The Crime At Black Dudley

von Margery Allingham

Dr George Abbershaw and his friend Wyatt Petrie arrive at the remote and forbidding mansion of Black Dudley for a weekend visit - one of several hosted every year by Wyatt's invalid uncle, Colonel Coombe. No sooner have the guests assembled than talk turns to the sinister Black Dudley Dagger and the ritual that accompanies this ancient relic. What begins as a harmless and diverting game of hide-and-seek ends in the death of Colonel Coombe - apparently caused by heart attack, but Abbershaw suspects foul play. When events take an even more nefarious turn, the party guests must band together in the face of deadly danger - but who is the peculiar Mr Campion, and can he be trusted?

This is the first book introducing us to the idiosyncratic sleuth Albert Campion, the unconventional detective with a mysterious past who will go on to unmask murderers and unravel mysteries in countless other novels by Margery Allingham.