Albert Campion #17

The China Governess – Margery Allingham

Written in her late career in 1962, Allingham presents a suspense novel with elements of the mystery, romance and thriller. Her PI series hero Albert Campion shows up accompanied by his lively Yard counterpart Inspector Luke, but neither rises above bland cameos.

The main focus is on a wealthy family, the Kinnits. In the 19^th century they were embroiled in a scandal involving a murder and then a suicide of the governess accused of the killing. So in 1962 they are bent on protecting themselves from the press when another scandal involving an adopted son threatens to upset their quiet eccentric lives. In contrast to the family with old money, Allingham presents people with origins made obscure due to the bureaucratic muddles and social disruption in the transport and processing of evacuees during WWII. Allingham pulls this off so well that it brings to mind another acclaimed novel of jumbled identities, The Galton Case by Ross Macdonald.

As usual, Allingham is vivid when describing atmosphere and places, especially London houses with rooms last furnished in the mid-Victorian era. But the plot is crowded, with action centered around a character Allingham was having fun with but the reader may respectfully find irksome. Writers in their middle age in the 1960s sometimes groused about These Kids Today and so Allingham gets in digs about the generation gap and the supposedly new kind of vicious evil among young criminals. Like P.D. James a decade later, she also plunks down for nature over nurture, blather which is mildly disappointing however expected in old crotchety conservatives. Family drama and past crimes meet suspense are themes later explored with less baggage by Ruth Rendell. 

Late career novels by mystery writers are often a mix of the off and on. I find it hard to recommend this one because it had trouble keeping my attention. But Allingham was always a good enough writer to be worth reading because her strengths in rendering place and atmosphere never waned. And she loved London as much as Charles Dickens, loved describing it even as it changed because of the damn motor car and dubious youth.

Overview

Like Erle Stanley Gardner in the 1920s, Margery Allingham churned out many short stories and novellas for weekly magazines targeted to readerships that liked adventure and mysteries. She was also a dab hand at gothics and romances (see Deadly Duo a.k.a Take Two at Bedtime).

Her series hero was Albert Campion.  He debuted in 1929 in what is now regarded as a classic Golden Age Mystery The Black Dudley Murder, which features the usual country house, paper-thin characters who are beautiful and stylish, a goofy hero, and romantic angles galore. The short stories have familiar stock plots and characters but are well-written enough to have feeling of timelessness that make collections like Mr. Campion and Others and The Allingham Case Book still worth reading. The insufferable Georgia Wells in The Fashion in Shrouds (1938) is one of the best characters in all Golden Age mysteries.

Allingham published only two crime novels during WWII, perhaps because she had no time to write. She supervised 275 East London evacuees in her small Essex village, an experience that gives The China Governess a genuine feeling in the scenes involving refugees from London slums. More Work for the Undertaker (1948) is less light-hearted than the previous Campion novels but loving in its depiction of London that still has Dickensesque corners and characters. Hide My Eyes a.k.a Tether’s End (1958) and The China Governess also have a keener focus on the psychology of characters similar to Simenon’s existential thrillers.