Margery Allingham, Hide My Eyes (1958)

This British novel was the very prolific author´s sixteenth Albert Campion story.

I thought it would be very suitable for two of my reading challenges. I read it in Danish (I shouldn´t have, but my excuse is that I found it in a bargain bin).

On the first pages we meet the bus driver with the terrifying and uncanny face who carries a revolver and gloves in his case. He kills a money-lender, and for eight months he believes he has committed the perfect crime – until Inspector Charles Luke takes a closer look at some unsolved cases and sees a pattern emerge, assisted by Mr Albert Campion, the private detective. If the murderer had not turned out to be too smart, planning his very intricate crimes and alibis, they might never have caught him, though.

This story was a traditional crime story with lots of atmosphere and interesting characters, but the murderer´s behaviour was a bit incredible for me.

Read for 2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge & Bogudfordringen 2011

Margery Allingham, En morder lukkes ind (1971)

De første linjer:
“Bussens ankomst var tidsmæssigt nøje beregnet. Køretøjet blev overhovedet ikke bemærket af nogen, som kunne være interesseret i det.”

Nej, man bør ikke læse klassisk, britisk krimi i venstrehånds-oversættelse, man risikerer at støde på ´possessive kvinder´og andet mærkeligt, men min undskyldning er, at den var så billig.

På første side møder vi buschaufføren med det rædselsfulde og uhyggelige ansigt, som render rundt med en revolver og et par handsker i sin taske. Han dræber en pengeudlåner, og i otte måneder ser det ud til, han har begået den perfekte forbrydelse – indtil kriminalkommissær Charles Luke kigger nærmere på en række uløste sager og aner et mønster, godt hjulpet af privatdetektiven Albert Campion. Men hvis morderen ikke havde været oversmart og gjort for meget ud af sine udspekulerede forbrydelser og alibier, havde de måske aldrig pågrebet ham.

Romanen er en meget traditionel krimi med masser af Londonatmosfære og interessante personer, men morderens opførsel virkede ikke alt for overbevisende. Hurtigt læst hyggekrimi som ikke ødelægger nogens nattesøvn. 

Læst som en del af:
Bogudfordringen 2011, januar: en krimi fra før 2000.
2011 Vintage Mystery Reading Challenge.
.

Margery Allingham, No Love Lost. Two Stories of Suspense (1954).

[En del af Margery Allinghams romaner og noveller er oversat til dansk, men så vidt jeg kan se ikke de to historier her]

This novel was one of the many on the shelves of our cottage in Scotland. I decided to try some authors I did not know beforehand, and began with one of the British classics.

The Patient at Peacock´s Hall.
In this short crime story, the young doctor Ann Fowler plays a very important role. Some years ago her fiancée, doctor John Linnett, left her for a promising actress, miss Francia Forde.

When the story begins, Doctor Fowler shares a country practice with old Dr Ludlow. She acquires a mysterious new patient whom she after some time recognizes as Francia Forde. The patient shows signs of being poisoned with medicine which has disappeared from Ann Fowler´s car, and suddenly she realizes that she is involved in a plot. Someone wants to kill miss Forde, and he is convinced that Ann is only too willing to help him. How will she get out of this one?

A rather anonymous detective appears at the end of the book, but mainly this is the young doctor´s story.
A fast and cozy holiday read, but the plot may seem a bit unconvincing and old-fashioned today.

Safer than Love.
The main character is Elizabeth Lane, the young wife of the headmaster of Buchanan House, a fine preparatory school for boys in southern England.

Everybody in Tinworth is certain that Elizabeth must be unhappy as the headmaster is set in his ways, gruff and absolutely inconsiderate. Elizabeth´s former love, the young doctor Andy Durtham arrives in Tinworth as a substitute for the local doctor, and tries to explain to Elizabeth Lane that she made a mistake when she chose Victor and safety instead of him and his strong feelings for her.

Elizabeth begins considering divorce, but knows it will be very difficult to achieve one ´without grounds´. Soon after the body of her husband is found in his small ´golf cottage´, and the rumours can begin. Elizabeth realizes that ´a marriage without love is not marriage´, and of course the competent police officer Fred South, called ´Uncle´ by the locals, solves the case and saves the young lovers.

Another cozy story, but more convincing to modern readers than the first in my opinion.