Mr Campion's Mosaic -

 

Mr Campion's Mosaic is the newest book in an homage series to Margery Allingham's Albert Campion. Released 4th Oct 2022 by Severn House, it's 256 pages and available in hardcover and ebook formats. Paperback format due out late second quarter 2023 from the same publisher. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

Author Mike Ripley has written several books featuring Campion (this is the 10th) as well as other fiction and nonfiction. He's an experienced and capable author and this series has been an absolute joy to read. 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 installment sees Campion (the elder), reformed burglar & gent's gent Lugg, and an ensemble cast of characters trying to recreate a departed mystery writer's mystery in film whilst Campion gets to the bottom of attempted and actual murder (and tries to avoid falling prey himself). Lugg is, as always, superlatively entertaining, and Campion is self-deprecatingly and devastatingly brilliant. He appears hapless but his bumbling manner and innocent humor disguise a mind like a steel trap. He's clever and appealing, and the author does a smashing job rendering him faithfully from Allingham's original canon.

The book honestly surprised some laughs out of me. The clues are fair-play, and the climax and denouement are wonderfully twisty and satisfying. I really love this series. For readers who are not already fans of Mr. Ripley's Campion, but who are fans of Ms. Allingham will find much to love here. Ripley treats the canon with the respect (and humour) it deserves. Although it's the 10th book in this series (may there be many more), it works well enough as a standalone.

With so many books in the series, it would make a great choice for a binge/buddy read. They're all high quality, entertaining, fair play mysteries.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.