The Black Dudley Murder (1929)

The Black Dudley Murder. Margery Allingham. 1929. 224 pages. [Source: Bought]

I'm so glad that The Black Dudley Murder was not my first introduction to Margery Allingham or Albert Campion. (The Case of the Late Pig was a fantastic introduction.)

George Abbershaw, our narrator, is a house-guest at a weekend party in a country house. (The "country house" is quite gothic in nature.) He accepted the invitation because he's madly in love with a young woman, Margaret Oliphant, and he'd heard that she was to be in attendance. A whole weekend with her, he might even work up the nerve to propose! Other than Wyatt Petrie, he knows no other guests at all. His narration reveals his first impressions, and some of these first impressions at least are quite correct.

Typically when one goes to a party, one expects to be able to leave when one wants. Even if the host dies of a "heart attack." But that is not the case in The Black Dudley Murder. The guests find themselves held hostage. They have no contact with the world, no way to alert anyone--neighbors, police, etc. of the dangerous situation. (Even if they could manage to get to the garage and their cars without being shot or caught and bound, the cars have all been drained of gasoline.)

Albert Campion is a minor character in this one. He is not the hero of the day--or the hour--and he doesn't exactly steal the scenes he's in. I had a hard time enjoying any of the characters in this one. Or perhaps it's better to say I had a hard time getting to know any of the characters. Perhaps reading Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, and Dorothy Sayers has spoiled me.

English detectives are a race apart. They are evident at the first glance. (87)

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Sunday Salon: Reading Magic for Marigold (1929)

Magic for Marigold. L.M. Montgomery. 1929. 274 pages.

Once upon a time--which, when you come to think of it, is really the only proper way to begin a story--the only way that really smacks of romance and fairyland--all the Harmony members of the Lesley clan had assembled at Cloud of Spruce to celebrate Old Grandmother's birthday as usual. Also to name Lorraine's baby. It was a crying shame, as Aunt Nina pathetically said, that the little darling had been in the world four whole months without a name. But what could you do, with poor dear Leander dying in that terribly sudden way just two weeks before his daughter was born and poor Lorraine being so desperately ill for weeks and weeks afterwards? Not very strong yet, for that matter. And there was tuberculosis in her family, you know.

I found Magic for Marigold completely charming! I loved the heroine, a young, imaginative girl named Marigold. Our heroine is much younger than previous heroines created by L.M. Montgomery. The focus is on her childhood years, those magical years between six and twelve. I found this to be such a refreshing change! Marigold lives with her mother, her grandmother, and her great-grandmother. When she's not at home or playing in the fields and gardens nearby, she can sometimes be found visiting relations on both sides of her family. While her first visit away from home did not go so well, Marigold comes to love visiting, for the most part. She doesn't always love when young cousins come to visit her, however. Especially when they lead her into TROUBLE. The book shares her adventures and misadventures in friendship! Marigold has a few lessons to learn about friendship, about family, about her own emotions, about life itself! And I loved reading about them!

Have you read Magic for Marigold? What did you think?

Favorite quotes:

Lucifer was Old Grandmother's favourite. A remote, subtle cat. An inscrutable cat so full of mystery that it fairly oozed out of him. 

Marigold looked rather scornfully at Grandmother. Didn't Grandmother understand that when you went through The Magic Door you stepped straight into fairyland, where there was no such thing as time? 

Gwen suddenly discovered that it was not such an easy thing to invent a prayer. "Dear God," she said slowly, "please--please--oh, please never let me have moles like Tabby Derusha's. And never mind about the daily bread--I'm sure to have lots of that--but please give me lots of pudding and cake and jam. And please bless all the folks who deserve it." 

Mrs. Lawrence was very proud of her resemblance to Queen Victoria and dressed up to it. She had three chins, a bosom like a sheep and a harmless, if irritating, habit of shedding hairpins wherever she went. Her favourite adjective was "Christian," and she had a very decided dislike to being reminded that she was either fat or old. She constantly wore a brooch with Clementine's hair in it and when she talked of her daughter--as she did very often--she snuffled. In spite of this, Mrs. Lawrence had many good qualities and was a decent old soul enough, as Uncle Klon said.

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