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Welcome
Introduction & Biography
Title Listings
- Mysteries & Detective Stories
- Romances & Adventures
- Autobiographical
- Writing as 'Maxwell March'
- Notes on the Title Listing
'Campion' (BBC TV)
Bibliography & Links
the Margery Allingham Society
Credits, Thanks & Mail
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The Fashion in Shrouds (Heinemann, 1938)
A new
twist in this mystery features Campion's sister, Valentine Ferris,
described as 'the second to leave the nest'. Val is now a fashion
designer for a prestigious couteurer, Lady Papendeik.
Val's star client, the actress Georgia Wells, is surprised to
learn that her former fiancé, Richard Portland-Smith,
who had disappeared without a trace while on a walking holiday
three years earlier, had apparently committed suicide; Campion
found the body, involved at the request of Portland-Smith's father.
Now Georgia, married to the brutish Sir Raymond Ramilies, has
seized on Val's paramour, Alan Dell, of Alandel Aeroplanes. Val
is distressed, and Amanda Fitton chooses this moment to reappear.
Six years older than in her previous appearance in Sweet
Danger, she is working as a designer of aeroplanes, under
Dell, and is concerned for the furture of her important work.
However, as events progress, it becomes clear that there are
darker motives intertwined not only with the death of Portland-Smith,
but of the murders that are still to come. Appearances by both
Lugg and Stanislaus Oates round out this thoroughly enjoyable
volume.
Interestingly, The Fashion in Shrouds was later edited
down considerably by the author herself for inclusion in Mr Campion's Lady: the Second
Margery Allingham Omnibus.
Also of interest: the Caroll & Graf edition depicted above
wins points for what must be the most inaccurate back cover text
of all time. The first paragraph reads as follows: "Among
the beautiful people, George Well's suicide was last year's gossip.
But Albert Campion stubbornly refused to close his personal books
on the affair. Campion barely scratches the surface before finding
himself vest-deep in a deadly game of cat and mouse."
...which just goes to show that skimming the first chapter
of a book doesn't always give one the right information...

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