This is a really interesting compilation which includes a biographical essay by Margery Allingham about her upbringing and reasons for writing crime fiction, which I found fascinating. There is also a story which is a dialogue between her and her detective Albert Campion, which was very interesting and shed new light on his character. I really liked the fact that supernatural and character stories were also included, showing Allingham's range outside the detective fiction genre. I received a review copy of this book.

“The Return of Mr. Campion” is a collection of essays and short stories. The best of the short stories involve Margery Allingham’s long-running character Albert Campion. There are a several non-Campion stories included in the collection as well.

Allingham’s opening essay tells the story of her writing career. I’m a long-time Allingham fan, and have read most of the full length Campion stories. Although I’m not always sure I want to see the puppet master behind the scenes, the essay fleshed out parts of Allingham’s history, and her philosophy of the mystery that I found interesting. Her opinions about the mystery genre are revealing about the golden age of crime novels in which she wrote. I wonder what she would make of the unreliable narrator mystery so popular these days.

My favorite piece is a short essay in which Allingham introduces her "friend Mr. Campion.” Her fondness for her character and his eccentricities is charming, and very like my own.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was first published in 1989. Now it has been reissued by Agora Books on 11.04.2019. The new reprint, in addition to the 13 stories of the original edition, contains an additional story from The Allingham Casebook titled: Tall Story.
There is also an article by the author in the beginning titled “Mystery Writer In The Box” where she muses on her writings and how she came to be a writer. This article is not available in the original edition.
Of the 14 stories, only 7 involve Campion, the remaining 7 being non-Campion. Thus the title is misleading.
Also, not all stories are mysteries. Other genres are included such as thriller, romance, fantasy, horror and supernatural.
I give below a brief description of each story with my rating.
First, the 7 pieces in which Campion is present:
1. The Case Is Altered *** An entertaining spy tale involving a comedy of errors.
2. My Friend Mr. Campion ** This is an article rather than a story. Here the author muses on her detective Campion.
3. The Dog Day **** An amusing tale of an unusual dog, Campion being on holiday at a resort.
4. The Black Tent **** Here Campion manages to nab a blackmailer with an unusual verbal clue. Well-plotted.
5. The Curious Affair In Nut Row **** The protagonist is actually Chief Inspector Luke. Though Campion is present, he is merely a listener as Luke relates the tale at the club. It concerns a seemingly mad man who claims to have seen aliens. Luke solves the mystery by the chance remarks of a woman.
6. What To Do With An Ageing Detective ** This is more an article than a story. The author visits the elderly Campion to discuss his future. She then meets the much older Lugg, manservant of Campion.
7. Tall Story **** This also involves Chief Inspector Luke rather than Campion who is a mere listener. A trap is set for a master thief. But when he is apprehended, he has neither a weapon nor the loot. Where he has hidden them ?
Now for the non-Campion stories:
1. The Wind Glass **** A young girl refuses the hand of a Japanese gentleman. He takes revenge through occult means. The atmosphere of fear created is superb.
2. The Beauty King *** When a hair-dresser invents a miraculous beauty treatment, he uses it selfishly especially in regard to a girl in love with him. But there is a happy ending.
3. Sweet And Low ** A romance story involving horses
4. Once In A Lifetime **** A 35 year old unmarried actress meets her first and only love of the past in a train, but he apparently does not recognise her.
5. The Kernel Of Truth ** A restaurateur finds a very special recipe for a punch. This considerably affects his married life.
6. Happy Christmas *** A tale of celebration of Christmas with family and friends.
7. The Wisdom Of Esdras ***** A lodger claims he saw a lady crying in the middle of the night. The owner’s wife informs him that she is a ghost. The lodger decides to help the ghost.
Thus as regards quality, it is a mixed bag. Some stories are really good and delightful while others are just average. The average of my ratings comes to 3.2 Hence I give 3 stars for the book as a whole.

I enjoyed this book that is engaging and entertaining.
I loved the Campion's stories and was happy to discover other side of Ms Allingham.
I also loved the part where she tells how Campion was born and the description of her work as a writer.
I look forward to reading other books by this writer.
Recommended!
Many thanks to Agora Books and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Especially enjoyed the stories in which Campion participates, not so much the other stories. Particularly good were the points at which Allingham speaks directly to Campion.

I thought that this was a bit of a strange one. I liked the Campion stories in this, but the other stories left me a bit cold and a bit confused. The quite meta story about what to do with an aging detective where the author visits Campion is also quite odd. I've only ever read Allingham's detective fiction, and mostly Campion - this hasn't really made me think that I'm missing out, although as a study of an authors development and style it is interesting.

A delightful collection from Margery Allingham, first published some thirty years ago - short tales in mixed genres, some featuring the enigmatic Campion, some not but all well written and make good, entertaining and enjoyable reading.

A wonderful collection of short stories by Allingham. Although only a couple of stories feature Mr. Campion, I loved the stories. My favorites include The Black Tent, The Wind Glass, The Kernel of Truth, The Wisdom of Esdras and Once in a Lifetime.
If you are a Margery Allingham fan then do not miss to check out this book!

This 2019 release of Margery Allingham's The Return of Mr. Campion contains 13 short stories and one from The Allingham Casebook. Out of the 14 total stories seven feature Albert Campion with two of those being told by Inspector Charlie Luke while he's with Campion at his club, the Platelayers' Arms. Allingham's interest for me has always been her novels because I feel the Albert Campion character needs a longer time to have his character revealed to readers. Short stories don't always give readers a sense of Campion's quirky character as well as other slightly off-kilter characters he seems to gravitate toward, with Magersfontein Lugg being a prime example. If you already know this author's work and like it, you might be more prone to enjoying this short story collection.

One example of the interesting stories included in this collection is "What To Do With An Ageing Detective". Allingham, the author, visits Campion, her character invention, to discuss what to do about his future. From there the story goes a little strange. This was a fun collection to read, but the stories which don't include Campion are just interesting, not necessarily the author's best or most enjoyable work. I'm always surprised to learn that an author can be such a favorite for me when they stay within the parameters of their series and yet not interest me much when they write outside that series. Probably this one is best for true Margery Allingham and Albert Campion fans.

Thank you to NetGalley and Agora Books for an e-Galley of this short story collection.

I'm always somewhat dubious about collections of short stories. They're tricky to get right and novelists don't always pull it off. Having said that, this was a thoroughly enjoyable collection. I was interested to see that not all the stories are about Campion and in fact, the ones I enjoyed most did not feature him. There were no bad stories though, each was enjoyable in its own right. I particularly loved the ones with a more supernatural element to them.

Shorts stories from the golden age of mysteries.This was such an entertaining read for me each story kept me turning the pages.While Mr. Campion stories were my favorites each story in the collection is fun to read.
#netgalley # agorabooks.

I should first own up to a love of Margery Allingham's Campion books .so anything containing dear old Albert is fine by me.
This is a nice collection of short stories though strangely not all of them include Campion.
All the tales are of course really well written, Allingham really was 'a shining light' as described by Agatha Christie.
The tales are of varying length, some are funny some are crime stories all are very good.. If you enjoy Allinghams stories you will enjoy this book.

Short story collection plus an interesting essay by Ms. Allingham about how she became a writer. The story My Friend Mr. Campion is about the author’s relationship with her character in which she speculates about his background. The rest of the book consists of short stories, some with Campion, which are fun, and others without, which are a mixed bag. Most, if not all, of the material can be found elsewhere, so if you already have collections of her stories, you might want to browse the table of contents to see if anything is actually new.

This is a collection of stories, about half of which focus on Albert Campion, including a first-person account detailing Allingham's creation of his character. The stories are entertaining, but it would have been nice if more were about Campion given the book's title. Also, be aware that Allingham, writing many decades ago, sadly used racial epithets characteristic of her era. Fans of classic British mysteries and crime should enjoy this book.

As a lifelong fan of mystery novels and a librarian, I have always felt somewhat obligated to explore the Golden Age of mystery fiction. There are many authors from that era whose work translates well to the 21st century, but I’m afraid Margery Allingham isn’t one of them. The best thing about this book is the author’s description of her writing process and how Campion came to be the star of her work. The stories themselves? Full of racism, bigotry, and classism of the worst sort. Some stories should just fade into the past.

Wonderful escapism. A collection of stories from the Golden Age of detective fiction. Not all of these stories feature the enigmatic Mr Campion, but those that do are the best in the book. There is also a revealing essay from the author about the why and how she started writing crime fiction and how Campion started to intrude on her stories. Delightful.

This was quite a mixed bag, but mostly didn't work for me. I hate giving less than good ratings, and being disappointed by a book even more. I just could not get into these stories. They were either too British or dated or just not interesting to me.

I really appreciate the advanced copy for review!

This book is a mixed bag. Allingham's short stories that are mysteries and that feature Campion are delightful. Unhappily they are too few. The majority of stories in the book are not mysteries and are rather pedestrian.

The book is enlivened though by three essays. The first, an introduction, talks about Allingham's early life, and why (and how) she came to write mysteries. The other two are humorous. The first deals with how Campion came on the scene. The second is a humorous portrait of Campion and Lug done in the late 1950's.

Although I wish it had just been Campion stories, some is a real treat.

This is a good set of short stories written by a doyen of the mystery genre. I enjoyed them all although it was a shame the festive story was a repeat of one of the four released in a book as recently as last November. Some of the settings and backgrounds seem a little more dated than those of other murder and mystery writers of the past but the further into the book I got the less noticeable it seemed. There was also a tendency for the text to be less PC than would be acceptable from a new author but as this was an advanced copy that may change.

I was able to read the advanced copy of this book thanks to Netgalley and the publishers in exchange for an unbiased review and think it would appeal to anyone who enjoys mysteries from yesteryear when life, heroes and villains were all very different to today.

I really enjoyed this book by Margery Allingham although I didn't realise it was short stories and not a novel and not all had Albert Campion in them. I also found that some of the stories I had previously read in other Margery Allingham books, not sure if this was a genuine error by the publishers or not. However I would still recommend this novel.