Joshin Chou Chou itibaren Swindon, Dudley, Staffordshire DY3 4PR, İngiltere
Took me four or five tries to finish but was pretty good once I finished
I'm working my way through Allingham's Campion series, and this one is set in 1945 as our hero returns from three years abroad working for British Intelligence. (This book is the 12th in the series and was also published as "Coroner's Pidgin"). Campion's mission was so secret "he wasn't even sure" of what the whole mission was; now he just wants desperately to catch a train home to his wife and family. He stops in his London flat for a quick bath before catching said train and finds his old retainer, Lugg, carrying in a dead body. Needless to say, he doesn't catch his train, the mystery deepens, and we're sucked in. As always, Allingham weaves a fascinating thriller around sophisticated, upper class Londoners; what I found more interesting was the war-time atmosphere she created. Writing in 1945, she really brought to life for me how the war, the Blitz, the whole experience changed people; in one memorable scene Campion fondly recalls the things that seemed important before the war to people of his class. With typical stiff upper lip, Allingham in her dry, understated way lets us know things will never be the same again for anyone. I enjoy the fine writing of this series and the way Campion and his fellow characters age and develop believably. Reading the book in 2010, I couldn't help chuckling sentimentally over the efforts of the group of hangers-on surrounding one of the main suspects, Johnny Carrados (one of Allingham's "great men of the age") to prevent any hint of scandal from touching his aristocratic name; nowadays, the news crews would be searching his garbage cans and staking out his house!
Read this years ago, but it completely cracked me up. The characters were delightful. Fantastic.
Great artwork and a sweet little rhyme following a whole set of babies through their first year. My 20 month old loves it, and so do his parents and grandmother.
** spoiler alert ** Gripping thriller that gets you on two fronts: the killer dogging your heels theme, and the hint of supernatural, extraterrestial threat. My biggest problems were this: too much profanity, particularly the tasteless f-word (do all authors think that all teens are swearing, rolling doobies, and having casual sex? and don't mention all the adults with nothing better to do that get laid, etc). Also caught a blooper at the end: if it takes 20 minutes for a message to get to Mars, it should take 20 minutes to come back... I did like the character of Ford and the fact that he & Abbey could have a relationship that didn't devolve to underage sex, etc. The ending tied up pretty nicely, though, so I gave it 3 stars.