The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham (1929)

A weekend party at an isolated country house with the foreboding name of Black Dudley becomes a gradually increasing horror.

Mystery Review: The Crime at Black Dudley (aka The Black Dudley Murder) is Margery Allingham's first novel featuring not-yet-detective Albert Campion. In fact, Campion is not the protagonist, disappears on page 172, and doesn't even try to solve the murder (that burden is borne by one George Abbershaw, Scotland Yard consultant, who Allingham seems to have intended to be her intrepid sleuth and carry the story). Although he later proves to be effective at what he does, Campion is described as "a congenital idiot," "a silly ass" with "foolish pale-blue eyes" behind spectacles, and an "absurd falsetto drawl." A small-time criminal who will do anything for money that's not "sordid or vulgar." Although Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey and Ngaio Marsh's Roderick Alleyn were both introduced bearing a certain resemblance to Bertie Wooster, Campion's must be the most ignominious introduction of any major series detective. The Crime at Black Dudley itself is a sort of Gothic thriller featuring a creepy old mansion, hidden passageways, a menacing dagger, and more bizarre and fabulous events than one could expect from a contemporary of Agatha Christie. There is even a Moriarty-esque villain: "this man controls organized gangs of crooks all over Europe and America ... he has the reputation of being utterly ruthless and diabolically clever ... the most dangerous and notorious criminal of modern times." Thus labeled, the reader knows a roller coaster ride lies ahead. Allingham also lets her detective (Abbershaw, not Campion) address "the old problem of Law and Order as opposed to Right and Wrong ... which knows no unraveling." Experienced mystery readers may know where that leads. On that subject, although one may guess the culprit, Allingham gives no clue whatever to the motive. Interestingly Ngaio Marsh seems to have used a few elements of this story to create her own first novel with Roderick Alleyn, A Man Lay Dead (1934). The Crime at Black Dudley is a surprisingly dramatic, even melodramatic tale, with a nice bit of romance and a good bit of action, but only so-so as a mystery and gives me little clue as to the future of Albert Campion who I know will feature in at least 20 more books.  [3★]