The Crime at Black Dudley
A weekend party gathers at Black Dudley, a gloomy isolated mansion on the Suffolk marshes, where the young pathologist George Abbershaw hopes to court a fellow guest. Instead, an old family ritual involving a dagger passed hand to hand in the dark ends with the host lying dead, and the assembled guests soon realize a criminal gang has locked them inside. Among the company is a vague, chattering, bespectacled young man named Albert Campion, whose foolish manner hides a sharp mind. Margery Allingham’s first novel in the Campion sequence blends country-house menace with brisk adventure and the sly humor that would make her sleuth famous. This free PDF and EPUB edition marks the debut of one of Golden Age detective fiction’s most engaging characters.
