Dancers in Mourning

An Albert Campion Mystery

By: Margery Allingham

Narrated by: David Thorpe

Jimmy Sutane is London's favorite song-and-dance man, headlining at the Argosy Theatre, and beloved by all. Or almost all - someone has taken to playing increasingly nasty pranks. Albert Campion offers to poke around, but what he finds chez Sutane nearly overwhelms him. The far-from traditional household features a clutch of explosive egos, including a brooding 'genius musician,' and a melodramatic young actress who seems to delight in drawing others into her web of carefully groomed tragedy. Someone here is aiming to hang up Sutane's tap shoes on a permanent basis, and if Campion is to keep Jimmy dancing, he'll have to come up with some pretty fancy footwork of his own.

Margery Allingham was born in London in 1904. Her first novel was published when she was seventeen. In 1929 she published The Crime at Black Dudley and introduced the character who was to become the hallmark of her writing - Albert Campion.

©2013 Margery Allingham (P)2013 Audible Ltd

Critic reviews

"Miss Allingham's strength resides in the power of her characterizations, in her striking talent for painting vivid social backgrounds, and in her skillful use of language" ( Guardian)

Campion Revealed

Unlike other Campion stories, the reader gets to see a new side of Campion. We get a glimpse into his heart and his struggle with a personal conflict. It adds a new dimension to his character, who usually gets by with a joke to cover his feelings. The story is peppered with intriguing secondary characters and plot twists abound. I gave the story itself only 4 stars because I don't think the motive given for the killers action was worthy of some of his/her actions. A great listen, though I do find David Thorpe's interpretation of Campion's voice a bit over the top.

The book cover makes no sense. No one in the story was a ballet dance. Just a pet peeve of mine.

Well written and worth the time

Allingham is a master of her craft, and this one is another great read. She knows her characters and creates them brilliantly, spinning a fascinating tension between obligation, duty and desire.

I especially liked this one

The story had some just wonderful Lugg, plus surprises. The performance was great, the accents and the character interpretations, the dialogues were lovely.

Spectacular reading

Any additional comments?

I love the Campion series and the plot is satisfyingly full of twists. Good story but, most especially, the narrator is truly wonderful! David Thorpe captures all the different characters well with a really impressive repertoire of different voices for each. His delivery adds a great deal of well-placed comedic touches to the story. I am definitely looking for more books narrated by Mr. Thorpe.

A Smash Hit!

I'd read this book years ago and enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more listening to David Thorpe's performance. He made each character come to life, making the story vivid and exciting. Here we have Campion involved in a case he really doesn't want to solve, mainly because he's fallen in love with the wife of one of the suspects.