There is a skeleton in a dinner jacket. A corpse in a golden aeroplane. When another body turns up Albert Campion worries he may soon be number four…
The deaths have been suspiciously convenient for Georgia Wells, femme fatale, charming actress, and the monstrous leader of a raffish entourage including Campion’s sister Valentine.
Desperate to protect his sister, Campion is drawn into a world of high fashion and low morals. Before long he’s navigating glamour, lies, and blackmail to solve a three year old murder and prevent a fourth.
This novel was first published in 1938.
‘Dancers in Mourning and The Fashion in Shrouds were published in 1937 and 1938, and are the best examples of Allingham’s capacity to create the atmosphere, and machinery, and ideology, of enclosed worlds – the stage and the musical in Dancers in Mourning; the world of haute couture in The Fashion in Shrouds.’ — AS Byatt, The Telegraph
‘To Albert Campion has fallen the honour of being the first detective to figure in a story which is also a distinguished novel.’ — The Observer
‘Margery Allingham stands out like a shining light.’ — Agatha Christie
‘My very favourite of the four Queens of crime is Allingham’ — JK Rowling
‘Margery Allingham deserves to be rediscovered.’ — PD James
‘Spending an evening with Campion is one of life’s pure pleasures’ — The Sunday Times
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