The slashing of a valuable painting at the renowned Ivory Gallery in London, followed by the murder of the proprietor's son-in-law, Robert, sets the stage for another finely tuned Allingham mystery. The proprietor's mother, 90-year-old Gabrielle Ivory, holds the key to the web of intrigue and danger that permeates the gallery.

Downloaded from Audible, read by Francis Matthews.

This is the first non Campion book I've read/listened to. For once it's told from the point of view of one of the witnesses, which allows for noone to know what the police know, and we are not included in much of what goes on in the investigation itself.

In 1930s London, there are two adjacent houses, one house is the private residence of the Ivory family; their painting gallery business is housed next door. The story starts with Frances standing in front of her formidable grandmother Gabrielle, with the complaint that her brother-in-law, Roger (who is married to her rather unstable half sister Phillida), wants her to marry his unspeakable business partner. Lucar seems to have some unknown hold over Roger after a trip to Tibet which went horribly wrong, and which Lucar and Roger were the only survivors.

In the absence of her father, who's out in China on a long business trip, Frances fears she will be forced to marry Lucar. Getting no help from her grandmother - who is as imperious but as dotty as possible, Frances confides her fears to David Field, who immediately proposes a fake engagement so that Roger and Lucar will stop pestering her. Then Roger disappears, to be found murdered a week later. At the funeral, the third person on the Tibetan trip - whom everyone thought dead - reappears. Lucar - on his way to the US and therefore a prime candidate for the death of Roger, rapidly returns, attempts to blackmail all in the house - only to turn up dead too minutes later.

There are plenty of herrings littered about the place - red or otherwise - which makes you suspect most of the characters at some point or another. Frances - who realises that she is in fact in love with David (who painted her portrait when she was 14) - has to face the fact that he might be a killer.

So secret passages, international travel (China to England by plane taking "only" about a week!), blackmail, murder, romance, mysteries....what more could you want?

My second book by Margery Allingham. I really like her writing. The police detective's actions appear of scene so you don't know what he is doing. The culprit was a surprise to me. ( )

Not, I'm afraid, one of the stronger Allingham stories. The plot revolves around a fine-arts gallery in London. It starts off with some nasty incidents involving the destruction of valuable property, and ultimately escalates into two murders. Unfortunately, when you toss in an explorer long thought dead in Tibet, bigamy, an oh-so-convenient outbreak of yellow fever delaying a key person, and spooky happenings in dark houses, you venture into the kind of territory that used to give Raymond Chandler the fits. There isn't the humour (or allegations of it) of Mr. Campion to leaven it, either. Give this one a pass. ( )

I love classic British mysteries (Christie, Marsh (yes, I know Marsh is from NZ)) but Allingham is hit or miss with me. Her characters are always verging on caricatures. This one isn't bad, some good red herrings and occasional really nice narrative passages. Typical 'murder in a mansion' but I enjoyed one of the characters so much, the elderly Gabrielle Ivory (who I kept imagining as Maggie Smith), that it kept me interested in the somewhat hackneyed plot. ( )

A good quick mystery. I did have a little trouble with the passage of time at the beginning. It seemed like someone had just walked to the next room, but in fact it was several days later. I suspected the culprit early on, but enjoyed the journey to the solution. ( )