Book Review: The Crime At Black Dudley

I don't generally read books or watch movies more than once, and I've never been much for summer re-runs on TV. It seems to me that, once you've seen or read something, the suspense and surprise are gone. Novelty is fleeting, but every so often there comes a book or movie that simply must be tackled more than once in order to be completely taken in. Such is the case with Margery Allingham's The Crime at Black Dudley.

The book's main strength is the development of its plot. As a writer, I found myself imagining the process that Ms. Allingham might have used to lay out the events that occurred during the house party at Black Dudley and in the weeks that followed. It is so delightfully, intricately woven that she would almost have had to start with the ending and work backwards to be sure that all the elements fit together properly. I have always been a sucker for intense twists and turns, and I found it to be quite riveting. I was especially intrigued by the fact that, in the beginning, the characters made a game of re-enacting a centuries-old ritual with a dagger that belonged to the isolated old monastery-turned-country-home. I love legends, lore, and symbolism, and I would have been even more delighted if the story had continued in that vein. The game set the stage for a murder beautifully, but very little of the subsequent story had anything to do with the legend of Black Dudley.

The main weakness is the development of its characters. Another technique that I have found useful as a writer is to flesh out the important characters (sometimes even on paper) before I ever begin the manuscript. I am always aware of each character's full background. I know things like their family histories, what kinds of childhoods they had, their likes and dislikes, and whether they completed their educations. Whether or not the details are revealed in the finished product, it is always important to know how the character arrived at the story's point of attack. It helps the reader get to know, and subsequently identify with or reject them. For instance, George and Meggie obviously know each other before they ever arrive at Black Dudley. How did they meet and when did they first fall in love? How did the gangsters who take over the mansion fall into such ill repute? These details are not relevant to the story, but the fact that I am still wondering means that I haven't connected with these charters as well as I should. When it comes to writing mysteries, providing a backstory can leave you with endless possible motives, but hanging onto details until the last moment can also lead to endless surprises!

This particular work definitely deserves another pass, but that is not to say that I would read it again regardless of whether I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it immensely and I am looking forward to enjoying it again on another level. Allingham's writing is bordering on the verbose, yet it doesn't drag. It is very flowery and proper, describing things to the last detail and often illustrating the heavy accents of her international cast by writing their dialog phonetically. But at the same time, the plot is very intricate and there are upwards of ten important characters, all of which Allingham manages to pack into a relatively thin, paperback volume, so the details fly by without the reader even noticing, buried in her fully decorated prose.

One of the first things I noticed about the book is that it is labeled "The First Albert Campion Mystery," and Ms. Allingham has done a masterful job at leaving us wondering about this strange chap and wanting to know more about him. This reader is hooked and intends to read more!