Youngman CarterCritiques

This is the final adventure for Albert Campion.

Campion is called upon by an old friend to help locate a man who has suddenly disappeared, a Mr. Makepeace. Makepeace is well respected for his geographical knowledge of oil sources around the world. He has worked for Omega Oil for a long time and Omega is afraid Makepeace may be considering selling his knowledge to a competitor.

A Mr. Porteous is searching for something a Mr. Matthews, and Porteous is a man who gets what he sets out to get. His methods are not gentlemanly. But Mr. Matthews has suddenly died and Miss Anthea Peregrine is now handling Matthews’ affairs. She also finds she must deal with Porteous.

As Campion goes about unravelling Makepeace’s disappearance, he find there is much more than oil secrets involved and missing persons. There is a question of relationships between Makepeace, Matthews and Porteous. There are double agents, murder, and kidnapping. It isn’t a simple last case.

With multiple threads going on, it can be quite a tangle to undo. Campion may seem laid back and maybe a bit slow, but that is just a front. He checks each possible lead — good ones and dead ends — until he can finally weave a solid solution to the mystery and the parties involved.

This was better than The Tiger in the Smoke but still had lots of loose ends and obscure turns that seemed more like poor writing than actual obsfucations. I'm not sure about what I'll do with my Allingham collection but I might still cross it. Just not super enjoyable.

This is the final book in the Albert Campion series; it was actually completed by Allingham's husband after her death. The book features Campion at the end of his career, and unlike earlier books he takes a backseat in the investigation of this case. Campion acts more as an adviser to a young American, Morty Kelsey, and his love interest, an attractive young doctor who has just inherited a country house in a seaside town. The town has quite a history of ghosts and pirates, among other things.

I enjoyed seeing Campion late in his career. He is world-weary in this book, happy to leave the actual investigating to younger associates. The end brings a surprising twist, and finally reveals to the reader the meaning of the title. As with other Campion books this one relies heavily on space and time- who was where when. Also like other books in the series this can get overwhelming. Still, it's interesting to see the gentleman sleuth in old age, and the books makes for a satisfying mystery.½

Enjoyable read. Finished post mortem by the author's husband this book brings Campion into the sixties (more successfully than Allingham's contemporaries!). One for the fans.

One of two books written by her husband after the death of Margery Allingham. Albert Campion investigates the death of a man who had information of great importance to a number of people.He is also following up a kidnapping which is connected.
A fair attempt to write a story in the style of Allingham,but one which ultimately fails in that attempt. One or two flashes of her splendid wit do come through but at the end of the day neither the story-line or the characters come to life.½

Really, this book is not quite "3" worthy; but it's a little more than a 2.5 so I'll leave it at 3. If you're read quite a lot of Allingham's work, you can definitely tell that this is not the way she would have written it.

"Mr. Campion's Farthing" is really a Kopeck -- one Vassily Kopeck who has seemingly defected from the USSR (let us not forget that this was written in 1969 originally and thus we're into the cold war years). Kopeck was last seen at a quaint house/hotel called The Turrets, which tries ever so hard to stay in Victorian character and is often used by those in the public eye that want to have a little unpublic fun. The owner of the Turrets is one Lottie Cambric, and she is possibly the last one to have seen Kopeck. Now everyone seems to be after him; Campion wants to know why this man is so important.

Just kind of a mediocre read; nothing at all like the earlier novels that I've enjoyed so much. With this book, I will probably say goodbye to Mr. Campion, whose exploits have provided me with hours upon hours of good reading time.

You may want to read it if you're involved with the rest of the series (but don't do them out of order, please), or if you want something dealing with UK-USSR tensions during the Cold
War. Other than that, well,it's just not our good old Albert Campion here.

Cargo of Eagles was finished after Margery Allingham's death by her husband Youngman Carter, who apparently completed it based on notes that Allingham left behind. Sadly, the last of the original series (if you count this one because Allingham started it) leaves a lot to be desired. I think it suffers from too many tangents leading to a bit of tedium for the reader. I found myself wanting to just get through it (which is really sad, if you think about it for a minute). The basic plot was good, but it took SO long to get to a resolution that at the end I actually didn't care about it.

Brief decription, no spoilers: The small village of Saltey captures the interest of quite a few characters: a doctor who has recently inherited a house from a near stranger; an American historian who is spending a year in Britain doing research on approaches to London in the 17th and 18th centuries; several motorcycle gangs, and some unsavory characters as well. Saltey used to be home to smugglers and pirates, and at one time was "visited by a demon." Now it seems it is also home to a murderer who has a secret to keep -- but it's one that Campion must figure out to help solve his own secret mission.

I would recommend it probably to people who are working on finishing the series, but likely not to others. It normally doesn't take me long to finish one of these novels, but this one was just not up to par with most of the other books in the series.

Campion's friend Lottie Cambric has a Victorian mansion which she runs as a specialty hotel/cultural exchange. Lately she's been the target of various interests out to shut her down. Campion is called in to figure out what's behind it all.

Written by Margery Allingham's husband, after her death. Carter also finished "Cargo of Eagles" and wrote "Mr. Campion's Farthing".
'Matthew James Matthew is a famous geologist. What's more, he's a human divining-rod where the riches of the earth are concerned. So it's not surprising that his irresponsible behaviour stirs up a nest of greedy hornets.' (Penguin jacket notes). When old Matty is found dead, Albert Campion comes to the aid of the young heiress Anthea Peregrine, sorts out the secretive villagers, smugglers, menacing industrial spies, and rescues Miss Peregrine's young man. A good story, with interesting archaeological details, which are Carter's area of expertise. Not as likeable as the vintage Allingham mysteries, but still a good read.