Summary: When two boarding house residents from the same family die, Albert Campion is persuaded to become a boarder to discover what’s afoot.

I’m a “Queens of Crime” fan, having read many of the mysteries of Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, and Ngaio Marsh. There is a fourth “queen” I’ve not read until now, Margery Allingham, whose main character is the aristocratic Albert Campion. I picked at random one that was available inexpensively as an e-book, which happens to be number 13 in the series, More Work for the Undertaker.

Campion has been persuaded by the Chief of Scotland Yard, Stanislaus Oates to become an “undercover” boarder at the boarding house of Renee Roper, a faded actress. The house once belonged to the Palinode family, a professor and his eccentric children. Two have died recently under suspicious circumstances, both Edward and Ruth, from apparent strokes. Three remain, the moody Lawrence, the fashionable Evadne, and the eccentric herbalist, Jessica.

Exhumations reveal that Ruth, who had a gambling problem, had been poisoned, but not Edward. Ruth also had willed seemingly worthless shares to another boarder, Captain Seton. Except that there is evidence that the shares are about to become very valuable. Who would want her dead? A family member? Or someone else with an interest.

There are funny things happening on Apron Street, where the Palinodes live. The “skinny” among is that some of their number are disappearing “up Apron Street.” Campion has his suspicions of the undertaker when he sees him and his son carrying a coffin from Renee’s boarding house basement to their business across the road but everything about them seems on the up and up. As Campion and DDI Charlie Luke, with whom he is working pursue investigations, an interview with the pharmacist results in a suicide by cyanide. Then there is the banker, Congreve, who goes missing. Meanwhile, a young man dating a girl at the boarding house is found badly concussed in a shed where he stored his motorbike.

There are so many threads going on that it is not always easy to keep track of it all and one wonders how it all connects. I don’t know if this is characteristic of all of Allingham’s works, but her plot here is the most complicated of those I’ve encountered among the Queens of Crime. A list of characters would certainly be helpful. But the characters are quirky enough to be really interesting and the culminating events make both an exciting finish and tie up all the loose ends. It feels to me that Allingham demands more of the reader, but rewards that with a truly complicated and fascinating mystery. I may well try a few more! ( )

Almost too much plot convolution makes this a rather difficult entry in the Campion series.
Campion rooms at a boarding house to discover exactly why several people have died, bodies have been mixed up, etc. Lugg, in perhaps his best outing, stays with his brother-in-law to help the investigation from a different angle.
The rather messy plot is redeemed by Campion’s relationship with his landlady, an old friend from his checkered past.
Entertaining enough but hard to follow. ( )

She's a marvelous find. For anyone who appreciates Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers, well-plotted Golden Age mysteries, not too violent/gritty/disturbing, eccentric characters, unusual situations, a bit of wit (well, a lot, in Sayer's case), Allingham is their slightly-younger near literary cousin, and luckily she was prolific.

(Note: 5 stars = amazing, wonderful, 4 = very good book, 3 = decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. I'm fairly good at picking for myself so end up with a lot of 4s). I feel a lot of readers automatically render any book they enjoy 5, but I grade on a curve! ( )

Så, någon tyckte att som jag läst såväl Christie och Sayers, och dessutom i alla fall testat Marsh, så borde jag prova på också den fjärde deckardrottningen, Margery Allingham, och då i More work for the undertaker. Boken är ungefär halvvägs in i serien om hennes deckare Albert Campion, och även om hans privatliv inte är lika viktigt som Peter Wimseys så verkar det i alla fall något mer framträdande än det hos Poirot och Miss Marple; bortsett från en del material i början av boken är det dock inget större problem att följa med.

I likhet med Wimsey verkar Campion också vara en ädling med litterär bildning och en pålitlig betjänt, låt vara en mer högljudd sådan än Bunter. Också i likhet med Wimsey (i alla fall när han är som bäst) är det här inte främst ett intrikat pussel där man skall spräcka ett alibi eller liknade, utan en mer långsamt arbetande detektiv som till slut med en blandning av tur och förnuft klarar upp det hela. Förvisso: det finns ett pussel att lösa, men det är egentligen inte det mer allvarliga brottet.

I en gammal herrgård i en nedgången del av London bor en gammal bekant till Campion som hyr ut rummen, bland annat till barnen till den viktorianske lärde som en gång byggde huset och deras systerdotter. De är märkliga typer: de är alla helt hjälplösa på det sätt som man blir om man är mycket intelligent men aldrig fått lära sig göra något praktiskt, och de har inga pengar efter att en av dem lyckats köpa aktier i snart sagt varje konkursmässigt bolag som tänkas kan.

För ett år sedan dog en av dem, och nyligen ännu en i vad som verkade vara en hjärtattack, men nu har frågetecknen börjat hopa sig, och en gravöppning visar tidigt att det var förgiftning. Över gatan bor också en märklig dödgrävare, svåger till Campions betjänt Lugg: han har uppenbart något fuffens för sig, men sannolikt inte direkt med mordet att göra. Exakt vad är ett pussel som kanske går att lista ut, medan vem som är mördaren som sagt snarare landar i en fråga om motiv och vilja än ren möjlighet: det finns det många som haft.

Det här var rätt trevligt, och även om jag nu inte har ett jättestort sug efter att läsa pusseldeckare så tror jag jag skall vända mig till Allingham om jag får ett. ( )

I'm going to stop reading this series, I seriously have too difficult of a time figuring out what the hell everyone in the book is talking about...

The characters' dialog is so affected and other than the dialog of the CID & Campion, I had not a clue as to what was really going on with anyone.

This is the 2nd in the series I found difficult to read & follow. I did not like the characters, and for some reason the entire atmosphere seemed dark & dreary.

I Quit! ( )