A Mystery

The China Governess

Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery?

Margery Allingham has worked her way up to a worthy place among the tiny hierarchy of front-rankers in the detective world

One of the finest 'golden age' crime novelists

Allingham captures her quintessential quiet detective Albert Campion to perfection... For those who relish classic crime fiction

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 
MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

Margery Allingham was born in London in 1904. She sold her first story at age 8 and published her first novel before turning 20. She married the artist, journalist and editor Philip Youngman Carter in 1927. In 1928 Allingham published her first detective story, The White Cottage Mystery, and the following year, in The Crime at Black Dudley, she introduced the detective who was to become the hallmark of her sophisticated crime novels and murder mysteries - Albert Campion. Famous for her London thrillers, such as Hide My Eyes and The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham has been compared to Dickens in her evocation of the city's shady underworld. Acclaimed by crime novelists such as P.D. James, Allingham is counted alongside Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie and Gladys Mitchell as a pre-eminent Golden Age crime writer. Margery Allingham died in 1966.

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
 
Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
Timothy Kinnit needs the help of private detective Albert Campion. Kinnit is rich, handsome and successful, but his past is a mystery to him and he needs Campion to find out how it connects him to the notorious Turk Street Mile slum. In addition, his own illustrious adopted family has a sinister secret of its own - involving a murderous nineteenth-century governess - that must also be brought to light by Campion's investigations. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

Cargo Of Eagles

Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery?

Margery Allingham has precious few peers and no superiors

One of the finest “golden age” crime novelists

Miss Allingham has a strong, well controlled sense of humour, a power of suggesting character with a few touches and an excellent English style. She has a sense of the fantastic, and is never dull

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 
MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
Private detective Albert Campion sets out to plumb the secrets of Saltey, an ancient hamlet on the Essex marshes. Once the haunt of smugglers, it now hides a secret rich and mysterious enough to trap all who enter - and someone in the village is willing to terrorise, murder and raise the very devil to keep that secret to themselves. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion

The Mind Readers

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
Fact catches up with fiction when the secret of telepathic communication is discovered. But the device at the centre of the mystery is in the possession of two schoolboys and whether they stole it or invented it, there are powerful interests who will kill to get hold of it. Private detective Albert Campion faces as deadly a challenge as any in his career. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

The Beckoning Lady

Don't start reading these books unless you are confident that you can handle addiction

Spending an evening with Campion is one of life's pure pleasures

Miss Allingham's strength lies in the power of her characterization

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 
MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
 
Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
Private detective Albert Campion's glorious summer in Pontisbright is blighted by death. Amidst the preparations for Minnie and Tonker Cassand's fabulous summer party a murder is discovered and it falls to Campion to unravel the intricate web of motive, suspicion and deduction with all his imagination and skill. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

Hide My Eyes

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
In Hide My Eyes, private detective Albert Campion finds himself hunting down a serial killer. A spate of murders leaves him and his friend and colleague Inspector Luke, with only two baffling clues: a left-hand glove and a lizard-skin lettercase. However, a chain of strange events leads them to an odd museum of curiosities hidden in a quiet London neighbourhood where more is going on than meets the eye. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

Coroner's Pidgin

MORE VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERIES 
 
MARGERY ALLINGHAM 
Mystery Mile 
Police at the Funeral 
Sweet Danger 
Flowers for the Judge 
The Case of the Late Pig 
The Fashion in Shrouds 
Traitor’s Purse 
Coroner’s Pidgin 
More Work for the Undertaker 
The Tiger in the Smoke 
The Beckoning Lady 
Hide My Eyes 
The China Governess 
The Mind Readers 
Cargo of Eagles 
 
E. F. BENSON 
The Blotting Book 
The Luck of the Vails 
 
NICHOLAS BLAKE 
A Question of Proof 
Thou Shell of Death 
There’s Trouble Brewing 
The Beast Must Die 
The Smiler With the Knife 
Malice in Wonderland 
The Case of the Abominable Snowman 
Minute for Murder 
Head of a Traveller 
The Dreadful Hollow 
The Whisper in the Gloom 
End of Chapter 
The Widow’s Cruise 
The Worm of Death 
The Sad Variety 
The Morning After Death 
 
EDMUND CRISPIN 
Buried for Pleasure 
The Case of the Gilded Fly 
Holy Disorders 
Love Lies Bleeding 
The Moving Toyshop 
Swan Song 
 
A. A. MILNE 
The Red House Mystery 
 
GLADYS MITCHELL 
Speedy Death 
The Mystery of a Butcher’s Shop 
The Longer Bodies 
The Saltmarsh Murders 
Death and the Opera 
The Devil at Saxon Wall 
Dead Men’s Morris 
Come Away, Death 
St Peter’s Finger 
Brazen Tongue 
Hangman’s Curfew 
When Last I Died 
Laurels Are Poison 
Here Comes a Chopper 
Death and the Maiden 
Tom Brown’s Body 
Groaning Spinney 
The Devil’s Elbow 
The Echoing Strangers 
Watson’s Choice 
The Twenty-Third Man 
Spotted Hemlock 
My Bones Will Keep 
Three Quick and Five Dead 
Dance to Your Daddy 
A Hearse on May-Day 
Late, Late in the Evening 
Fault in the Structure 
Nest of Vipers

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
 
Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
Just returned from years overseas on a secret mission, private detective Albert Campion is relaxing in his bath when his servant Lugg and a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing appear in his flat carrying the corpse of a woman. At first Campion is unwilling to get involved, but he is forced to bring his powers of protection to bear on the case, and to solve not only the mystery of the murdered woman but also the alarming disappearance of some well-known art treasures. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

Margery Allingham

As addictive as cocaine, Allingham's stories feature spooky happenings and violent death

Allingham's characters are three-dimensional flesh and blood, especially her villains

A VINTAGE MURDER MYSTERY 
Agatha Christie called her ‘a shining light’. Have you discovered Margery Allingham, the 'true queen' of the classic murder mystery? 
 
In a masterpiece of storytelling, Margery Allingham sends her elegant and engaging detective Albert Campion into the eccentric Palinode household, where there have been two suspicious deaths. And if poisoning were not enough, there are also anonymous letters, sudden violence and a vanishing coffin. Meanwhile the Palinodes go about their nocturnal business and Campion dices with danger in his efforts to find the truth. 
 
As urbane as Lord Wimsey…as ingenious as Poirot… Meet one of crime fiction’s Great Detectives, Mr Albert Campion.

Margery Allingham

Praise for More Work for the Undertaker

As addictive as cocaine, Allingham's stories feature spooky happenings and violent death

One of the finest “golden age” crime novelists

Allingham's characters are three-dimensional flesh and blood, especially her villains

As addictive as cocaine, Allingham's stories feature spooky happenings and violent death

One of the finest “golden age” crime novelists

Allingham's characters are three-dimensional flesh and blood, especially her villains

As addictive as cocaine, Allingham's stories feature spooky happenings and violent death

One of the finest “golden age” crime novelists

Allingham's characters are three-dimensional flesh and blood, especially her villains

Books by Margery Allingham

Series by Margery Allingham

Brief Encounters

Follow penguin

Follow ladybird

Follow puffin

Sign up to the Penguin newsletter