Mr Campion's Visit

Fans of classic British murder mysteries with a humorous touch will greatly enjoy this latest addition to the Albert Campion canon by Mike Ripley.

Mr Campion’s Visit is the sixth book in Mike Ripley's marvellous continuance of the Albert Campion novels by Margery Allingham. Set in 1970 it finds Campion, having recovered from the events of his recent seventieth birthday party (Mr Campion’s War), visiting the brand-new University of Suffolk Coastal in his official role of the ‘Visitor’ to the University. It is a vague role, but one which Campion is enjoying, as he wanders the University observing the staff and the students. The University encompasses the former estate of Black Dudley, where Campion had attended a weekend house party towards the end of the 1920s and helped solved a murder. His involvement in the long ago “trouble with those gangsters and the dagger ritual that went wrong”, has given him some notoriety, which comes in handy when a new murder occurs on the University grounds.

As the reluctant eyes and ears of the Bishop responsible for the establishment of the University, Campion finds himself drawn into the murder investigation, much to the annoyance of the police. The murder victim was a controversial figure on the campus and Campion has to work his way through a maze of motives including internal university rivalries, jealous lovers, revolutionary politics and the possible involvement of the CIA. There is also a phantom trumpeter who is constantly disturbing Campion’s sleep.

It is a fun read and a well plotted murder mystery, with a good selection of possible suspects. It takes a little while for the murder to occur, but Ripley keeps the reader well entertained during the early parts of the book with Campion’s wry comments on university life and amusing flashbacks to the planning meetings on the establishment of the university.

Once the murder occurs, Ripley unfolds the clues and red herrings with aplomb and his charming narrative style and dollops of good humour keeps the reader happily engaged till the well staged unveiling of the killer. The historical period is also well captured and the characters are simply, but effectively sketched.

In all, this is a very entertaining read, one of my favourites so far this year, and is highly recommended.

See my full review at murdermayhemandlongdogs.com

Mr. Campion's Visit returns Albert Campion to the Black Dudley, the scene of his first (recorded) mystery 40 years later, though now the site is home to a modern university. Campion is appointed as the university's Visitor, he's not entirely sure what his duties are. Nonetheless so long after his arrival (wherein he encounters students, academics and other colorful characters) a University professor is found dead, and like his first adventure, Campion is called to investigate. While there are numerous references to Campion's advancing age (just past his 70th year) he remains eternally youthful in his demeanor, ferreting out clues in his own disarming way.

The overall narrative structure flows well, with intermittent flashbacks to years prior to provide context to the present proceedings. Ripley has a fine way of capturing Campion's spirit, especially with his interactions with his trusty sidekick Lugg.

Highly recommended, and I look forward to the next adventure.

Mr Campion's Visit is the newest book in an homage to Margery Allingham's Albert Campion. Released 1st Oct by Severn House, it's 256 pages and available in hardcover, paperback, and ebook formats.

Author Mike Ripley has written several books featuring Campion (this is the 6th by my count) as well as other fiction and nonfiction. The point is, he's an experienced and capable author. I've been a fan of golden age mystery (especially British) as long as I've been reading, more or less, and I'm always on the lookout for more golden age fiction since the original authors are sadly long gone.

This entry finds a more or less 'grown up' (i.e. old) Campion revisiting Suffolk and Black Dudley in 1970, a half century since his very first outing there in 1920. The country house has become part of a modern University. He is meant to be a distinguished visitor, but winds up getting drawn into a murder investigation when one of the faculty is murdered. Classic set up, classic style, and the author is almost spookily adept at channeling Allingham's original prose and flow (no mean feat).

This was a perfect autumn cozy mystery read for me, gently humorous, beautifully British, restrained but quite funny (and blissfully free of talking cats and recipes at the end of the book). Lugg is back and, as always, a perfect counterpoint to Campion's affably bewildered facade.

The plot is straightforward and the tension arc gently meandering (like the original source material). In fact, one of the most impressive parts of the book is that is manages to read as if it were modern at the time, in other words, slightly dated because it was written in 1970.

I enjoyed this one very much and although I was previously unaware of the author's other Campion books, it works very well as a standalone. I will be picking up the other 5 books immediately.

Four and a half for the plot and the capable and respectful Campion homage, rounded up for Lugg. I've been a devoted Lugg groupie for 30+ years.