John Sebastian Lafcadio’s ambition to be known as the greatest painter since Rembrandt was not to be thwarted by a matter as trifling as his own death.
A set of twelve sealed paintings is left in the hands of his widow, together with the instruction that she unveil one canvas each year before a carefully selected audience.
Albert Campion is invited to join a cast of gadabouts, muses, and socialites to witness the eighth unveiling but they are treated instead to a murder. The lights go down, and a young man is stabbed to death.
Campion must get to work on the baffling case, with its long – suspiciously long – line-up of possible killers and soon finds himself having to face his dearest enemy…
Death of a Ghost was first published in 1934.
‘Margery Allingham was one of the greatest mid-20th-century practitioners of the detective novel.’ — Alexander McCall Smith
‘Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered.’ — PD James
‘The real queen of crime.’ — The Guardian
‘As addictive as cocaine.’ — The Independent
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