Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (USA 2024)

From the Publisher:
"Allingham has that rare gift in a novelist, the creation of characters so rich and so real that they stay with the reader forever." --Sara Paretsky

World War II is limping to a close and private detective Albert Campion has just returned from years abroad on a secret mission. Relaxing in his bath before rushing back to the country, and to the arms of his wife, Amanda, Campion is disturbed when his servant, Lugg, and a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing appear in his flat carrying the corpse of a woman.

The reluctant Campion is forced to put his powers of detection to work as he is drawn deeper into the case, and into the eccentric Caradocs household, dealing with murder, treason, grand larceny, and the mysterious disappearance of some very valuable art.

"Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered." --P.D. James
"Margery Allingham was one of the greatest mid-20th-century practitioners of the detective novel." --Alexander McCall Smith

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504091749 (January, 2024), 266 p., $21.99.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (USA 2023)

From the Publisher:
"Allingham has that rare gift in a novelist, the creation of characters so rich and so real that they stay with the reader forever." --Sara Paretsky

World War II is limping to a close and private detective Albert Campion has just returned from years abroad on a secret mission. Relaxing in his bath before rushing back to the country, and to the arms of his wife, Amanda, Campion is disturbed when his servant, Lugg, and a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing appear in his flat carrying the corpse of a woman.

The reluctant Campion is forced to put his powers of detection to work as he is drawn deeper into the case, and into the eccentric Caradocs household, dealing with murder, treason, grand larceny, and the mysterious disappearance of some very valuable art.

"Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered." --P.D. James
"Margery Allingham was one of the greatest mid-20th-century practitioners of the detective novel." --Alexander McCall Smith

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. Open Road Media, ISBN: 9781504087230 (April, 2023), eBook, 3 MB (ca. 266 p.), $11.99.

Margery Allingham: Pearls Before Swine (USA 2009)

From the Publisher:
World War II is limping to a close, but it isn't the Germans who are troubling the Dowager Marchioness of Carados right now. The problem, rather, is her son's upcoming marriage, to a nearly appropriate girl, and its potential for being derailed by a distinctly inappropriate one. Who apparently chose the Marchioness's son's bed in which to swallow a fatal handful of pills.

Never one to be cowed, the Marchioness enlists a friend to dump the body in a temporarily empty flat. But the flat's owner -- one Albert Campion -- returns home unexpectedly, on brief leave from the war. Understandably a bit put out, Campion determines nonetheless to carry out his original plan: a fast change of clothing and then off to the country and the loving embrace of his wife. The police, however, have other ideas.

Margery Allingham: Pearls Before Swine. The 12th Albert Campion Mystery. Felony & Mayhem, ISBN: 9781934609378 (December, 2009), 256 p., $14.95.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (UK 2006)

From the Publisher:
'Margery Allingham has precious few peers and no superiors' Sunday Times
Just returned from years overseas on a secret mission, 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 detection 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.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. A Campion Mystery. Vintage, ISBN: 0099492784 (September, 2006), 227 p., £6.99.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (UK 1996)

From the Publisher:
It is Mr. Campion's first moment of peace after three years of nameless service in the war. Catching his train is his only worry. But his peace is rudely interrupted by the discovery he makes as he steps out of the bath.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. Penguin Classic Crime, ISBN: 0140166114 (January, 1996), 255 p., £5.99.

Margery Allingham: Pearls Before Swine (USA 1990)

From the Publisher:
A Body Nobody Wanted...
It was most unfortunate that Edna, Dowager Marchioness of Carados, found a strange woman in her son's bed the night before his wedding. It was even more unfortunate that the woman was obviously dead. Under the circumstances, Campion couldn't blame Edna for moving the body. He just wasn't pleased that she brought it to him. Campion wanted to believe that his friend Johnny, the Marquess of Carados, wasn't the woman's killer, but the clues in the case were baffling: a string of fake pearls, two bottles of rare wine, a bride who brought home a boyfriend... and a pet pig.

Confidential Investigator: Albert Campion
A tall, thin man with overly large spectacles, he is deceptively unobtrusive when tracking down a killer and uncannily capable of predicting the deadly twists of a criminal's mind. He is unquestionably a gentleman, but even Lugg, his dauntless valet, and his friends at Scotland Yard don't know all the secrets in Campion's past -- or the confidential cases he has covertly solved while in His Majesty's Service.

Margery Allingham: Pearls Before Swine. Bantam Books, ISBN: 0553245481 (March, 1990), 216 p., $3.95.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (UK 1987)

From the Publisher:
It is war time and, having just arrived back in London after a gruelling mission abroad, nothing seemed more pleasant to Albert Campion than the prospect of a luxuriously warm bath and a long rest in the country with his family. But stepping out of the bathroom he hardly expected to face his surprised valet, Magersfontein Lugg, entertaining a roomful of ladies especially when one was a Dowager Marchioness, another a stunningly beautiful young girl and the third a decidedly dead corpse draped carelessly across his bed.

Enquiring further, Campion becomes entangled in a baffling mystery as he and his friends at Scotland Yard discover that the body is only the first in an odd sequence of events involving missing art treasures, crates of vintage wine and a number of strangely reticent aristocratic figures.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. A Campion Novel. Dent Mastercrime, ISBN: 0460024175 (October, 1987), 240 p., £4.50.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (UK 1962)

From the Publisher:
Albert Campion was used to surprises, yet there were times when even he was caught unawares. After all, there was no reason to anticipate any complication. Here he was, just safely back in wartime London after years abroad, lazing in the bath, placidly planning the next few hours which were to culminate in a leisurely journey to the station, and so home for a long leave; no rush and no fuss. Then he heard steps on the stairs outside... heavy steps. Into the room clumped two persons carrying a third, and as Mr Campion peered out of the bathroom door, he could make out Lugg, his factotum, a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing, and the corpse of a woman. It was unnerving to say the least, but he determined to avoid the consequences. He even got into a taxi to go to the station, but alas, it was not an ordinary taxi, and he was impelled to take an interest in the mystery of the corpse, the extraordinary behaviour of a well-known public figure, and the alarming disappearance of some well-known art treasures.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1962, Penguin Crime No. 736, 255 p., 3'6.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin (UK 1950)

From the Publisher:
Albert Campion was used to surprises, in his life as a private detective, and after years overseas during the war 'on a mission', as he put it, 'so secret that even I never discovered what it was'. All this had taught him to expect the unusual, yet there were times when even so wary an Investigator as Mr Campion was caught unawares. After all, there was no reason to anticipate any complication. Here he was, just safely back in wartime London after years abroad, lazing in the bath, placidly planning the next few hours which were to culminate in a leisurely journey to the station, and so home for a long leave; no rush and no fuss. Then he heard steps on the stairs outside, heavy steps that betokened no good. Into the room clamped two persons carrying a third, and as Mr Campion peered out of the bathroom door, he could make out Lugg, his factotum, a lady of unmistakably aristocratic bearing, and the corpse of a woman. It was unnerving, to say the least, but he determined to avoid the consequences. He even went so far as to disclaim any responsibility he might incur as owner of the flat, and he left behind this disconsolate group of people who had hoped for his help. He even got into a taxi to go to the station, but alas, it was not an ordinary taxi, and indeed, after all he was impelled to take an interest in the mystery of the corpse, the extraordinary behaviour of a well-known public figure, and the alarming disappearance of some well-known art treasures. A disappearance which had more than an ordinary interest for Scotland Yard.

This is one of ten books by Margery Allingham published simultaneously - the other titles are listed on the inside back cover.

Margery Allingham: Coroner's Pidgin. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1950, Penguin Crime No. 736, 255 p., 1'6.