The Crime at Black Dudley is the exciting first instalment of the Albert Campion crime novels written in the Golden Age of crime by Margery Allingham. This first instalment dates back to 1929.
The story starts when a group of individuals are invited to the house of a friend. The house is an old mansion called Black Dudley which is ominous from the very beginning. The setting is very atmospheric with dark shadows and an ugly building described as being like a fortress. The tension is there immediately and the reader is on edge within the first few pages.
The host of the party is the nephew of an old Colonel who likes to invite young people to the mansion a few times a year for a weekend away. Everyone has arrived that day and most don’t know each other, all being friends of some of the other guests or of the uncle or his nephew. It’s hard to tell who arrived with who or who may be acquainted with who. Some figures appear more shady and sinister than others.
During the first evening a story is told about the dagger at Black Dudley which is on display. The legend of the dagger is that it was once involved in a murder in the 1500s for which a member of the family was executed. Legend has it that if a murderer holds the knife their hand will be dripping with blood as it had been at the time of the murder. The story has devolved over the years to a hide and seek game in the dark where all the lights are turned off and the dagger is passed around in the dark with each person trying to pass it on as quickly as they can before the lights are turned back on after twenty minutes. A sense of unease sweeps across the crowd hearing the story but one Albert Campion suggests they play the game. And so they do…
What unfolds for the rest of the book is a truly exciting story of gangs and crime. Murder and mayhem. People are held at gunpoint, people fall in love. Everyone is in fear of their life. It is truly a rapid read through the excitement that follows. I was utterly gripped from beginning to end. The pace of the book is incredible. Margery Allingham is a truly remarkably crime writer. A master of suspense.
The Campion stories were made into a delightful television programme with Peter Davison playing the title character. They chose not to include this first story in the television drama. Probably finding it was too scary a start to the series for a cosy crime drama. It is out of character for the other stories. All the essential bits of Campion are there. His personality was exactly as I expected from the later books and the television series but I was surprised to find that as a reader I was by no means sure if Campion was a bad force or a villain in the first book. He is a surprisingly suspicious character who the other people in the story find immensely irritating. Described repeatedly as a fool and a mad man. An interesting shift from someone we come to see later as an amateur detective. It was nice to find the book so unexpected even having spent time with this character before.
I would definitely recommend this book and encourage readers not to think this book would be light based on its age alone. It may not have many pages in the physical book but there is a twist and turn to the plot in practically every chapter. A rocket fuelled romp through a weekend away in an old mansion and the aristocracy. Surely also the makings of a great murder mystery weekend.
An excellent read for a long weekend as you can just rip through it. Fun, shocking and filled with intrigue. An excellent book from an excellent writer who was even admired by Agatha Christie. Is there any greater compliment for a crime writer?
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