Mr Campion's Fault

Starred review from May 5, 2014
Ripley (The Legend of Hereward) does an excellent job of expanding a story fragment that Allingham’s husband, Pip Youngman Carter, began in 1969. Ripley sets his Albert Campion novel in that same year, with an older detective traveling to the English village of Lindsay Carfax, the scene of a number of unusual occurrences. Most recently, schoolmaster Lemmy Walker disappeared for nine days; upon his return, he refused to discuss his whereabouts. His reticence may be connected with the Carders, the shadowy organization that runs the community; 400 years earlier, the Carders had “something to do with wool.” The danger soon becomes personal for Campion. His artist niece, Eliza Jean Fitton, almost breaks her neck after someone sets a trap on a staircase. Ripley is especially good at recreating the humorous wordplay of the originals (Campion refers to a speaker as suffering from “loose vowels”), and does so in service of a well-crafted plot that plausibly places the detective, who debuted in 1929, in a more contemporary setting. Allingham fans will welcome the news that Severn has commissioned a follow-up, and newcomers will be inspired to seek out her work.

September 15, 2016
When Perdita Campion's godfather, headmaster at Ash Grange School in Yorkshire, begs her to help him out in a crisis, she agrees. The school's English master, Bertram Browne, has been killed in a hit-and-run accident, and it's only days until the school play he was directing is due to open. Perdita seems to be a perfect choice to take over. Since her husband, Rupert, excels at sports, he can assume Browne's role as rugby coach, and Rupert's mother can hand out prizes at the school's Speech Day. Naturally, Rupert's father, Albert, comes along, too. But when the Campions reach Ash Grange, they find one family terrorized by an apparent poltergeist, school boys attacked by violent thugs, and a witch who seems to know more than she's telling. Naturally, amateur sleuth Albert becomes deeply embroiled in what turns out to be a tragic case of murder. A charming, courtly, slightly eccentric hero; an intricate and unusual plot; and plenty of gentle humor make this an enticing read for old-school cozy fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
An untimely death summons Albert Campion's son and daughter-in-law to a boys' school in the Yorkshire coal-mining village of Denby Ash, where they're soon followed by their famous father, a relic of golden age detection, and his long-suffering wife.On his way home from visiting Ada Braithwaite, the cook at the Ash Grange School whose home is being terrorized by a poltergeist, bachelor teacher Bertram Browne is struck and killed by a car that speeds off into the night. Ash Grange headmaster Brigham Armitage reaches out ceremoniously but desperately to his goddaughter, Perdita Browning, not to investigate the death but to replace Browne as producer and director of the school's ill-advised Christmas theatrical, a performance of Marlowe's Doctor Faustus with heavy cuts, a brass band accompaniment, and a wordless walk-on for Browne's sister, Hilda, as Helen of Troy. Oh, yes: Armitage also wants Perdita's husband, Rupert Campion, to stand in for Browne as coach of the rugby team. Ripley (Mr Campion's Farewell, 2014, etc.) does almost nothing with the colorful teaching staff at Ash Grange, but Rupert's news about the haunted house, the local witch, and a wave of well-organized robberies sweeping through the area brings his father down just in time to be on hand when Perdita helps rescue Ada's son Roderick, her Faustus, from a gang of thugs and Rupert is invited to help DCI Dennis Ramsden with his inquiries. Extricating himself from beneath the watchful gaze of his wife, Lady Amanda, Mr Campion promptly sets off making unauthorized inquiries that bring the case to a highly satisfying conclusion.The mystery is slight but pleasing, and packing Margery Allingham's notoriously fey hero, whom advancing age has appropriately subdued, off to Yorkshire is an inspired coup, tapping effectively into the class conflicts that power the story.

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July 18, 2016
Once again, Ripley proves that he’s the perfect choice to continue Margery Allingham’s beloved light mystery series featuring gentleman sleuth Albert Campion. Set in 1969 Yorkshire, Ripley’s wholly original second effort (after 2015’s Mr. Campion’s Fox) captures the blend of puzzle, playfulness, and wit that were Allingham’s trademark. Albert finds himself enmeshed in a murder inquiry after following his son Rupert and daughter-in-law Perdita to the Yorkshire village of Denby Ash. Perdita’s godfather, Brigham Armitage, recruited the couple to take over the duties of a teacher at the Ash Grange School for Boys, Bertram Browne, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Perdita, an actress, agrees to shepherd the production of a musical version of Doctor Faustus, and Rupert consents to become the school’s interim games master, despite his misgivings about his competency. They soon learn that Browne’s death came right after he witnessed a poltergeist outbreak—and that the community has its own witch. Amusing prose (one teacher has “the expression of one who had forgotten how to smile, but did not miss the experience much”) nicely complements the fair-play whodunit.