one seems to know, and of whom nearly everyone is suspicious - the curious and foolish Mr Albert Campion. Campion's first appearance is largely secondary, as Margery Allingham reportedly intended fully that George Abbershaw would be the hero of the story. Indeed, Campion does not appear in the finalé, nor in the dénoument of the tale. In this first Campion novel, the young man in spectacles is acting for His Majesty's Government, and we learn several important things about him. The name Campion is an alias, as are Mornington Dodd and Tootles Ash; Campion often acts as a paid private agent, and he is familiar with the Simister Gang, which is to appear again in Allingham's next book, Mystery Mile.  BOOKS      Order The Crime at Black Dudley Today from Amazon.co.uk This is the Penguin Classic Crime edition.