Author Mike Ripley has written several books featuring Campion (this is the 6th by my count) as well as other fiction and nonfiction. The point is, he's an experienced and capable author. I've been a fan of golden age mystery (especially British) as long as I've been reading, more or less, and I'm always on the lookout for more golden age fiction since the original authors are sadly long gone.
This entry finds a more or less 'grown up' (i.e. old) Campion revisiting Suffolk and Black Dudley in 1970, a half century since his very first outing there in 1920. The country house has become part of a modern University. He is meant to be a distinguished visitor, but winds up getting drawn into a murder investigation when one of the faculty is murdered. Classic set up, classic style, and the author is almost spookily adept at channeling Allingham's original prose and flow (no mean feat).
This was a perfect autumn cozy mystery read for me, gently humorous, beautifully British, restrained but quite funny (and blissfully free of talking cats and recipes at the end of the book). Lugg is back and, as always, a perfect counterpoint to Campion's affably bewildered facade.
The plot is straightforward and the tension arc gently meandering (like the original source material). In fact, one of the most impressive parts of the book is that is manages to read as if it were modern at the time, in other words, slightly dated because it was written in 1970.
I enjoyed this one very much and although I was previously unaware of the author's other Campion books, it works very well as a standalone. I will be picking up the other 5 books immediately.
Four and a half for the plot and the capable and respectful Campion homage, rounded up for Lugg. I've been a devoted Lugg groupie for 30+ years.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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