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A review by lejoy
Look To The Lady by Margery Allingham
3.0
I am really conflicted over whether to give this three or four stars. It's much better written that The Crime At Black Dudley, which I gave three, but now that I've finished I'm not sure I'd say this was a really good book, which is what four means. I did enjoy it a lot while I was reading it, but towards the end a few strands seemed rather loose and have left me a little unsatisfied.
This is the third Campion novel and we finally move slightly away from organised crime and into a crime syndicate, coz that's a different thing maybe. The plot is simple: rich people hire a thief to steal priceless not-available-to-the-public art and historical artefacts. Once they set their intentions on something, the only way to stop them is to kill the hired thief. They have set their eyes on some historical chalice and Campion is being paid to protect it, i.e. be the executioner. Although the plot is different to the last two books (unfortunately in a kind of less interesting way because I really don't care if someone steals a cup), there are some awkward similarities to the previous book Mystery Mile. Again the story is set in an old house belonging to an upper class brother and sister (fairly interchangeable with the siblings from the last book), a family that once ruled the surrounding village but now has no money yet still thinks of themselves as benefactors to the yokels. Also again we have a visiting American family, and the English and American children fall in love. I'm kind of getting pretty bored of the main characters always being upper class nobs.
As I said, I did really enjoy the book while I was reading it. It's witty, exciting and mysterious, so far so good. But it is increasingly unclear how much Campion knows about the villain. At first it seems to be a complete revelation when we find out who is behind it, but later he claims that he already suspected them, hence how he had organised backup. He deliberately lets himself get captured in order to learn more about the bad guys, but doesn't appear to actually learn anything by doing this. Meanwhile, everything seems so obvious for the bad guys that I don't understand how Campion has a last minute revelation about how they plan to steal the dumb cup. Isn't all this immediately patently obvious? I don't understand why it is handled like a twist.
I didn't like Professor Cairey very much. He came across as omnipotent and therefore unbelievable as a character. And I could have done without the mysticism. On and on everyone in the book goes about Val's 25th birthday and the secret room and the disturbing ceremony and the important cup, but it all just comes across as utter tosh. Who cares what a bunch of silly rich people do in a tower with an old chalice? It doesn't really mean anything. Lots of pomp over nothing. It all just seems to be there to make Campion feel slightly on edge at the end of the book and throw in a random kind of ghost story aspect that isn't supported by the style of the novel.
So, kind of a good read, but didn't convince me at the end.
This is the third Campion novel and we finally move slightly away from organised crime and into a crime syndicate, coz that's a different thing maybe. The plot is simple: rich people hire a thief to steal priceless not-available-to-the-public art and historical artefacts. Once they set their intentions on something, the only way to stop them is to kill the hired thief. They have set their eyes on some historical chalice and Campion is being paid to protect it, i.e. be the executioner. Although the plot is different to the last two books (unfortunately in a kind of less interesting way because I really don't care if someone steals a cup), there are some awkward similarities to the previous book Mystery Mile. Again the story is set in an old house belonging to an upper class brother and sister (fairly interchangeable with the siblings from the last book), a family that once ruled the surrounding village but now has no money yet still thinks of themselves as benefactors to the yokels. Also again we have a visiting American family, and the English and American children fall in love. I'm kind of getting pretty bored of the main characters always being upper class nobs.
As I said, I did really enjoy the book while I was reading it. It's witty, exciting and mysterious, so far so good. But it is increasingly unclear how much Campion knows about the villain. At first it seems to be a complete revelation when we find out who is behind it, but later he claims that he already suspected them, hence how he had organised backup. He deliberately lets himself get captured in order to learn more about the bad guys, but doesn't appear to actually learn anything by doing this.
Spoiler
I think it all comes down to he is really worried that the bad guy is a woman because he doesn't want to have to murder a woman, so he wants to be absolutely doubly sure he is right and is holding out hope that the boss is a guy.Spoiler
I mean, of course the treasure is hidden in the secret room everyone knows about for some reason so of course they are going to try to break in there, and if the only entrance is through the window, then of course that is how they will try to get in.I didn't like Professor Cairey very much. He came across as omnipotent and therefore unbelievable as a character. And I could have done without the mysticism. On and on everyone in the book goes about Val's 25th birthday and the secret room and the disturbing ceremony and the important cup, but it all just comes across as utter tosh. Who cares what a bunch of silly rich people do in a tower with an old chalice? It doesn't really mean anything. Lots of pomp over nothing. It all just seems to be there to make Campion feel slightly on edge at the end of the book and throw in a random kind of ghost story aspect that isn't supported by the style of the novel.
So, kind of a good read, but didn't convince me at the end.