Margery Allingham's Mr Campion's Farewell: The return of Albert Campion completed by Mike Ripley
After Margery Allingham’s death, in 1966, fans feared her beloved Albert Campion series would die with her. Then her husband stepped in and wrote three further novels in her name. When he died, in 1969, he left behind a fragment of a new novel, but it was only in 2012 that Ripley agreed to use the fragment to write a new Campion story. He’s produced a whimsical, delightful, witty, entertaining book that’s part Jeeves and Wooster, part Laurel and Hardy, and part Miss Marple. Albert is asked by Scotland Yard to visit the village of Lindsay Carfax, where there have been strange goings-on for years, most recently the disappearance of a local schoolteacher, who reappears nine days later, clearly having suffered both mental and physical trauma. Since Albert’s niece lives in Lindsay Carfax, he has a good excuse for visiting and launching an undercover investigation. Undeterred by threats to his person and even physical violence, Albert exposes Lindsay Carfax’s dark secrets in a story that stretches from the sleepy village all the way to the French Riviera. Charming and full of surprises. --Emily Melton